Difference between revisions of "Parallel Tools Platform FAQ"

Revision as of 08:32, 24 June 2010

Q: How do I download PTP?

PTP is typically installed via the Eclipse Installation Manager (Help > Install new software...). See the PTP download page; check regularly there for new releases, too. The current released version of PTP is 4.0.x.

See the PTP 4.0 release notes for instructions on how to install PTP.

Q: What version of Eclipse and CDT do I need?

PTP 4.0 is designed to work with Eclipse 3.6.x and CDT 7.0.x.

PTP 3.0 is designed to work with Eclipse 3.5.x and CDT 6.0.2.

Q: What version of MPI do I need to run PTP?

PTP requires Open MPI 1.2.x or 1.3.x, MPICH2 1.0.6p1, or IBM's Parallel Environment (PE). The most recent OpenMPI (1.4.x) is recommended for PTP 3.0.x, although it may work with older releases.

For the Parallel Language Development Tools only, there should be no difference between the different versions of MPI, such as OpenMPI and LamMPI. You just need to configure your project to be built using mpicc rather than gcc (for MPI releases that require that; most do), and to specify the include path to the MPI header files. This should be described in the PLDT help.

Q: What platforms and runtimes are supported by PTP now?

The current release of PTP runs on Linux, MacOS X, and Windows. PTP only supports target systems running Linux, MacOS X, and some kinds of Unix (e.g. AIX). The new Cell B.E. IDE functionality requires Linux (Fedora Core 9).

The Parallel Language Development Tools will run anywhere Eclipse 3.4 and CDT 5.0 will run. It simply requires any version of MPI (specifically, its header files) to aid in the search for MPI artifacts. And an OpenMP header file, if OpenMP analysis is needed.

The Remote Development Tools can be used on Linux, MacOS X, and Windows.

Q: How do I install Open MPI?

You may already have it installed. Try running the following command and check the output:

   ompi_info

If this doesn't work, download the latest version from the Open MPI site.

Unpack the distribution and run the commands (note that you may have to add extra options to configure to suit your local site - see the Open MPI help documentation for more information):

   ./configure --prefix=/path/to/your/ompi/install
   make
   make install

At this point it's a good idea to run a small mpi program to test you have installed Open MPI correctly.

mpicc -o testMPI testMPI.c mpirun -np 2 testMPI

Q: How do I build PTP myself?

See the PTP Environment Setup instructions

Q: How do I ask questions about PTP?

Subscribe to the PTP Mailing lists, especially ptp-user, and ask questions there. This is an excellent place to ask new-user questions. The ptp-user list is watched by most of our PTP developers as well as many users, and you can share in their experience. See http://www.eclipse.org/ptp/mailing_lists.php

Q: How do find out more about PTP?

• Read the PTP Help documentation from the PTP Website or download it and read the help within your PTP installation.
• Download slides from previous PTP tutorials
• Ask questions on the mailing lists: See http://www.eclipse.org/ptp/mailing_lists.php

Q: What's the most recent version of PTP?

The current released version is 3.0.x.

If you like to live on the bleeding edge, you can download a recent build of the upcoming PTP 4.0, available on the PTP 4.0 builds page. PTP 4.0 will be a part of the Eclipse Helios release (Eclipse 3.6) in June 2010, and requires Eclipse 3.6 and CDT 7.0.