WHAT: Open our low-level communication infrastructure by moving all necessary components (btl/rcache/allocator/mpool) down in OPAL
All the components required for inter-process communications are currently deeply integrated in the OMPI layer. Several groups/institutions have express interest in having a more generic communication infrastructure, without all the OMPI layer dependencies. This communication layer should be made available at a different software level, available to all layers in the Open MPI software stack. As an example, our ORTE layer could replace the current OOB and instead use the BTL directly, gaining access to more reactive network interfaces than TCP. Similarly, external software libraries could take advantage of our highly optimized AM (active message) communication layer for their own purpose. UTK with support from Sandia, developped a version of Open MPI where the entire communication infrastucture has been moved down to OPAL (btl/rcache/allocator/mpool). Most of the moved components have been updated to match the new schema, with few exceptions (mainly BTLs where I have no way of compiling/testing them). Thus, the completion of this RFC is tied to being able to completing this move for all BTLs. For this we need help from the rest of the Open MPI community, especially those supporting some of the BTLs. A non-exhaustive list of BTLs that qualify here is: mx, portals4, scif, udapl, ugni, usnic.
This commit was SVN r32317.
Notes:
- This commit also eliminates the need for an available components list in use
in several frameworks. None of the code in question was making use of the
priority field of the priority component list item so these extra lists were
removed.
- Cleaned up selection code in several frameworks to sort lists using opal_list_sort.
- Cleans up the ompi/orte-info functions. Expose the functions that construct the
list of params so they can be used elsewhere.
patches for mtl/portals4 from brian
missed a few output variables in openib
This commit was SVN r28241.
Features:
- Support for an override parameter file (openmpi-mca-param-override.conf).
Variable values in this file can not be overridden by any file or environment
value.
- Support for boolean, unsigned, and unsigned long long variables.
- Support for true/false values.
- Support for enumerations on integer variables.
- Support for MPIT scope, verbosity, and binding.
- Support for command line source.
- Support for setting variable source via the environment using
OMPI_MCA_SOURCE_<var name>=source (either command or file:filename)
- Cleaner API.
- Support for variable groups (equivalent to MPIT categories).
Notes:
- Variables must be created with a backing store (char **, int *, or bool *)
that must live at least as long as the variable.
- Creating a variable with the MCA_BASE_VAR_FLAG_SETTABLE enables the use of
mca_base_var_set_value() to change the value.
- String values are duplicated when the variable is registered. It is up to
the caller to free the original value if necessary. The new value will be
freed by the mca_base_var system and must not be freed by the user.
- Variables with constant scope may not be settable.
- Variable groups (and all associated variables) are deregistered when the
component is closed or the component repository item is freed. This
prevents a segmentation fault from accessing a variable after its component
is unloaded.
- After some discussion we decided we should remove the automatic registration
of component priority variables. Few component actually made use of this
feature.
- The enumerator interface was updated to be general enough to handle
future uses of the interface.
- The code to generate ompi_info output has been moved into the MCA variable
system. See mca_base_var_dump().
opal: update core and components to mca_base_var system
orte: update core and components to mca_base_var system
ompi: update core and components to mca_base_var system
This commit also modifies the rmaps framework. The following variables were
moved from ppr and lama: rmaps_base_pernode, rmaps_base_n_pernode,
rmaps_base_n_persocket. Both lama and ppr create synonyms for these variables.
This commit was SVN r28236.
It appears the problem was not with the command line parser but the rsh plm. I don't know why this problem was not occuring before the command line parser changes but it appears to be resolved now.
This commit was SVN r27527.
The following SVN revision numbers were found above:
r27451 --> open-mpi/ompi@d59034e6ef
r27456 --> open-mpi/ompi@ecdbf34937
This is a fairly intrusive change, but outside of the moving of opal/event to opal/mca/event, the only changes involved (a) changing all calls to opal_event functions to reflect the new framework instead, and (b) ensuring that all opal_event_t objects are properly constructed since they are now true opal_objects.
Note: Shiqing has just returned from vacation and has not yet had a chance to complete the Windows integration. Thus, this commit almost certainly breaks Windows support on the trunk. However, I want this to have a chance to soak for as long as possible before I become less available a week from today (going to be at a class for 5 days, and thus will only be sparingly available) so we can find and fix any problems.
Biggest change is moving the libevent code from opal/event to a new opal/mca/event framework. This was done to make it much easier to update libevent in the future. New versions can be inserted as a new component and tested in parallel with the current version until validated, then we can remove the earlier version if we so choose. This is a statically built framework ala installdirs, so only one component will build at a time. There is no selection logic - the sole compiled component simply loads its function pointers into the opal_event struct.
I have gone thru the code base and converted all the libevent calls I could find. However, I cannot compile nor test every environment. It is therefore quite likely that errors remain in the system. Please keep an eye open for two things:
1. compile-time errors: these will be obvious as calls to the old functions (e.g., opal_evtimer_new) must be replaced by the new framework APIs (e.g., opal_event.evtimer_new)
2. run-time errors: these will likely show up as segfaults due to missing constructors on opal_event_t objects. It appears that it became a typical practice for people to "init" an opal_event_t by simply using memset to zero it out. This will no longer work - you must either OBJ_NEW or OBJ_CONSTRUCT an opal_event_t. I tried to catch these cases, but may have missed some. Believe me, you'll know when you hit it.
There is also the issue of the new libevent "no recursion" behavior. As I described on a recent email, we will have to discuss this and figure out what, if anything, we need to do.
This commit was SVN r23925.
