Open MPI gets closer to exascale-ready code

Next version release candidate drops, stable gets bug-fixes

Big iron sysadmins: there's a significant upgrade to OpenMPI in the works.

Late last week, OpenMPI released v2.0.0rc3, which brings a full Version 2 of the message passing interface closer to fruition.

Open MPI is an open source implementation of the MPI Forum's message passing standards. It covers a variety of 32-bit and 64-bit systems. It's a project that easily qualifies for the epithet “venerable”, having first landed in 2005.

One of the big aims of the upcoming version is to bring Open MPI into the exascale era with PMIx (the process management interface – exascale). PMIx will offer up APIs designed for application and resource manager interactions, and integrate support for the Instant On initiative.

The latest release candidate includes fixes in the memory architecture, configure-related bug fixes, better detection for Intel TrueScale and OmniPath devices, and better support for Solaris Studio 12.5 beta compilers.

The release candidate was announced here.

The Version 2.0 project is running behind time: as late as November 2011, the consortium was hoping to have it shipping in Q1 this year.

At that time, IBM expected to launch the IBM Platform MPI, based on the new version, by Q3, pushing its own proprietary features back into the open version.

For stable branch users, there's also a bug fix release to the current release, v1.10.3. It covers off a long list of bug fixes with the consortium urging upgrades as soon as possible. ®