[petsc-dev] Gmsh files - PETSc label names and values for physical groups

[Aagaard, Brad T]

PETSc developers,

Is there a reason why the PETSc Gmsh reader does not just set the PETSc label name to the name of the physical group and set the PETSc label value to 1? 

>From a user perspective, it would be nice to only have to specify one identifier for a physical group (preferably a name) rather than always specify two identifiers (name and value). This is what we do for our PyLith Exodus reader (nodeset names are mapped to label names and the label value is set to 1).

PETSc maps the Gmsh physical group name and tag into a label name and label value. This seems redundant because from what I can tell, physical groups in Gmsh at a given dimension need both a unique name and a unique tag. That is, no two physical groups at a given dimension can have the same name and different tags nor can they have different names and the same tag.


Thanks,
Brad