#40039: New port: mumps 4.10.0 - a library for solving sparse linear systems -------------------------+-------------------------------- Reporter: wimmer@… | Owner: macports-tickets@… Type: submission | Status: new Priority: Normal | Milestone: Component: ports | Version: 2.2.0 Resolution: | Keywords: Port: | -------------------------+-------------------------------- Comment (by sean@…): Replying to [comment:8 wimmer@…]:
Now, it is worth noting that the parmetis switch does not include all of the functionality of the metis switch, as MUMPS offers more functionality when only sequential analysis is used (see documentation of the ICNTL(28) parameter). Hence, one would like to include both parmetis and metis at the same time anyways (I noticed that your Portfile only had parmetis included). If a user would want to use the sequential version, there is not reason for him to use the parallel analysis at all (it gives no additional functionality, but even reduces it), but he/she would always need to link against parmetis/ptscotch.
This is, in my opinion, a good reason to have separate sequential and parallel versions.
That in addition to the fact that while I believe that it is probably possible to use the parallel version in sequential mode without mpi (by linking against mpiseq and dealing with different mpi's properly), the MUMPS web page does advocate separate sequential and parallel versions (http://graal.ens-lyon.fr/MUMPS/index.php?page=faq#5).
[snip]
I don't have a particular example (except MUMPS itself), but suppose I want to install versions of Mumps, SuiteSparse, SuperLU, ... not provided by macports - then I have to do the patching myself (or manually install metis 4). Metis 4 was the standard for more than 10 years when there was no development there; scientific codes are usually conservative in that you don't want to touch what works, so people do not easily change to Metis 5 (look at Mumps and SuiteSparse).
Yes, I am very familiar with the community not wanting to update their own code (even when given the patches!) from being on the PETSc team. Barry has a way of convincing others to not pander to lazy scientists so I don't think it's very persuasive to (from what I can understand) not want to have a longer link line and especially use software outside the macports tree (which is not supported nor stable). -- Ticket URL: <https://trac.macports.org/ticket/40039#comment:9> MacPorts <http://www.macports.org/> Ports system for OS X