diff --git a/src/docs/sphinx/buildGuide/SpackUberenv.rst b/src/docs/sphinx/buildGuide/SpackUberenv.rst
index ac7805cae64..c4fb13e3aff 100644
--- a/src/docs/sphinx/buildGuide/SpackUberenv.rst
+++ b/src/docs/sphinx/buildGuide/SpackUberenv.rst
@@ -3,7 +3,11 @@
Spack and Uberenv
=================
-GEOS is transitioning to a new `Spack `_ and `Uberenv `_ system for building our dependencies. We refer the reader to the `Spack documentation `_ and `Uberenv documentation `_, in particular the Spack documentation for `specs and dependencies `_, `manual compiler configuration `_ and `external packages `_ are worth reading.
+GEOS is transitioning to a new `Uberenv `_ and `Spack `_ system for building our dependencies. We refer the reader to the `Uberenv documentation `_ and `Spack documentation `_, in particular the Spack documentation sections worth reading are:
+
+* `Specs and dependencies `_
+* `Manual compiler configuration `_
+* `External packages `_
Building the dependencies can be as simple as running:
@@ -11,17 +15,52 @@ Building the dependencies can be as simple as running:
./scripts/uberenv/uberenv.py
-from the `thirdPartyLibs `_ directory. This will create a directory ``uberenv_libs`` (or a directory name you specify by adding ``--prefix directory-name``) in the current working directory, clone Spack into ``uberenv_libs/spack`` and install the dependencies into ``uberenv_libs/system_dependent_path``. It will then spit out host-config files in the current directory which you can use to build GEOS or LvArray. While the above command **should** work on every system, it **should never be used**. Invoked as such, Spack will ignore any system libraries you have installed and will go down a rabbit hole building dependencies. Furthermore this does not allow you to choose the compiler to build. Both of these are easily solved by creating a directory with a ``spack.yaml``.
-
-To prevent this from happening you'll need to create a directory with a ``spack.yaml`` file. You can find working examples for commonly used systems in `scripts/spack_configs `_.
+from the `thirdPartyLibs `_ directory. This will create a directory ``uberenv_libs`` (or a directory name you specify by adding ``--prefix directory-name``) in the current working directory, clone Spack into ``uberenv_libs/spack`` and install the dependencies into ``uberenv_libs/system_dependent_path``. It will then spit out host-config files in the current directory which you can use to build GEOS or LvArray. While the above command **should** work on every system, it **should never be used**. Invoked as such, Spack will ignore any system libraries you have installed and will go down a rabbit hole building dependencies. Furthermore this does not allow you to choose the compiler to build with. Both of these are easily solved by creating a ``spack.yaml`` configuration file, also known in Spack as an Environment file, to tell Spack where pre-installed system libraries and compiles are located. See :ref:`SpackYaml` for more on how to create a ``spack.yaml`` file.
-Once you have these files setup you can run Uberenv again and instruct it to use them with. If for instance you added Clang 14.0.6 to the ``spack.yaml`` file the your command would look something like this:
+Once you have the ``spack.yaml`` file setup, you can run Uberenv again and instruct it to use the environment file with the command line option ``--spack-env-file``. If for instance you added Clang 14.0.6 to the ``spack.yaml`` file, then your command to build the dependencies would look something like this:
.. code-block:: console
- ./scripts/uberenv/uberenv.py --spack-config-dir=/path/to/your/config/directory/ --spec="%clang@14.0.6"
+ ./scripts/uberenv/uberenv.py --spack-env-file=/path/to/your/spack.yaml --spec="%clang@14.0.6"
+
+For more Uberenv command-line options, you can run the ``uberenv.py`` script with the ``--help`` option or consult the `command line options `_.
+
+.. note::
+ There is no requirement that your Environment file be named ``spack.yaml`` when it is passed to Uberenv using the ``--spack-env-file`` command line option.
+
+.. note::
+ On LC systems, there is not a requirement to specify ``--spack-env-file``. This is because Uberenv uses the environment variable ``SYS_TYPE`` in combination with the ``.uberenv_config.json`` Uberenv configuration file to determine the folder name that contains the required ``spack.yaml`` file (e.g. ``scripts/spack_configs/blueos_3_ppc64le_ib_p9/spack.yaml``). More information on Uberenv configuration behavior can be found in `Uberenv spack configurations documentation `_.
+
+.. _SpackYaml:
+
+spack.yaml
+----------
+
+The ``spack.yaml`` configuration file tells Spack where it can find relevant packages and compilers to build GEOS third-party dependencies. Without ``spack.yaml``, building the dependencies will take significantly longer.
+
+There are many examples and resources available for constructing a ``spack.yaml`` file:
+
+* GEOS's LC configuration files for `toss_4_x86_64_ib `_ and `blueos_3_ppc64le_ib_p9 `_. Additionally, the header of these configuration files include the Spack spec to pass to ``--spec`` for different compilers.
+* LLNL's shared Spack configurations for RADIUSS projects: https://github.com/LLNL/radiuss-spack-configs/tree/main
+* NERSC Spack Infrastructure: https://github.com/NERSC/spack-infrastructure/tree/main
+* Shared Spack configuration files with other HPC sites: https://github.com/spack/spack-configs
+* The documentation list mentioned above: :ref:`SpackUberenv`
+
+
+Uberenv configuration file
+--------------------------
+
+Uberenv needs a `.uberenv_config.json `_ configuration file to function as a submodule.
+Details on the various configuration options can be found in `Uberenv project configuration documentation `_. The most notable option for maintenance is ``spack_commit``, which is the Spack commit that Uberenv checkouts to build the dependencies.
+
+
+pygeosx
+-------
+
+.. warning::
+ The spack build system for ``pygeosx`` is a work in progress.
-It is worth noting that GEOS has `two project json files `_ (``.uberenv_config.json`` and ``scripts/pygeosx_configs/pygeosx.json``) and two configuration directories for LC systems (``scripts/spack_configs`` and ``scripts/pygeosx_configs``). The ``.uberenv_config.json`` project json file and ``scripts/spack_configs`` directory is for building GEOS. The ``scripts/pygeosx_configs/pygeosx.json`` project json file and ``scripts/pygeosx_configs`` directory is for building ``pygeosx``. This is because ``pygeosx`` has a separate list of required compilers and packages to build from GEOS (e.g. ``pygeosx``'s numpy dependency recommends building with gcc and using openblas for BLAS/LAPACK). However, when not building ``pygeosx`` other dependencies depend on python, but an existing system version works just fine, so it can be put in GEOS's ``spack.yaml`` to prevent Spack from building it. By default, Uberenv will find and use ``.uberenv_config.json`` to build GEOS, but you can use the ``--project-json`` command line option to target ``scripts/pygeosx_configs/pygeosx.json`` to build ``pygeosx``:
+It is worth noting that GEOS has `two project json files `_ (``.uberenv_config.json`` and ``scripts/pygeosx_configs/pygeosx.json``) and two configuration directories for LC systems (``scripts/spack_configs`` and ``scripts/pygeosx_configs``). The ``.uberenv_config.json`` project json file and ``scripts/spack_configs`` directory is for building GEOS dependencies. The ``scripts/pygeosx_configs/pygeosx.json`` project json file and ``scripts/pygeosx_configs`` directory is for building ``pygeosx`` dependencies.This is because ``pygeosx`` has a separate list of required compilers and packages to build from GEOS (e.g. ``pygeosx``'s numpy dependency recommends building with gcc and using openblas for BLAS/LAPACK). When not building ``pygeosx``, other dependencies of GEOS still depend on python. An existing system version of python will work just fine, and can be put in GEOS's ``spack.yaml`` to prevent Spack from building its own verion of python. By default, Uberenv will find and use ``.uberenv_config.json`` to build GEOS, but you can use the ``--project-json`` command line option to target ``scripts/pygeosx_configs/pygeosx.json`` to build ``pygeosx``:
.. code-block:: console
@@ -36,17 +75,17 @@ Build Configuration
.. warning::
The spack build system is undergoing updates. The ``petsc`` variant and others are still a work in progress.
-The GEOS Spack package has a lot of options for controlling which dependencies you would like to build and how you'd like them built. The GEOS Spack package file is at ```scripts/spack_packages/packages/geosx/package.py `_.`` The variants for the package are marked with ``variant()`` in the file.
+The GEOS Spack package has a lot of options, or what Spack calls variants, for controlling which dependencies you would like to build and how you'd like them built. The `GEOS Spack package file `_ has variants that are marked with ``variant()`` in the file.
For example if you wanted to build with GCC 8.3.1, without Caliper and with Hypre as the Linear Algebra Interface, your spec would be ``%gcc@8.3.1 ~caliper lai=hypre``.
The GEOS Spack package lists out the libraries that GEOS depends ons. These dependencies are marked with ``depends_on()`` in the file.
-Using the Spack spec syntax you can inturn specify variants for each of the dependencies of GEOS. So for example if you could modify the spec above to build RAJA in debug by using ``%gcc@8.3.1 ~caliper lai=hypre ^raja build_type=Debug``. When building with Uberenv Spack should print out a table containing the full spec for every dependency it will build. If you would like to look at the variants for say RAJA in more detail you can find the package file at ``uberenv_libs/spack/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/raja/package.py``.
+Using the Spack spec syntax, you can inturn specify variants for each of the dependencies of GEOS. For example, you could modify the spec above to build RAJA in debug mode by using ``%gcc@8.3.1 ~caliper lai=hypre ^raja build_type=Debug``. When building with Uberenv, Spack should print out a table containing the full spec for every dependency it will build. If you would like to look at the variants for say RAJA in more detail, you can find the package file at ``uberenv_libs/spack/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/raja/package.py``, by using `file finder `_ on the `Spack Github website `_, or by searching for the package at https://packages.spack.io/.
Adding a Dependency (Advanced)
------------------------------
-Adding a dependency to GEOS is straight forward if the dependency already builds with Spack. If that is the case then all you need to do is add a ``depends_on('cool-new-library')`` to the GEOS ``package.py`` file. If however the dependency doesn't have a Spack package, you will have to add one by creating a ``cool-new-library/package.yaml`` file in the ``scripts/spack_packages/packages`` directory and adding the logic to build it there.
+Adding a dependency to GEOS is straight forward **if** the dependency already builds with Spack. If that is the case, then all you need to do is add a ``depends_on('cool-new-library')`` to the GEOS ``package.py`` file. If however the dependency doesn't have a Spack package, you will have to add one by creating a ``cool-new-library/package.py`` file in the ``scripts/spack_packages/packages`` directory and adding the logic to build it there. For instructions on how to create a package recipe from scratch, Spack has provided a `Spack Packing Guide `_.
-Oftentimes (unfortunately), even when a package already exists, it might not work out of the box for your system. In this case copy over the existing ``package.py`` file from the Spack repository into ``scripts/spack_packages/packages/cool-new-library/package.py``, as if you were adding a new package, and perform your modifications there. Once you have the package working, copy the package back into the Spack repository (running Uberenv should do this for you) and commit+push your changes to Spack.
+Oftentimes (unfortunately), even when a package already exists in Spack, it might not work out of the box for your system. In this case copy over the existing ``package.py`` file from the Spack repository into ``scripts/spack_packages/packages/cool-new-library/package.py``, as if you were adding a new package, and perform your modifications there. Once you have the package working, copy the package back into the Spack repository and commit+push your changes to Spack.