------ Forwarded Message From: Richard Graham <rlgra...@ornl.gov> Reply-To: <mpi...@mpi-forum.org> List-Post: users@lists.open-mpi.org Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:21:16 -0500 To: <mpi...@mpi-forum.org> Conversation: Follow up on the MPI Forum meeting Subject: [mpi-21] Follow up on the MPI Forum meeting
Here is a brief summary of the meeting held at SC07 in Reno. We decided to reconvene the MPI forum with the intent of producing the MPI 2.1, 2.2, and 3.0 documents (the actual number may end up being different). MPI 2.1, which is current is strictly a for clarification of the current 2.0 standard - no changes to the standard. A new combined document of the 2.0 standard has been prepared, and will be put out soon for review. There is also an existing ballot on the MPI 2.1 web site, which is accessible from the MPI forum web page (www.mpi-forum.org). People are strongly encouraged to send additional item for consideration to this mailing list, and we these will be added for discussion. We agreed that this clarification process will be handled electronically. I will also be looking for volunteers to take primary responsibility for reviewing each chapter of the 2.0 standard, and collecting input from others for these chapters. I hope to send this out in the next week or so. The goal is to complete the 2.1 process by July, 2007. MPI 2.2 is intended to introduce "small" additions to the standard, with the flavor of obvious errors/omissions in the 2.0 interface. This includes items such as adding appropriate const declarations to interface parameters, making it easier to send more than 2 GB, and the like. I am sure there will be plenty of discussion on what constitutes "a small changes. The goal is to complete this process by Jan, 2008, and this will most likely be the focus of our first face-to-face meeting. We already started to compile this list in our meeting in Reno, so please continue to add to this list. At this stage these items should be brought up on the mailing list, but I am hoping to set up a bit more efficient process to make sure we capture all the items of interest. MPI 3.0 (or what ever it is called) is where I expect most of the discussions to take place, ad this is where we may make larger changes to the standard to better support current and future applications. Some of the items that have already been brought up, that I believe fall in the category include items such as improved one-sided communications, better support for Generalized Requests, Non-blocking Collectives, support for Fault-Tolerance, sub-setting functionality, ... (this is not an exhaustive list, and does not reflect priorities) The goal is to complete the 3.0 standard no later than Jan, 2010, with a first round of approved changes (if we vote any in), but Jan. 2008, so that implementations can start to change, if need be. There will be time to start discussing items in our first face to face meeting. We also decided to stick with the current voting procedures: - One vote per organization - To vote, and organization must have been present in at least two of the last three face-to-face meetings. - Votes are taken twice, in two consecutive meetings, with a "reading" at an earlier meeting. (This will make it possible for any new organizations to be become members before any final vote takes place) - Measures pass on simple majority. - Only items consistent with the charter can be considered. We decided that the face-to-face meetings will take place in Chicago, every eight weeks, with a telecon mid-way. The face to face meetings will start around noon on Monday, and end around noon on Wed., and the telecons will be up to four hours, as needed. We are working on securing a meeting location, and reduced hotel rates, and I hope to have this information out next week (the week of 11/19/2007), so people can start to make hotel reservations. We have set the first two meeting dates: Jan 14-16, 2008 March 10-12, 2008 To help in future planning I have penciled in dates for the rest of the year May 5-7, 2008 June 30 - July 2, 2008 August 25-27, 2008 (though we should consider having this meeting in Europe about a week later, in conjunction with the Euro PVM/MPI meeting) October 20-22, 2008 and December 15-17, 2008. Several of us are working to see if we can secure funding to help pay for these meetings, and will let people know if we are able to do so. I we can't, we will need to collect a fee for each meeting, to pay for the meeting rooms, snacks, drinks, and any business costs that may need to be incurred, such as photo-copying. Finally, please advertise this activity as widely as you can, as the more input we get, the more likely we are to come improve on an already successful endeavor. In particular, it is very important that we get our user community and the vendor community to be actively involved in this process. I am actively perusing the people I know in both these communities, and would highly encourage others to do the same. Looking forward to a fun process, Rich ------ End of Forwarded Message
