Conda Multi-Account Setup on HiPerGator

Experiment Overview

Item	Details
Date	2026-01-11
Goal	Configure conda and ALL caches to use separate group storage locations
Environment	HiPerGator (UF), RHEL 9, multiple /blue/group/ directories
Status	Success

Context

On HiPerGator, users often belong to multiple research groups with separate storage allocations under /blue/. Each group may have its own conda installation and environments. The challenge is:

Switching between different group conda installations
Isolating ALL caches (pip, Jupyter, PyTorch, etc.) per-group to avoid conflicts and quota issues

The Problem

Default conda only knows about environments in home directory or current base
Caches (pip, Jupyter, torch, HuggingFace, etc.) accumulate in home directory
With multiple accounts, caches can conflict or exceed quota
Hardcoding cache paths in .bashrc breaks when switching accounts

Verified Workflow

Solution: Dynamic Account Switching with Cache Isolation

Architecture:

~/.bashrc                    # Sources default use_conda script
~/.use_conda_maigan.sh       # Sets BLUE_BASE, sources cache_redirect.sh
~/.use_conda_clive.sh        # Sets BLUE_BASE, sources cache_redirect.sh
~/.cache_redirect.sh         # Uses BLUE_BASE to set all cache paths

Step 1: Create Cache Redirect Script

Create ~/.cache_redirect.sh that uses a BLUE_BASE variable:

bash

# ~/.cache_redirect.sh
# BLUE_BASE must be set before sourcing this file

if [ -z "$BLUE_BASE" ]; then
    echo "Warning: BLUE_BASE not set, defaulting to maigan" >&2
    export BLUE_BASE="/blue/maigan/smith6jt"
fi
export CACHE_DIR="${BLUE_BASE}/scratch/cache"

# Python & Pip caches
export PIP_CACHE_DIR="${CACHE_DIR}/pip"
export PYTHONPYCACHEPREFIX="${CACHE_DIR}/pycache"
export PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
export PYTHONUSERBASE="${CACHE_DIR}/python_user"

# Jupyter & IPython
export JUPYTER_RUNTIME_DIR="${CACHE_DIR}/jupyter_runtime"
export JUPYTER_DATA_DIR="${CACHE_DIR}/jupyter_data"
export JUPYTER_CONFIG_DIR="${CACHE_DIR}/jupyter_config"
export IPYTHONDIR="${CACHE_DIR}/ipython"

# Deep Learning framework caches
export TORCH_HOME="${CACHE_DIR}/torch"
export TORCH_EXTENSIONS_DIR="${CACHE_DIR}/torch_extensions"
export TRANSFORMERS_CACHE="${CACHE_DIR}/huggingface"
export HF_HOME="${CACHE_DIR}/huggingface"
export NUMBA_CACHE_DIR="${CACHE_DIR}/numba"

# Matplotlib & plotting
export MPLCONFIGDIR="${CACHE_DIR}/mpl"
export MPLBACKEND="Agg"

# XDG directories (Linux standard)
export XDG_CACHE_HOME="${CACHE_DIR}/xdg"
export XDG_CONFIG_HOME="${CACHE_DIR}/config"
export XDG_DATA_HOME="${CACHE_DIR}/data"

# R libraries
export R_LIBS_USER="${BLUE_BASE}/R_libs"

# VSCode server cache
export VSCODE_SERVER_DIR="${CACHE_DIR}/vscode-server"

# Conda paths
export CONDA_PKGS_DIRS="${BLUE_BASE}/miniforge3/pkgs"
export CONDA_ENVS_PATH="${BLUE_BASE}/miniforge3/envs"

# Create directories if they don't exist
for dir in pip pycache python_user jupyter_runtime jupyter_data jupyter_config \
           ipython torch torch_extensions huggingface numba mpl xdg config data \
           vscode-server; do
    mkdir -p "${CACHE_DIR}/${dir}"
done
mkdir -p "${BLUE_BASE}/R_libs"

# Confirm setup in interactive shells
if [ -n "$PS1" ]; then
    echo "✓ Cache redirection active: ${CACHE_DIR}"
fi

Step 2: Create Account-Specific Conda Scripts

For maigan account (~/.use_conda_maigan.sh):

bash

#!/bin/bash
# ~/.use_conda_maigan.sh

# Stop any previous conda context
unset CONDA_EXE CONDA_PREFIX CONDA_SHLVL _CE_CONDA _CE_M CONDA_DEFAULT_ENV

# Set base directory FIRST
export BLUE_BASE="/blue/maigan/smith6jt"

# Conda configuration
export CONDARC="${BLUE_BASE}/.condarc"
export CONDA_ENVS_PATH="${BLUE_BASE}/miniforge3/envs"
export CONDA_PKGS_DIRS="${BLUE_BASE}/miniforge3/pkgs"

# Initialize conda
source "${BLUE_BASE}/miniforge3/etc/profile.d/conda.sh"

# Source cache redirection (uses BLUE_BASE set above)
if [ -f ~/.cache_redirect.sh ]; then
    source ~/.cache_redirect.sh
fi

echo "Switched to maigan conda environment"

For other accounts (e.g., ~/.use_conda_clive.sh):

bash

#!/bin/bash
# ~/.use_conda_clive.sh

unset CONDA_EXE CONDA_PREFIX CONDA_SHLVL _CE_CONDA _CE_M CONDA_DEFAULT_ENV

export BLUE_BASE="/blue/clive/smith6jt"

export CONDARC="${BLUE_BASE}/.condarc"
export CONDA_ENVS_PATH="${BLUE_BASE}/miniforge3/envs"
export CONDA_PKGS_DIRS="${BLUE_BASE}/miniforge3/pkgs"

source "${BLUE_BASE}/miniforge3/etc/profile.d/conda.sh"

if [ -f ~/.cache_redirect.sh ]; then
    source ~/.cache_redirect.sh
fi

echo "Switched to clive conda environment"

Step 3: Configure .bashrc

bash

# ~/.bashrc

case $- in
    *i*) ;;
    *) return;;
esac

PS1='\u@\h:\w\$ '

# Aliases
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
alias ll='ls -lh --color=auto'
alias grep='grep --color=auto'

# Account switchers
alias use_clive='source ~/.use_conda_clive.sh'
alias use_maigan='source ~/.use_conda_maigan.sh'

# Default account on startup (sets BLUE_BASE and sources cache_redirect)
if [ -f ~/.use_conda_maigan.sh ]; then
    source ~/.use_conda_maigan.sh
fi

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

# NVM (uses BLUE_BASE dynamically)
if [ -n "$BLUE_BASE" ]; then
    export NVM_DIR="${BLUE_BASE}/scratch/cache/config/nvm"
    [ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"
fi

Step 4: Clean Up environments.txt

Remove other accounts' environments from ~/.conda/environments.txt:

bash

# Only include environments from your primary account
/blue/maigan/smith6jt/miniforge3
/blue/maigan/smith6jt/miniforge3/envs/KINTSUGI

Usage

bash

# Start of session - already using maigan (default from .bashrc)
conda env list
# Shows only maigan environments

# Switch to different account
use_clive
# Switches conda AND redirects all caches to /blue/clive/...

# Check cache location
echo $CACHE_DIR
# /blue/clive/smith6jt/scratch/cache

# Switch back
use_maigan

Failed Attempts (Critical)

Attempt	Why it Failed	Lesson Learned
Sourcing cache_redirect AFTER use_conda in .bashrc	Overwrites conda paths with hardcoded values	cache_redirect must be called BY use_conda scripts
Hardcoding cache paths in .bashrc	Doesn't switch when changing accounts	Use BLUE_BASE variable
Adding both accounts' envs to CONDA_ENVS_DIRS	Confusing, shows all envs from both accounts	Keep environments isolated per-account
Using CONDA_ENVS_DIRS colon-separated list	First path becomes default for new envs, unexpected behavior	Use CONDA_ENVS_PATH (single path)

Key Insights

Set BLUE_BASE FIRST, then source cache_redirect
Cache redirect script should use the variable, never hardcode paths
.bashrc should NOT separately source cache_redirect - let use_conda scripts handle it
Clean ~/.conda/environments.txt to avoid confusion
Each /blue/group/ needs its own .condarc file
Create cache directories (/blue/group/user/scratch/cache/) for each account

Directory Structure

/blue/maigan/smith6jt/
├── miniforge3/
│   ├── etc/profile.d/conda.sh
│   ├── envs/KINTSUGI/
│   └── pkgs/
├── scratch/cache/          # All caches for this account
│   ├── pip/
│   ├── torch/
│   ├── jupyter_runtime/
│   └── ...
└── .condarc

/blue/clive/smith6jt/
├── miniforge3/
│   ├── envs/
│   └── pkgs/
├── scratch/cache/          # All caches for this account
└── .condarc

~/
├── .bashrc                 # Sources default use_conda script
├── .use_conda_maigan.sh    # Account switcher
├── .use_conda_clive.sh     # Account switcher
├── .cache_redirect.sh      # Dynamic cache paths (uses BLUE_BASE)
└── .conda/environments.txt # Clean - only default account

References

Conda configuration: https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/configuration/
HiPerGator documentation: https://help.rc.ufl.edu/doc/Conda
Miniforge: https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge

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Conda Multi-Account Setup on HiPerGator

Experiment Overview

Context

The Problem

Verified Workflow

Solution: Dynamic Account Switching with Cache Isolation

Step 1: Create Cache Redirect Script

Step 2: Create Account-Specific Conda Scripts

Step 3: Configure .bashrc

Step 4: Clean Up environments.txt

Usage

Failed Attempts (Critical)

Key Insights

Directory Structure

References