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Basil is a tool for semi-automatic containerization, deployment, and execution of applications and workflows on cloud computing and supercomputing platforms.

Project News

Basil can be used to build ready-to-use Docker/Singularity images without having to first learn about the process of creating the images. Users can provide the recipes for building their applications/workflows in one of the following forms: (1) Makefiles/CMakefiles, (2) scripts, (3) commands, or (4) a text-file with predefined keywords and notations (using the templates provided by us). Using these recipes (e.g., in Makefiles or text-files), Dockerfiles or Singularity definition files are generated automatically. A generated Dockerfile or Singularity definition file is then used to build a Docker or Singularity image. Next, the image is scanned for any vulnerabilities, signed, and if the user desires, released in public registries with appropriate licenses. These generated container images can be tested using the Basil web portal, and can be pulled to run or deploy on diverse hardware platforms on-prem or in the cloud.

Basil now supports the generation of Singularity images as of December 1, 2023.

The Basil project portal is live now. We are iteratively refining this portal and the containerization tool embedded in it. Basil is available for beta testing starting August 10, 2023.

We are hosting a workshop on containerization named containerzation2023 in Portland, Oregon. The workshop will be co-located with the PEARC23 conference. For additional details, please visit the workshop website at the following link.

May 16, 2023: Welcome Armaan Cheema, Jaidip Patel, and Sanjeeth Boddinagula to the Basil project team.

We offered a tutorial on containerization on November 14, 2022. The slides from this tutorial are available at the following link.