pNetCDF and WRF

[Robert Latham]

On Sun, Oct 29, 2006 at 12:58:48AM -0600, John Michalakes wrote:
> An update and a question:
> 
> Update: Parallel NetCDF is now successfully integrated as an I/O option into
> the Weather Research and Forecast Model. Thanks for your help answering
> questions these last couple of weeks. This new capability will be included
> in the upcoming WRF 2.2 release in December 2006. pNetCDF will be supported
> but not required in WRFv2.2 (it will be possible to build and run WRF
> without it). We will not distribute pNetCDF with WRF; rather, users will be
> directed to install pNetCDF from the ANL distribution.

Hi Jonh, that's great news!  I think you made the right decision not
to incorporate pNetCDF into WRF.  It will be easier to maintain, and
(hopefully) users with pNetCDF quetions will come to us and get help
faster.   Of course, you should feel free to forward any pnetcdf
questions our way. 

> Question: what is the status of pNetCDF on Blue Gene, please? Any
> caveats or other special information?

For the most part, things work as you would expect.  I have documented
any special tricks to get things building in README.bgl, which also
discusses which BGL driver versions might have bugs, and when those
bugs were fixed.  Do let us know if that file is missing anything.
It's almost all based on the experiences from the Argonne BGL, and
other systems might have additional quirks.  

==rob

-- 
Rob Latham
Mathematics and Computer Science Division    A215 0178 EA2D B059 8CDF
Argonne National Lab, IL USA                 B29D F333 664A 4280 315B