Newsgroups: comp.parallel.mpi
From: lusk@donner.mcs.anl.gov (Rusty Lusk)
Subject: Re: Is real MIMD programming available in MPI?
Keywords: MIMD Programming
Organization: Argonne National Laboratory
Date: 16 Feb 1996 16:38:56 GMT
Message-ID: <4g2bv0$2as@milo.mcs.anl.gov>

In article <4fvv5s$g8r@sirio.cineca.it>, destri@doncarlos.eng.unipr.it (Giulio Destri) writes:

|> I have heard somewhere that it is possibile in MPI to execute different
|> programs (i.e. tasks) on different machines, that is to obtain  real
|> MIMD programs and not only SPMD.
|> The method would be to give an appropriate file as input to the "mpirun"
|> command. But I have found no example of such a file.
|> I would like to know:
|> 1. Is the above statement (i.e. real MIMD program) true?

It depends on which implementation of MPI you are using.  MPICH
supports multiple executables in most of the environments it runs on.
I am sure that LAM does too.

|> 2. Is the configuration file the right method to obtain the MIMD goal?

Yes, for MPICH, and there is also a command-line method.  I think that
LAM has a similar method.  There are many implementations of MPI, and they
all may differ in this regard, since process startup is not part of the MPI
specification.

|> 3. Where can I find an example of this file with the appropriate syntax?

For MPICH, you can find it in the User's Guide that comes with the
distribution.  For other MPI implementations, you should similarly look at 
the documentation.

|> 4. When will the dynamic task activation be available?
|> 

The specification is not determined yet.  Some implementations have or
are working on preliminary versions, which they plan to adjust to the
Standard when it becomes finalized.

Regards,
Rusty

