[petsc-dev] merging PETSc and BuildSystem packages

[Matthew Knepley]

On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 11:43 AM, Barry Smith <bsmith at mcs.anl.gov> wrote:

>
>    Can we “merge” the BuildSystem and PETSc package.py and put all the
> packages/*.py together in one place?  It seems arbitrary in which each
> package is and having these differences make enhancing and simplifying the
> system difficult.
>
>    Here specifically is what I propose.
>
> 1) Introduce a CMakePackage much like GNUPackage for packages that use
> CMake
>
> 2) “Fix” all the BuildSystem/config/packages/*.py to modern standards
> using GNUPackage and CMakePackage when possible. This would include adding
> MPICH.py and OpenMPI.py to handle those installs.
>
> 3) Move the PETSc/packages/*.py one at a time over to the
> config/packages.py location, updating to follow modern standards and use
> GNUPackage or CMakePackage as needed.
>

The barrier here has always been the assumptions made about types. The
PETSc package knows whether it is begin compiled
for "single". I don't think even PETSc wants this in the long term since
eventually we have to have a multiprecision interface, however
imperfect. Jed is peppering the Elemental list with this kind of thing
right now.

   Matt


>    Now, about versioning? I think it is too much to maintain full
> information about versions of all packages and which work with which but
> the current system where we keep no information is troublesome (for example
> MUMPS doesn’t currently work in our suite). BuildSystem should at least
> know which combinations are not currently workable and why.  Currently we
> track the “latest” version of some packages but for other ones we don’t
> always update to the latest so we are somewhat as guilty as the MUMPS folks.
>
>   Barry
>
>


-- 
What most experimenters take for granted before they begin their
experiments is infinitely more interesting than any results to which their
experiments lead.
-- Norbert Wiener
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.mcs.anl.gov/pipermail/petsc-dev/attachments/20140902/c07448a2/attachment.html>