julia: rename build env var MXNET_HOME to MXNET_ROOT

ci/docker/runtime_functions.sh

@@ -1088,7 +1088,7 @@ unittest_ubuntu_gpu_R() {
 unittest_ubuntu_cpu_julia() {
     set -ex
     export PATH="$1/bin:$PATH"
-    export MXNET_HOME='/work/mxnet'
+    export MXNET_ROOT='/work/mxnet'
     export JULIA_DEPOT_PATH='/work/julia-depot'
     export INTEGRATION_TEST=1
 
@@ -1098,7 +1098,7 @@ unittest_ubuntu_cpu_julia() {
     export LD_PRELOAD='/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libjemalloc.so'
     export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/work/mxnet/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
 
-    # use the prebuilt binary from $MXNET_HOME/lib
+    # use the prebuilt binary from $MXNET_ROOT/lib
     julia --project=./julia -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.build("MXNet")'
 
     # run the script `julia/test/runtests.jl`
@@ -1253,7 +1253,7 @@ build_docs() {
 
     # Setup environment for Julia docs
     export PATH="/work/julia10/bin:$PATH"
-    export MXNET_HOME='/work/mxnet'
+    export MXNET_ROOT='/work/mxnet'
     export JULIA_DEPOT_PATH='/work/julia-depot'
 
     julia -e 'using InteractiveUtils; versioninfo()'
@@ -1465,7 +1465,7 @@ deploy_docs() {
 
     # Setup for Julia docs
     export PATH="/work/julia10/bin:$PATH"
-    export MXNET_HOME='/work/mxnet'
+    export MXNET_ROOT='/work/mxnet'
     export JULIA_DEPOT_PATH='/work/julia-depot'
 
     julia -e 'using InteractiveUtils; versioninfo()'

ci/windows/test_jl07_cpu.ps1

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 # set default output encoding to utf8
 $PSDefaultParameterValues['Out-File:Encoding'] = 'utf8'
 
-$env:MXNET_HOME = [System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath('.\windows_package')
+$env:MXNET_ROOT = [System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath('.\windows_package')
 $env:JULIA_URL = "https://julialang-s3.julialang.org/bin/winnt/x64/0.7/julia-0.7.0-win64.exe"
 $env:JULIA_DEPOT_PATH = [System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath('.\julia-depot')
 

ci/windows/test_jl10_cpu.ps1

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 # set default output encoding to utf8
 $PSDefaultParameterValues['Out-File:Encoding'] = 'utf8'
 
-$env:MXNET_HOME = [System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath('.\windows_package')
+$env:MXNET_ROOT = [System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath('.\windows_package')
 $env:JULIA_URL = "https://julialang-s3.julialang.org/bin/winnt/x64/1.0/julia-1.0.3-win64.exe"
 $env:JULIA_DEPOT_PATH = [System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath('.\julia-depot')
 

julia/NEWS.md

@@ -17,6 +17,13 @@
 
 # v1.6.0
 
+* Rename environment variable `MXNET_HOME` to `MXNET_ROOT` (#15568).
+
+* Environment variable `MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH` supports (#15568).
+
+  ```shell
+  $ MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH=/path/to/libmxnet.so julia
+  ```
 
 # v1.5.0
 

julia/deps/build.jl

@@ -26,14 +26,35 @@ libmxnet_detected = false
 libmxnet_curr_ver = get(ENV, "MXNET_COMMIT", "master")
 curr_win = "20190608"  # v1.5.0
 
+# TODO: remove MXNET_HOME backward compatibility in v1.7
 if haskey(ENV, "MXNET_HOME")
-  MXNET_HOME = ENV["MXNET_HOME"]
-  @info("MXNET_HOME environment detected: $MXNET_HOME")
+  @warn "The environment variable `MXNET_HOME` has been renamed, please use `MXNET_ROOT` instead."
+end
+
+# TODO: remove MXNET_HOME backward compatibility in v1.7
+MXNET_ROOT = get(ENV, "MXNET_ROOT", get(ENV, "MXNET_HOME", ""))
+search_locations = if !isempty(MXNET_ROOT)
+  !isabspath(MXNET_ROOT) && error("MXNET_ROOT should be a absolute path")
+  @info "env var: MXNET_ROOT -> $MXNET_ROOT"
+  [joinpath(MXNET_ROOT, "lib"), MXNET_ROOT]
+else
+  []
+end
+
+MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH = get(ENV, "MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH", "")
+println(typeof(MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH))
+# In case of macOS, if user build libmxnet from source and set the MXNET_ROOT,
+# the output is still named as `libmxnet.so`.
+search_names = ["libmxnet.$(Libdl.dlext)", "libmxnet.so"]
+if !isempty(MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH)
+  !isabspath(MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH) && error("MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH should be a absolute path")
+  @info "env var: MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH -> $MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH"
+  pushfirst!(search_names, MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH)
+end
+
+if (!isempty(MXNET_ROOT)) || (!isempty(MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH))
   @info("Trying to load existing libmxnet...")
-  # In case of macOS, if user build libmxnet from source and set the MXNET_HOME,
-  # the output is still named as `libmxnet.so`.
-  lib = Libdl.find_library(["libmxnet.$(Libdl.dlext)", "libmxnet.so"],
-                           [joinpath(MXNET_HOME, "lib"), MXNET_HOME])
+  lib = Libdl.find_library(search_names, search_locations)
   if !isempty(lib)
     @info("Existing libmxnet detected at $lib, skip building...")
     libmxnet_detected = true

julia/docs/src/user-guide/install.md

@@ -40,9 +40,13 @@ libmxnet.
 
 There are several environment variables that change this behaviour.
 
-- `MXNET_HOME`: If you already have a pre-installed version of mxnet
-  you can use `MXNET_HOME` to point the build-process in the right direction.
-- `CUDA_HOME`: If the automatic cuda detection fails you can also set `CUDA_HOME`
+- `MXNET_ROOT`: If you already have a pre-installed version of mxnet
+  you can use `MXNET_ROOT` to point the build-process in the right direction.
+  Note that you should set this variable as a absolute path.
+- `MXNET_HOME`: This variable is replaced by `MXNET_ROOT`. It has been renamed
+  as of v1.6.
+- `MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH`: The absolute path of the libmxnet share object.
+- `CUDA_HOME`: If the automatic CUDA detection fails you can also set `CUDA_HOME`
   to override the process.
 - `MXNET_COMMIT`: To control which version of libmxnet will be compiled,
   you can use the`MXNET_COMMIT` variable to point to either a version tag
@@ -80,26 +84,26 @@ to work with a separate, maybe customized libmxnet.
 
 To build libmxnet, please refer to [the installation guide of
 libmxnet](https://mxnet.incubator.apache.org/install/index.html). After
-successfully installing libmxnet, set the `MXNET_HOME` *environment
+successfully installing libmxnet, set the `MXNET_ROOT` *environment
 variable* to the location of libmxnet. In other words, the compiled
-`libmxnet.so` should be found in `$MXNET_HOME/lib`.
+`libmxnet.so` should be found in `$MXNET_ROOT/lib`.
 
 > **note**
 >
-> The constant `MXNET_HOME` is pre-compiled in MXNet.jl package cache.
+> The constant `MXNET_ROOT` is pre-compiled in MXNet.jl package cache.
 > If you updated the environment variable after installing MXNet.jl,
 > make sure to update the pre-compilation cache by
 > `Base.compilecache("MXNet")`.
 
-When the `MXNET_HOME` environment variable is detected and the
+When the `MXNET_ROOT` environment variable is detected and the
 corresponding `libmxnet.so` could be loaded successfully, MXNet.jl will
 skip automatic building during installation and use the specified
 libmxnet instead.
 
 Basically, MXNet.jl will search `libmxnet.so` or `libmxnet.dll` in the
 following paths (and in that order):
 
--   `$MXNET_HOME/lib`: customized libmxnet builds
+-   `$MXNET_ROOT/lib`: customized libmxnet builds
 -   `Pkg.dir("MXNet", "deps", "usr", "lib")`: automatic builds
 -   Any system wide library search path
 

julia/src/base.jl

@@ -47,11 +47,31 @@ const grad_req_map = Dict{Symbol,GRAD_REQ}(
 ################################################################################
 # Initialization and library API entrance
 ################################################################################
-const MXNET_LIB = Libdl.find_library(["libmxnet.$(Libdl.dlext)", "libmxnet.so"],  # see build.jl
-                                     [joinpath(get(ENV, "MXNET_HOME", ""), "lib"),
-                                      get(ENV, "MXNET_HOME", ""),
-                                      joinpath(@__DIR__, "..",
-                                               "deps", "usr", "lib")])
+function _get_search_names()
+  MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH = get(ENV, "MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH", "")
+  A = ["libmxnet.$(Libdl.dlext)", "libmxnet.so"]  # see build.jl
+  if !isempty(MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH)
+    !isabspath(MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH) && error("MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH should be a absolute path")
+    pushfirst!(A, MXNET_LIBRARY_PATH)
+  end
+  A
+end
+
+function _get_search_dirs()
+  # TODO: remove MXNET_HOME backward compatibility in v1.7
+  if haskey(ENV, "MXNET_HOME")
+    @warn "The environment variable `MXNET_HOME` has been renamed, please use `MXNET_ROOT` instead."
+  end
+  A = [joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "deps", "usr", "lib")]
+  MXNET_ROOT = get(ENV, "MXNET_ROOT", get(ENV, "MXNET_HOME", ""))
+  if !isempty(MXNET_ROOT)
+    !isabspath(MXNET_ROOT) && error("MXNET_ROOT should be a absolute path")
+    prepend!(A, [joinpath(MXNET_ROOT, "lib"), MXNET_ROOT])
+  end
+  A
+end
+
+const MXNET_LIB = Libdl.find_library(_get_search_names(), _get_search_dirs())
 const LIB_VERSION = Ref{Cint}(0)
 
 if isempty(MXNET_LIB)