Software Documentation Service

The ACCESS Software Documentation Service (SDS) is designed to help ACCESS HPC users identify the software available on various ACCESS Resource Providers’ (RPs) resources, an important step toward selecting an RP. Not only does it provide a single webpage with information about all RP software, but it also provides extensive information about each piece of software, enabling researchers to discover software by research domain and type, learn its intended purpose and use, and read documentation and examples showing how to use the software. The SDS is designed to periodically obtain information about software at each RP to keep information current. For each software package, SDS shows the software name, RPs that have the software, available versions, RP specific documentation for the software, descriptions, core features, documentation links, and various other useful information. In the past eight months, the SDS website has received over thirteen thousand visits, demonstrating significant adoption among ACCESS users. A standalone version with support for containers, website customization, and other enhanced features is also available for any HPC center to use. This paper describes the SDS implementation, use within ACCESS, its benefits to both researchers and resource providers, and the stand-alone version of SDS available to HPC centers.