Hi Anton, 1) There is also an uncommitted Open64 port for Solaris & OpenSolaris, and I believe most of the changes for FreeBSD would be very similar to the Solaris port.
As an x86/x64 ELF object on Linux should be idential to the ELF object on Solaris/OpenSolaris, I strongly believe that if you compile a hello world program, take the object file to FreeBSD and link it there, then the executable should work on FreeBSD. IIRC, there an "AMD64 ELF ABI" doc on the Internet, and since Open64 generates objects that are conforming to the standard, I think we don't need to put a huge amount of effort in it. Basically, this is what I did on OpenSolaris for the initial investigation: a) gcc -c hello.c (on Linux) b) gcc hello.o (on Solaris, and in your case, FreeBSD) c) run a.out locally (on Solaris, and again in your case, FreeBSD) And if that works, then replace gcc with open64 and try again! I think there are 2 main pieces of work: a) make Open64 compilable on FreeBSD b) make sure that Open64 invokes the FreeBSD linker correctly. 2) MPI support does not need any changes in the compiler, as it is an external library. IIRC, OpenMPI works perfectly on FreeBSD. Rayson P.S. I am quite busy these days, but nevertheless send any issues you encounter or questions regarding to the port to the list. I have quite some experience in porting optimizing compilers to different OSes, and also handled many system specific issues. And you are allowed to give away guest accounts on your FreeBSD machines, then I can take a look at some of the initial or system specific issues. --- On Tue, 8/3/10, Anton Shterenlikht <me...@bristol.ac.uk> wrote: > Hi > > I'm a lecturer in Solid Mechanics with Mech > Eng Dept at University of Bristol, UK. > My research interests are in computational > mechanics. > > I'm preparing a proposal to EPSRC (Engineering > and Physical Sciences Research Council - a major > UK government funding body for engineering, > including computer science and IT) under > HPC software development call 2010/2011. > Here's a link to the description of this call: > http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/open/hpcsoftwaredev/Pages/default1.aspx > > I propose to develop an optimising compiler > with MPI/OpenMP support for ia64 FreeBSD > platform. Please see my justification at the end. > > PathScale (Christopher Bergstrom) expressed > an interest in my proposal, in principle. > > NAG (Numerical Algorithms Group, nag.co.uk) - a major > UK HPC player, who currently provide user support > on HeCTOR (http://www.hector.ac.uk/), UK national > supercomputer - have been very supportive so far. > > I'm writing to ask if Open64 team would be interested, > in principle, to collaborate on this proposal. > In any case I'd be very grateful for any feedback. > > > Justification: > > ia64 accounts for only 5 system in the top500 > list. This is mainly due to compliers unable > to generate efficient code for VLIW (EPIC). > (Of course, there are other issues to do > with marketing, etc. but this in beyond the point). > > If such compiler, with MPI/OpenMP support, > were available, this would > significantly speed-up HPC on ia64 platform. > > In terms of scientific outputs - clearly > all current HPC codes we use will benefit. > However, some specific coding guidelines for > ia64 might be developed to help the compiler > produce efficient code. > > A specific engineering application, which > will be used to benchmark performance > is a set of multi-scale fracture codes > we have at Bristol. The codes include > a finite element part (floating point) and > a cellular automata part (integer). I'm interested > in simulating very large models, i.e. using > large memories, as well as speeding up the > execution. > > FreeBSD (or, for that matter *BSD systems) > represent at the very least a viable alternative > to linux. Things like better security > and more predictable and systematic development > and release schedule, and more permissible BSD > licence (compared to GPLv3) might make FreeBSD more > attractive for HPC in future. > I think having an alternative to linux > is beneficial to academia and HPC > industry. > > many thanks > anton > > > -- > Anton Shterenlikht > Room 2.6, Queen's Building > Mech Eng Dept > Bristol University > University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TR, UK > Tel: +44 (0)117 331 5944 > Fax: +44 (0)117 929 4423 > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > The Palm PDK Hot Apps Program offers developers who use > the > Plug-In Development Kit to bring their C/C++ apps to Palm > for a share > of $1 Million in cash or HP Products. Visit us here for > more details: > http://p.sf.net/sfu/dev2dev-palm > _______________________________________________ > Open64-devel mailing list > Open64-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/open64-devel > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Palm PDK Hot Apps Program offers developers who use the Plug-In Development Kit to bring their C/C++ apps to Palm for a share of $1 Million in cash or HP Products. Visit us here for more details: http://p.sf.net/sfu/dev2dev-palm _______________________________________________ Open64-devel mailing list Open64-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/open64-devel
