include/tmpi.h

   1 /*
   2 This source code file is part of thread_mpi.
   3 Written by Sander Pronk, Erik Lindahl, and possibly others.
   4
   5 Copyright (c) 2009, Sander Pronk, Erik Lindahl.
   6 All rights reserved.
   7
   8 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
   9 modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
  10 1) Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
  11    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  12 2) Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
  13    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
  14    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
  15 3) Neither the name of the copyright holders nor the
  16    names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
  17    derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
  18
  19 THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY US ''AS IS'' AND ANY
  20 EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
  21 WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
  22 DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL WE BE LIABLE FOR ANY
  23 DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
  24 (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
  25 LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
  26 ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
  27 (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
  28 SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
  29
  30 If you want to redistribute modifications, please consider that
  31 scientific software is very special. Version control is crucial -
  32 bugs must be traceable. We will be happy to consider code for
  33 inclusion in the official distribution, but derived work should not
  34 be called official thread_mpi. Details are found in the README & COPYING
  35 files.
  36
  37 To help us fund development, we humbly ask that you cite
  38 any papers on the package - you can find them in the top README file.
  39 */
  40
  41 /*! \mainpage thread_mpi
  42
  43    thread_mpi is a cross-platform threading library for applications in
  44    high-performance computing. It supports:
  45
  46    - Cross-platform thread primitives (thread creation, mutexes, spinlocks,
  47      barriers, thread-local storage, etc.).
  48    - Cross-platform atomic operations (compare-and-swap, add-return, etc) for
  49      safe lock-free synchronization.
  50    - An implementation of (currently, much of) MPI, either as a drop-in
  51      replacement, or for use in conjunction with a networked MPI
  52      implementation.
  53    - Shared-memory allocation and memory management (planned, as of now).
  54    - Basic lock-free data structures (planned, as of now).
  55
  56    Because it can be used as a drop-in replacement for MPI, existing codes
  57    using MPI can start using thread_mpi without major changes in the
  58    source code, assuming -- and this is a big assumption -- that the code
  59    is thread-safe.
  60
  61    Alternatively, networked MPI calls can be used in conjunction with
  62    thread_mpi calls (simply by using
  63     "#include <thread_mpi.h>"
  64    instead of
  65     "#include <tmpi.h>"
  66    and pre-fixing all thread_mpi MPI-like calls with tMPI instead of MPI.
  67
  68    The availability of both MPI calls and shared-memory constructs makes it
  69    possible to transition (relatively) seamlessly from an MPI-style code
  70    to code that's optimal on multicore CPUs.
  71
  72    Although MPI-style message passing isn't neccesarily optimal for
  73    performance on shared-memory systems, the MPI communicator concept and
  74    its emphasis on collective operations makes sense even when computing on
  75    one machine with multiple cores. The communicator forms the basis for
  76    the shared-memory allocation and lock-free data structure implementations
  77    in thread_mpi.
  78
  79    Although usable as a stand-alone library, thread_mpi is designed to
  80    be incorporated in the code tree, eliminating any external build
  81    requirements. The BSD-style license that this library is distributed
  82    with reflects this.
  83
  84    Thread primitives and the atomic operations are cpu and operating system
  85    dependent - thread_mpi attempts to make them available with the same
  86    interface independently of the platform it's run on.
  87    Currently the thread primitives are supported on:
  88    - any operating system supporting POSIX threads
  89    - Windows (XP and later).
  90
  91    The atomic operations (such as compare-and-swap) are supported on:
  92    - gcc on x86, x86_64, PowerPC and Itanium.
  93    - Intel compilers on x86, x86_64 and Itanium.
  94    - xlc on PowerPC.
  95    - (partial) HP/UX compilers on Itanium.
  96
  97    Detailed descriptions of the parts of the API can be found in:
  98    - thread_mpi/threads.h for the threading fundamentals.
  99    - thread_mpi/atomic.h for the atomic operations.
 100    - thread_mpi/tmpi.h for the MPI functions as tMPI_-prefixed functions.
 101    - thread_mpi/mpi.h for the MPI bindings.
 102 */
 103
 104
 105 /** \file
 106  *
 107  * \brief Convenience header file for MPI compatibility.
 108  *
 109  * This file includes the tMPI header file thread_mpi/tmpi.h and the true
 110  * MPI-style bindings of thread_mpi/mpi.h, as well as thread_mpi/threads.h and
 111  * thread_mpi/atomic.h header files. If you'd like to use the components
 112  * individually, or be able to use a networked MPI together with thread_mpi,
 113  * include the relevant header files directly.
 114  */
 115
 116 #include "thread_mpi/threads.h"
 117 #include "thread_mpi/atomic.h"
 118 #include "thread_mpi/tmpi.h"
 119 #include "thread_mpi/mpi_bindings.h"
 120
 121