Add XALT EasyBlock

[samcmill]

Specialized variant of the ConfigureMake EasyBlock for building and installing XALT.

cc @rtmclay

[victorusu]

I think we should support more options from XALT

[samcmill]

Thanks for the feedback @victorusu.

The approach I took was to keep the EasyBlock as lean as possible and keep the specifics in the XALT EasyConfig. Additional XALT EasyConfigs could be created for other permutations, such as the curl transmission method. (If not for the XALT prefix behavior, I likely would have used the standard ConfigureMake EasyBlock.)

Alternatively, the EasyBlock could be a much more customized version of the ConfigureMake EasyBlock that hard codes more XALT options, as you are suggesting.

From what I can tell, the first approach seems to be more closely aligned with the EasyBuild "spirit".

@boegel, do you have a preference?

[boegel]

I'll try to take a look at this soon, perhaps also polling @rtmclay (the XALT developer) for feedback.

Thanks a lot for the contribution @samcmill, hopefully we can get this merged soon in one form or another...

[samcmill]

@boegel would still appreciate your feedback on this. Thanks!

[boegel]

@samcmill Thanks for the bump!
I'll reach out to @rtmclay to get some feedback from him on this...

[boegel]

@samcmill I'm happy to clarify anything if needed, either via this PR or more directly (EasyBuild Slack channel, or a short conf call), please don't hesitate to reach out!

[samcmill]

@boegel @victorusu The latest commit should address most of your feedback. Thanks!

The step monkeying with the install path is still there. I'll revisit that once xalt/xalt#26 is merged.

I'm unsure about the alternative linker stuff, so no changes for that yet. @victorusu - can you please clarify?

[samcmill]

The latest changes incorporate the --with-siteControlledPrefix option added to XALT 2.7.29 by @rtmclay, so the easyblock code that monkeys with the prefix has been removed.

This is ready for another review.

[samcmill]

@boegel @victorusu can you please review this again?

[samcmill]

@boegel @victorusu can you please review this again?

[boegel]

@samcmill I'm sorry for not getting back to this yet, it's on my TODO list for EasyBuild v4.2.1 (see https://github.com/orgs/easybuilders/projects/5)

[boegel]

@samcmill Sorry for the long delay in getting back to you on this... Do let me know if something isn't clear!

[boegel]

Tested with easybuilders/easybuild-easyconfigs#9792, good to go, thanks a lot for your efforts on this @samcmill!