singularity-containers

This repo stores Apptainer/Singularity SIF images using Git LFS.

Git LFS Setup

If git lfs is not available (common on older Git installs), run:

scripts/sif_parts.sh install-lfs

This installs git-lfs locally to ~/bin using the latest Linux amd64 release only when git --version is older than 2.13.0 (adjust with SIF_LFS_INSTALL_IF_GIT_LT). Alternatively, run scripts/install_git_lfs.sh.

Fast Checkout (Pointers Only)

To clone the repo without downloading large SIF blobs (LFS pointers only), use:

GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE=1 git clone https://github.com/parallelworks/singularity-containers singularity-containers
cd singularity-containers
git lfs install

This keeps checkout fast for contributors who build or provide their own containers. When you do need a container, pull only the directory you need:

# Pull all parts for a single container
git lfs pull --include="vllm/*"

# Or pull a different container
git lfs pull --include="rag/*"

You can also fetch everything later with git lfs pull.

Naming Convention

Split large images into fixed-size parts stored under a per-container directory:

• vllm/vllm.00001.sif, vllm/vllm.00002.sif, ...
• rag/rag.00001.sif, rag/rag.00002.sif, ...

These are tracked by Git LFS via .gitattributes patterns.

Images

• nginx/nginx-unprivileged.sif: nginx container used by interactive session workflows.
• vnc/vncserver.sif: VNC server container used by interactive session workflows.

Helper Script

Split and reassemble images with scripts/sif_parts.sh:

# Split into 2GiB parts (default) under ./vllm/
scripts/sif_parts.sh split --input /path/to/vllm.sif --prefix vllm

# Reassemble
scripts/sif_parts.sh join --prefix vllm --output vllm.sif

If your environment lacks GNU split, the script falls back to Python.