Crazy ideas to revamp MPI_INIT and MPI_FINALIZE

I recently had the pleasure of attending EuroMPI 2015, hosted by INRIA in Bordeaux, France (…hey, you should attend EuroMPI 2016 in Edinburgh, Scottland!).

I gave two mini-talks during my speaking slot, the first of which was entitled: Crazy ideas about revamping MPI_INIT and MPI_FINALIZE.

This first mini-talk is essentially a small taste of the fun kinds of discussions that we have at the MPI Forum.

In particular: there are many known limitations of MPI_INIT / MPI_FINALIZE as defined by MPI-1/2/3. How can we overcome them? Here’s some ideas that have been bumping around in my head for a while about MPI_INIT / MPI_FINALIZE:

Keep in mind: at this point, these are still crazy (and incomplete!) ideas. The MPI Forum may end up using some (or none!) of them in a future version of the standard. At this point, it’s just still talk.

If you’re interested in helping define the next generation of parallel computing, you should attend upcoming MPI Forum meetings. The meetings are public and open to all.