<html><body>
<p><tt>All -<br>
<br>
The signatories of this letter represent the majority of MPI implementors participating in the MPI Forum. We are concerned that proposal #140 ("Add const Keyword to the C bindings") has a number of issues which suggest delaying to MPI-3 would be appropriate. </tt><br>
<tt> </tt><br>
<tt>In particular, the proposal:<br>
<br>
- Is likely to pass a simple majority vote, but does not carry the support of the majority of MPI implementors, suggesting consensus has not been reached.<br>
- Changes 90+ MPI API interfaces, which is not a "trivial" change and therefore does not meet the intent of the MPI-2.2 process.<br>
- Is not needed to fix any serious bug in the standard text or to solve an issue that cannot easily be avoided by the MPI application.<br>
- Does not offer any demonstrable optimization opportunities for implementation or application, but may constrain future implementation opportunities.<br>
<br>
Therefore, we ask for your assistance in deferring proposal #140 to the MPI-3 process, where more time can be spent assessing its impact.</tt><br>
<br>
<tt>Thank you,</tt><br>
<br>
<tt>- Cisco: Jeff Squires</tt><br>
<tt>- Intel: Alexander Supalov & Keith Underwood</tt><br>
<tt>- Sandia: Brian Barrett</tt><br>
<tt>- IBM: Richard Treumann</tt><br>
<tt>- QLogic: Avneesh Pant</tt><br>
<tt>- UTenn: George Bosilca</tt><br>
<tt>- HP: David George Solt</tt><br>
<tt>- UHouston: Edgar Gabriel</tt><br>
<tt>- Myricom: Patrick Geoffray</tt><br>
<tt>- ORNL: Richard Graham</tt><br>
<tt>- Sun: Terry Dontje</tt><br>
<tt>- NEC: Hubert Ritzdorf & Jesper Traeff</tt><br>
<tt><br>
<br>
</tt><br>
Dick Treumann - MPI Team <br>
IBM Systems & Technology Group<br>
Dept X2ZA / MS P963 -- 2455 South Road -- Poughkeepsie, NY 12601<br>
Tele (845) 433-7846 Fax (845) 433-8363<br>
</body></html>