Using the Container

Invoking a shell inside the container

To invoke a shell session inside the container:

# Docker command
docker run -it immcantation/suite:4.3.0 bash

# Singularity command
singularity shell immcantation_suite-4.3.0.sif

Sharing files with the container

Sharing files between the host operating system and the container requires you to bind a directory on the host to one of the container’s mount points using the -v argument for docker or the -B argument for singularity. There are four available mount points defined in the container:

/data
/scratch
/software
/oasis

For example, to invoke a shell session inside the container with $HOME/project mounted to /data:

# Docker command
docker run -it -v $HOME/project:/data:z immcantation/suite:4.3.0 bash

# Singularity command
singularity shell -B $HOME/project:/data immcantation_suite-4.3.0.sif

Note, the :z in the -v argument of the docker command is essential.

Executing a specific command

After invoking an interactive session inside the container, commands can be executed in the container shell as they would be executed in the host shell.

Alternatively, it is possible to execute a specific command directly inside the container without starting an interactive session. The next example demonstrates how to execute ls within $HOME/project mounted to /data:

# Docker command
docker run -v $HOME/project:/data:z immcantation/suite:4.3.0 ls /data

# Singularity command
singularity exec -B $HOME/project:/data immcantation_suite_|docker-version|.sif ls /data

Inspecting the container components

The container includes three informational scripts that provided details about the versions of installed software and available pipelines.

The versions report command which will inspect the installed software versions and print them to standard output.

There is an analagous builds report command to display the build date and changesets used during the image build. This is particularly relevant if you are using the immcantation/suite:devel development builds.

Finally, the pipelines report command will display a list of available template pipelines included in the container.