Category: OpenSource

GPAW installation with pip

Between installation with conda and compilation of libraries, an intermediate path – installation of GPAW with pip – is a compromise for those who wish to text specific GPAW branches or packages.

For example, I wish to text self-interaction error correction (SIC) and evaluate Bader charges with pybader. Neither SIC nor pybader is compatible with the recent GPAW. Here is not to get a workable version.

# numba in pybader is not compatible with python 3.11, so create a conda environment with python 3.10
conda create -n gpaw-pip python=3.10 
conda activate gpaw-pip

conda install -c conda-forge libxc libvdwxc
conda install -c conda-forge ase
# ensure that you install the right openmpi (not external)
conda install -c conda-forge openmpi ucx
conda install -c conda-forge compilers
conda install -c conda-forge openblas scalapack
conda install -c conda-forge pytest
pip install pybader

# Get a developer version of GPAW with SIC
git clone -b dm_sic_mom_update https://gitlab.com/alxvov/gpaw.git
cd gpaw
cp siteconfig_example.py siteconfig.py

# In the siteconfig.py rewrite
'''
fftw = True
scalapack = True
if scalapack:
    libraries += ['scalapack']
'''

unset CC
python -m pip install -e .
gpaw info

Visualizing ASE atoms in Jupyter notebooks

For a long time I wanted to see ASE atoms in my Jupyter notebook. My previous attempts were usually unsuccessful. Today I decided to try again. First ASE wiki suggests x3d and webngl:

view(atoms, viewer='x3d')
view(atoms, viewer='ngl')

Łucasz Mentel gives some useful tips in his blogpost from 2017.

In my case x3d works and webngl fails. The x3d picture is not enought, and I do not want to spend much time on fixing webngl.

ASE-notebook is what works for me.

conda create -n "jupyter"
conda activate jupyter
conda install -c conda-forge ase-notebook
conda install -c conda-forge jupyterlab

By the way, the model is from my “Surface Curvature Effect on Dual-Atom Site Oxygen Electrocatalysis” paper, which you can read at chemRxiv until it turns Gold Open Access.

Bayesian Error Estimation (BEE) for RPBE

The Beyesian Error Estimation (BEE) is implemented in GPAW only for PBE, BEEF-vdW, and mBEEF-vdW.

Here is a trick for making the BEE with the RPBE functional. Just edit the lines in ASE and GPAW codes by adding RPBE as an exception.

To find the needed files, run

find ./ -name "bee.py"

In ase/dft/bee.py change one line:

class BEEFEnsemble:



            if self.xc in ['BEEF-vdW', 'BEEF', 'PBE', 'RPBE']: # add RPBE
                self.beef_type = 'beefvdw'

In gpaw/xc/bee.py add two lines:

class BEEFEnsemble:
    """BEEF ensemble error estimation."""
    def __init__(self, calc):



        # determine functional and read parameters
        self.xc = self.calc.get_xc_functional()
        if self.xc == 'BEEF-vdW':
            self.bee_type = 1
        elif self.xc == 'RPBE': # catch the RPBE exchange functional
            self.bee_type = 1   # assign BEEF coefficients the RBPE

Below we use BEEF-vdW, RPBE, and PBE dimensionless density (n) with gradient (s) and apply BEEF coefficients (E₀, ΔEᵢ) to evaluate the BEE as the standard deviation for the ensemble total energies with the variable enhancement factor (F(s,θᵢ)).


from ase import Atoms
from ase.dft.bee import BEEFEnsemble
from ase.parallel import parprint
from gpaw import GPAW
import time

for xc in ['BEEF-vdW','RPBE','PBE']:
    start_time = time.time()

    h2 = Atoms('H2',[[0.,0.,0.],[0.,0.,0.741]]) #exp. bond length
    h2.center(vacuum=3)
    cell = h2.get_cell()

    calc = GPAW(xc=xc,txt='H2_{0}.txt'.format(xc))
    h2.calc = calc
    e_h2 = h2.get_potential_energy()
    ens = BEEFEnsemble(calc)
    de_h2 = ens.get_ensemble_energies()
    del h2, calc, ens

    h = Atoms('H')
    h.set_cell(cell)
    h.center()
    calc = GPAW(xc=xc,txt='H_{0}.txt'.format(xc), hund=True)
    h.calc = calc
    e_h = h.get_potential_energy()
    ens = BEEFEnsemble(calc)
    de_h = ens.get_ensemble_energies()
    del h, calc, ens

    E_bind = 2*e_h - e_h2
    dE_bind = 2*de_h[:] - de_h2[:]
    dE_bind = dE_bind.std()
    
    parpting('{0} functional'.format(xc))
    parprint('Time: {0} s'.format(round(time.time()-start_time,0)))
    parprint('E_bind: {0} eV'.format(round(E_bind,4)))
    parprint('Error bar {0} eV'.format(round(dE_bind,4)))

Synchronizing calendars

This post describes ways of pushing MS outlook and Google calendars to Nextcloud.

My main working calendar is the Nextcloud app because I can easily sync it is my Sailfish phone. I also use Google calendar (for sharing family events) and MS outlook calendar (for work). Today I decided to merge all these calendars into a single one that I can sync on all my devices. Here is how.

MS to Nextcloud

Use outlookcaldavsynchronizer as recommended in the Nextcloud blog.

Google to Nextcould

  • Get the iCal link from Google Calendar as follows:
  • In the left calendar list menu of Google Calendar, go to the ⋮ menu of the calendar to be shared
  • Click on “Settings and sharing”
  • On the Calendar settings page, scroll down to “Secret address in iCal format”
  • In Nextcloud Calendar’s left menu, click on “+New Calendar” > “New subscription from link (read-only)”
  • Insert the “Secret address in iCal format”
  • Your new calendar subscription will appear in the list; you can change its name or color in the menu of your calendar