Forgive me if I misunderstand, but I am under the impression that the MPI Forum has not begun any standardization of MPI bindings for JAVA. Have I missed something?

-Paul

On 2/7/2012 12:39 PM, Ralph Castain wrote:
We already have a stable, standard interface for non-C language bindings, Paul 
- the C++ bindings, for example, are built on top of them.

The binding codes are all orthogonal to the base code. All they do is massage 
data access and then loop back to the C bindings. This is the normal way we 
handle all non-C bindings, so nothing different there.

The work has been done on a branch, and an RFC issued. The bindings conform to 
the MPI standard, and the implementation uses an existing external, third-party 
binding that has been tested.

So I'm not sure what you are asking that hasn't already been done…

On Feb 7, 2012, at 1:33 PM, Paul H. Hargrove wrote:

As an HPC software developer and user of OMPI, I'd like to add my $0.02 here 
even though I am not an OMPI developer.

Nothing in George's response seems to me to preclude the interested institutions (listed 
as FROM in the RFC) from forking a branch to pursue this work until there can be 
standardization of Java bindings.  If the JAVA bindings really are as 
"orthogonal" to the rest of the code as the RFC authors claim, then merging a 
branch back to the trunk when they have a stable/standard interface should not be onerous.

I know from experience in other projects that work that SHOULD "have zero 
impact" on those not using it seldom does.  There is always something that pops up, 
such as small autotools mistakes that break nighlty tarballs and goofs like that.  If 
nothing else, the existance of the JAVA bindings would seem to impose an additional 
testing burden on developers making changes to internal interfaces and data structures.  
For that reason I agree w/ George that there is not yet sufficiently low risk/reward to 
support adding Java bindings in OMPI's trunk.

So I'd propose that the work be done on a branch and the RFC can be reissued 
when there is both
a) a standard to which the bindings can claim to conform
b) an implementation which has been shown to be stable

-Paul

On 2/7/2012 12:18 PM, Ralph Castain wrote:
Nobody is asking us to make any decision or take a position re standardization. 
The Hadoop community fully intends to bring the question of Java binding 
standards to the Forum over the next year, but we all know that is a long, 
arduous journey. In the interim, they not only asked that we provide the 
bindings in our release, but also are providing the support to maintain them.

If members of the Python or R communities were to step forward, offer to do the 
work and maintain it, and could show it had zero impact on the rest of the code 
base, I for one would welcome their bindings. Can't see the harm - can always 
be removed if/when they ceased to support them on their own.


On Feb 7, 2012, at 12:33 PM, George Bosilca wrote:

This doesn't sound like a very good idea, despite a significant support from a 
lot of institutions. There is no standardization efforts in the targeted 
community, and championing a broader support in the Java world was not one of 
our main target.

OMPI does not include the Boost bindings, despite the fact that it was 
developed at IU. OMPI does not include Python nor R bindings despite their 
large user community. Why suddenly should we provide unstandardized Java 
bindings?

I think we should not tackle such inclusion before there is at least a 
beginning of a standardization effort in the targeted community. They have to 
step up and address their needs (if they are real), instead of relying on us to 
take a decision. Until then, the fast growing targeted community should 
maintain the binding as a standalone project on their own.

  george.

On Feb 1, 2012, at 15:20 , Ralph Castain wrote:

FROM: LANL, HLRS, Cisco, Oracle, and IBM

WHAT: Adds Java bindings

WHY: The Hadoop community would like to use MPI in their efforts, and most of 
their code is in Java

WHERE: ompi/mpi/java plus one new config file in ompi/config

TIMEOUT: Feb 10, 2012


Hadoop is a Java-based environment for processing extremely large data sets. 
Modeled on the Google enterprise system, it has evolved into its own 
open-source community. Currently, they use their own IPC for messaging, but 
acknowledge that it is nowhere near as efficient or well-developed as found in 
MPI.

While 3rd party Java bindings are available, the Hadoop business world is leery of depending on 
something that "bolts on" - they would be more willing to adopt the technology if it were 
included in a "standard" distribution. Hence, they have requested that Open MPI provide 
that capability, and in exchange will help champion broader adoption of Java support within the MPI 
community.

We have based the OMPI bindings on the mpiJava code originally developed at IU, 
and currently maintained by HLRS. Adding the bindings to OMPI is completely 
transparent to all other OMPI users and has zero performance impact on the rest 
of the code/bindings. We have setup the configure so that the Java bindings 
will build if/when they can or are explicitly requested, just as with other 
language support.

As the Hadoop community represents a rapidly-growing new set of customers and 
needs, we feel that adding these bindings is appropriate. The bindings will be 
maintained by those organizations that have an interest in this use-case.


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Paul H. Hargrove                          phhargr...@lbl.gov
Future Technologies Group
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory     Fax: +1-510-486-6900

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Paul H. Hargrove                          phhargr...@lbl.gov
Future Technologies Group
HPC Research Department                   Tel: +1-510-495-2352
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory     Fax: +1-510-486-6900

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