Merge pull request EESSI#761 from julianmorillo/lfoss-riscv

Add blog entry regarding the availability of lfoss in RISC-V

Author: bedroge

docs/blog/posts/2026/05/lfoss-riscv.md

@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+---
+authors: [julianmorillo]
+date: 2026-05-12
+slug: lfoss-riscv
+---
+
+# `lfoss/2025b` now available in the EESSI RISC-V stack
+
+The EESSI RISC-V software stack available through the `dev.eessi.io/riscv` repository 
+now includes the `lfoss/2025b` toolchain.
+
+This is an important milestone for the RISC-V enablement work in EESSI, since it brings a 
+modern LLVM-based software toolchain to the growing collection of software available for 
+RISC-V systems through EESSI.
+
+<!-- more -->
+
+The RISC-V software stack is distributed through the EESSI development repository 
+infrastructure and is intended for experimentation, testing, and early adoption of RISC-V
+support in EESSI.
+
+## What is `lfoss`
+
+`lfoss` is the LLVM-based counterpart to the widely used `foss` toolchain in EESSI and 
+EasyBuild ecosystems.
+
+Where `foss` is centered around GCC, the `lfoss` family uses LLVM/Clang while still 
+providing the familiar scientific software stack components such as MPI, BLAS/LAPACK, FFT 
+libraries, and related HPC tooling.
+
+The availability of `lfoss/2025b` on RISC-V is particularly relevant because LLVM's RISC-V 
+backend has matured significantly in recent years, making it increasingly viable for HPC 
+and scientific computing workloads.
+
+## Why this matters
+
+Adding `lfoss/2025b` to the EESSI RISC-V stack provides several benefits:
+ 
++ access to a modern LLVM/Clang-based compiler environment on RISC-V;
++ broader compiler coverage for portability testing;
++ improved support for projects already using LLVM toolchains;
++ additional opportunities to validate and improve RISC-V support in HPC software
+ecosystems.
+
+This also helps align the RISC-V stack more closely with the software offerings already
+available on x86\_64 and AArch64 platforms in EESSI.
+
+## Accessing the RISC-V stack
+
+The RISC-V stack is currently provided through the dedicated RISC-V development
+repository. To access it, make sure that the `software.eessi.io` and `dev.eessi.io` CernVM-FS repositories  are available on your system, and then just run:
+
+```
+$ export EESSI_VERSION_OVERRIDE=2025.06-001
+$ source /cvmfs/software.eessi.io/versions/2025.06/init/lmod/bash
+This EESSI production version only provides a RISC-V compatibility layer,
+software installations are provided by the EESSI development repository at /cvmfs/dev.eessi.io/riscv.
+
+Module for EESSI/2025.06 loaded successfully
+EESSI has selected riscv64/generic as the compatible CPU target for EESSI/2025.06
+EESSI did not identify an accelerator on the system
+(for debug information when loading the EESSI module, set the environment variable EESSI_MODULE_DEBUG_INIT)
+```
+
+On a RISC-V system, this will initialize the RISC-V software stack environment.
+
+You can then verify that the new toolchain is available:
+
+```
+module avail lfoss
+```
+
+and load it via:
+
+```
+module load lfoss/2025b
+```
+
+## Availability in `dev.eessi.io/riscv`
+
+The RISC-V stack is currently hosted in the EESSI development infrastructure, which is
+intended for pre-release and experimental software deployments.
+
+As with the rest of the RISC-V repository:
+
++ software availability is still evolving;
++ builds may be updated or replaced;
++ the stack currently focuses on generic RISC-V targets.
+
+The RISC-V repository already contains a growing collection of scientific software and toolchains.
+
+## Looking ahead
+
+The addition of `lfoss/2025b` is another step toward broader and more mature RISC-V 
+support within EESSI.
+
+Future work will include:
+
++ expanding software coverage built with LLVM-based toolchains;
++ improving validation and CI coverage for RISC-V;
++ enabling additional optimized RISC-V targets as the ecosystem matures;
++ continuing collaboration with the broader RISC-V and HPC communities.
+
+RISC-V remains an exciting and rapidly developing architecture for HPC and scientific
+computing, and EESSI aims to make portable, reproducible software stacks readily 
+available for emerging platforms.
+
+## Learn more
+
++ [EESSI RISC-V repository documentation](https://www.eessi.io/docs/repositories/dev.eessi.io-riscv/)
++ [dev.eessi.io documentation](https://www.eessi.io/docs/repositories/dev.eessi.io/)
++ [Available software in EESSI](https://www.eessi.io/docs/available_software/)
++ [foss toolchain documentation](https://www.eessi.io/docs/available_software/detail/foss)
+