[FIXED] conda does not install old version of pytorch

Issue

I'm trying to install Pytorch 1.7 on a remote cluster using anaconda.

I have cloned the base environment from the anaconda module installed on remote:

module load anaconda
conda activate
conda create --clone base --name myenv

I have then done:

conda install pytorch==1.7.1 cudatoolkit=11.0 -c pytorch 

as recommended in the Pytorch documentation. I get an error message,

PackagesNotFoundError: The following packages are not available from current channels:

  - pytorch==1.7.1

On my personal laptop I can install pytorch 1.7 without issues using conda. I have conda 4.11.0 on my laptop and 4.9.2 on remote; the version of anaconda is the same. I cannot upgrade conda to 4.11 on remote as there are inconsistencies.

I have also tried to install my own version of anaconda from https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2021.05-Linux-ppc64le.sh**, with matched version of anaconda and conda to those of my laptop. Still no success at installing pytorch 1.7 with the command above.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks!

**the ppc64le extension is apparently the correct one, any x86 version refuses to install, although it's unclear to me why that is so..

Solution

ppc64le is the issue here. Your laptop has (most likely) an amd64 based CPU while your remote computer has ppc64le as their CPU architecture. This means that pytorch packages compatible with your laptop will not be compatible with your remote computer. You can find out which pytorch versions are available for that CPU architecture by running conda search:

conda search --subdir='linux-ppc64le' -c pytorch pytorch
Loading channels: done
# Name                       Version           Build  Channel             
pytorch                       1.10.2 cpu_py310hef0c51e_0  pkgs/main           
pytorch                       1.10.2 cpu_py37h6f0ae12_0  pkgs/main           
pytorch                       1.10.2 cpu_py38h6f0ae12_0  pkgs/main           
pytorch                       1.10.2 cpu_py39h6f0ae12_0  pkgs/main

Note, only 1.10.2 seems to be available.

If you need a specific version of pytorch other than that, you will probably need to download and install from source.

Answered By - FlyingTeller