MPI: Message Passing Interface

The Message Passing Interface (MPI) provides inter-processor communication. It can either be implemented natively on a machine (this is usual on most supercomputers), or through a standard package such as MPICH, LAM, WMPI, or PACX.

To compile with MPI, the configure option is

MPI = <MPI_TYPE>,

where <MPI_TYPE> can take the values (entries followed by * may be specified on the configuration command line):

CUSTOM

For a custom MPI configuration set the variables

MPI_LIBS

* libraries.

MPI_LIB_DIRS

* library directories.

MPI_INC_DIRS

* include file directories.

NATIVE

Use the native MPI for this machine, as indicated in the known-architectures directory (lib/make/known-architectures).

MPICH

Use MPICH (http://www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/mpi/mpich). This is controlled by the options

MPICH_ARCH

* machine architecture.

MPICH_DIR

* directory in which MPICH is installed. If this option is not defined, it will be searched for.

MPICH_DEVICE

* the device used by MPICH. If not defined, the configuration process will search for this in a few defined places. Supported devices are currently ch_p4, ch_shmem, globus and myrinet. For versions of MPICH prior to 1.2.0, the devices are searched for in this order, for 1.2.0 you may need to specify MPICH_DEVICE, depending on the installation.

If MPICH_DEVICE is chosen to be globus (http://www.globus.org), an additional variable must be set

GLOBUS_LOCATION

* directory in which Globus is installed.

The Globus flavor may be chosen optionally

GLOBUS_FLAVOR

* Globus flavor to build Cactus with.

If it is not set, the first Globus flavor found will be used.

If MPICH_DEVICE is chosen to be ch_gm, (http://www.myri.com), an additional variable must be set

MYRINET_DIR

* directory in which Myrinet libraries are installed.

LAM

Use LAM (Local Area Multicomputer, http://www.lam-mpi.org/). This is controlled by the variables

LAM_DIR

* directory in which LAM is installed. This will be searched for in a few provided places if not given.

If the LAM installation splits libraries and include files into different directories, instead of setting LAM_DIR set the two variables

LAM_LIB_DIR

* directory in which LAM libraries are installed.

LAM_INC_DIR

* directory in which LAM include files are installed.

WMPI

Use WMPI (Win32 Message Passing Interface, http://dsg.dei.uc.pt/w32mpi/intro.html). This is controlled by the variable

WMPI_DIR

* directory in which WMPI is installed.

HPVM

Use HPVM (High Performance Virtual Machine, (http://www-csag.ucsd.edu/projects/hpvm.html). This is controlled by the variable

HPVM_DIR

* directory in which HPVM is installed.

MPIPro

Use MPIPro (http://www.mpi-softtech.com/).

PACX

Use the PACX Metacomputing package (PArallel Computer eXtension,
http://www.hlrs.de/structure/organisation/par/projects/pacx-mpi/). This is controlled by the variables

PACX_DIR

* directory in which PACX is installed. If this option is not defined, it will be searched for.

PACX_MPI

* the MPI package PACX uses node-local communication. This can be any of the above MPI packages.

Note that the searches for libraries, etc., mentioned above, use the locations given in the files in lib/make/extras/MPI.