[Mpi3-abi] Fwd: questions to drive the telecon

[Jeff Brown]

all,

I put together some questions/comments that can help drive the 
telecon this morning.

Jeff

>ABI WG telecon agenga/notes/questions
>
>- what is the motivation for this effort?
>   ISVs cannot distribute a single binary that includes MPI code
>   - must have either a translation layer or separate binaries for 
> each mpi implementation (and compiler?)
>   sites must maintain a separate "module" for every compiler/mpi 
> combination on the system
>   users must recompile for every compiler/mpi combination
>
>- what are we trying to accomplish?
>   app compiled with a "standard" mpi.h/mpif.h is compatible with 
> standard compliant mpi implementations compiled on that same platform
>   this would allow for run-time dynamic linking
>   does not address items external to the binary such as environment 
> variables and command line arguments
>
>- what do we mean by an "ABI"
>
>- comments on a translation layer
>   may be somewhat viable for an ISV, but not acceptable for a user site
>   just another layer of software to maintain
>   may or may not track what we have on site
>
>- what work is involved?
>   "standard" mpi.h
>   anything else?
>
>- how do we integrate into the standard?
>
>- what is the process to extend "standard" mpi.h content?
>
>- what's the proposal process?
>
>- what do we present at the March meeting?
>
>