The reason to include it is that it would make integrating with batch systems less of a headache for system administrators. Right now most only support 1 MPI version because this is annoying.
Easy integration with a batch system would be a huge bonus. Also, the ability to test a new revision of the MPI library without having to recompile would be nice. Should also allow program such as Totalview to be available on more platforms.
One extra feature that an ABI would allow you to implement is the ability to use different MPI's in the same job. Theoretically you could run a single job on a cluster with different nodes connected via different interconnects. Sure, your performance might be whacky, but it allows more freedom in how you connect your cluster.
And if testing became easier, people might actually fix their code. OK, *now* I'm dreaming... ;-)
Yes, that is definitely dreaming ;) Given that a lot of vendors even wince at change a dot-version in their compilers.
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