HPSF Conference 2025

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory takes X-ray snapshots of atoms and molecules in action, revealing fundamental processes in materials, technology and living things. Advanced data and computing systems are playing an increasingly vital role in LCLS’s operation: data acquisition software developed at LCLS allows the collection of very high throughput data, and makes sure that all the collected data is stored to disk. Additionally, LCLS provides scientists with sophisticated data analysis frameworks and helps them run their own bleeding-edge scientific analysis tools. With new detectors and analysis techniques being introduced all the time, new software is constantly being developed and maintaining compatibility with old hardware while supporting new frameworks and programs is an everyday challenge. Spack seems to offer a solid foundation for the software development process and is starting to be used at LCLS. This talk will discuss how Spack is making the development process easier and what challenges the LCLS Data Analysis group is still facing in making Spack a useful tool for everyday work.