Might help if you were to list those CLI params you believe to be removable and/or those you propose to deprecate.
Just a quick glance: I don't see any options that are defunct, though we could argue about how many people use them. So perhaps what we discussed - having a short response for -h that lists the most commonly used ones, and a longer response to --help that contains them all - might be more appropriate? On Apr 21, 2011, at 9:51 AM, Jeff Squyres wrote: > WHAT: Deprecate a bunch of old mpirun CLI parameters, remove *most* > "single dash" long mpirun options, make "mpirun --help" much > more user friendly > > WHY: `mpirun --help` is currently 232 lines of output. *Ouch* > Additionally, the Josh/Terry/Jeff affinity re-work will end up > creating new mpirun CLI options and deprecating the old ones. > > WHEN: Maybe late in the 1.5 series (the new affinity stuff is > tentatively scheduled for late in the 1.5 series). 1.7 for > sure. > > WHERE: Mostly in orte/tools/orterun/ > > TIMEOUT: ORNL face-to-face OMPI meeting (May 3) > > ----- > > MORE DETAILS: > > We simply have too many options to mpirun. > > - Some could be removed > - Some should be removed > - Some should be deprecated (but still available) > - The --help output needs to be made (much) better > > The new mapping/affinity options effectively replace a bunch of the > old options. The old mapping/affinity options should be deprecated in > favor of the new stuff. > > Additionally, there are at least a few old orterun options that are > either only of interest to developers and/or have an MCA parameter > backing them (and are fairly uncommonly used such that the MCA param > could be used instead). > > Finally, we have many options that are available via both "-foo" and > "--foo" (mostly for hysterical raisins). In most cases, the > single-dash version should be removed -- per GNU conventions, long > names should only be available via double-dash. There are a small > number of single-dash options that must be retained, however, for > compatibility with other MPI implementations and for mpiexec options > specifically listed in MPI-2.2: > > -np, -host, -hostfile, -machinefile, -wd, -wdir, -path > > I propose: > > 1. Remove all other single-dash long name options. > > 2. Make all deprecated options only available if the user > specifies --deprecated-options on the command line (or invokes mpirun > via mpirun.deprecated-options). > --> This allows users to keep their existing scripts that use > deprecated options, but with a glaring signal that "hey, this > option you're using may disappear in a future version!" > > 3. Revamp the --help output to show a short listing of the most common > options, and a note that a) the mpirun(1) man page offers much more > detail, and b) --help-all shows the original, exhaustive CLI option > listing. > > Extra bonus points would be given for anyone who'd like to implement > an svn/hg-like "help" command, perhaps something like: > > mpirun help machinefile > ...help output specifically about the machinefile option... > > I don't have time to do this last part, but it would be a great > usability feature. > > -- > Jeff Squyres > jsquy...@cisco.com > For corporate legal information go to: > http://www.cisco.com/web/about/doing_business/legal/cri/ > > _______________________________________________ > devel mailing list > de...@open-mpi.org > http://www.open-mpi.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/devel
