List of modules

The functionality in PLUMED 2 is divided into a small number of modules. Some users may only wish to use a subset of the functionality available within the code while others may wish to use some of the more complicated features that are available. For this reason the plumed source code is divided into modules, which users can activate or deactivate to their hearts content.

You can activate a module at configure time using the keyword --enable-modules. For example:

./configure --enable-modules=modulename

will enable module called modulename. A module that is on by default can be disabled using the following syntax

./configure --enable-modules=-modulename

To enable or disable multiple modules one should provide them as a : separated list. Notice that +modulename and modulename both activate the module, whereas -modulename deactivates it. E.g.

./configure --enable-modules=+crystallization:-colvar

will disable the colvar module and enable the crystallization module. Also notice that : can be omitted when using + or -. Thus, the same can be obtained with

./configure --enable-modules=+crystallization-colvar

If you repeat the --enable-modules keyword only the last instance will be used. Thus ./configure --enable-modules=crystallization --enable-modules=-colvar will not do what you expect!

There are also some shortcuts available:

  • ./configure --enable-modules=all to enable all optional modules. This includes the maximum number of features in PLUMED, including modules that might not be properly functional.
  • ./configure --enable-modules=none or ./configure --disable-modules to disable all optional modules. This produces a minimal PLUMED which can be used as a library but which has no command line tools and no collective variables or biasing methods.
  • ./configure --enable-modules=reset or ./configure --enable-modules to enable the default modules.

The two kinds of syntax can be combined and, for example, ./configure --enable-modules=none:colvar will result in a PLUMED with all the modules disabled with the exception of the colvar module.

Some modules are active by default in the version of PLUMED 2 that you download from the website while others are inactive. The following lists all of the modules that are available in plumed and tells you whether or not they are active by default.

Module name Default behavior
adjmat off
analysis on
annfunc off
bias on
cltools on
colvar on
crystallization off
dimred off
drr off
eds off
fisst off
function on
funnel off
generic on
isdb on
logmfd off
manyrestraints off
mapping on
maze off
molfile on
multicolvar on
opes off
pamm off
piv off
secondarystructure on
setup on
vatom on
ves off

Until PLUMED 2.2, it was also possible to switch on or off modules by adding files in the plumed2/src directory. Since PLUMED 2.3 this is discouraged, since any choice made in this manner will be overwritten next time ./configure is used.