Charm++ parallel programming system

[Jozsef Bakosi <jbakosi AT gmail.com>]

Hello,

I wonder if there are examples (advantages, disadvantages, etc) of using third-party libraries that use MPI within a Charm++ application.

For example, are you aware of anyone developing a Charm++ application that uses an existing linear solver + preconditioner library built on top of MPI, such as PETSc; Trilinos' Belos, IfPack, ML, etc; or Hypre?

Is this possible? Is it worth it? If so, what is the best way to build the library and link to the Charm++ application? Must the third-party MPI library be compiled using AMPI? Or will it work simply compiling with e.g., OpenMPI (as usual), and link to a Charm++ application built with charmc?

Also, should Charm++ be built with an MPI-based network interface in that case so that the MPI interface and library is available for the third-party library or is it possible to use a non-MPI network layer for Charm++ and still use the MPI library?

Another, somewhat related, question is the use of a parallel I/O library, such as ADIOS, within a Charm++ application. ADIOS is also built on MPI by default. What would be the best way to go about using such a library within a Charm++ application?

Thanks,

Jozsef