[petsc-users] Use parallel PETSc linear solver in a sequential program

[Jed Brown]

Qin Lu <lu_qin_2000 at yahoo.com> writes:

> Jed,
>  
> What about MatCreateSeqAIJWithArrays? Is it also implemented by looping over
> the rows calling MatSetValues?

No, it uses the arrays directly because that format makes sense in
serial.

> My CRS matrix is constructed in the master processor when using a
> parallel solver. 

This will absolutely cripple your scalability.  If you're just trying to
use a few cores, then fine, but if you care about scalability, you need
to rethink your design.

> Do I have to manually partition it (using metis, for instance) and
> distribute it to all processors using MPI, or PETSc has any
> subroutines to do this job?

You should really partition the *mesh*, then assemble the local parts in
parallel.  The alternative you can use is to partition the matrix
entries (renumbering from your "native" ordering) and then call
MatSetValues (mapping the indices) from rank 0.  This part is not
scalable and may only make sense if you have a difficult problem or many
systems to solve.  Better to do it right and assemble in parallel.  It's
not difficult.
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