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Using MPI (Message Passing Interface) on Fedora
 
Where supported, software in NeuroFedora is also built with {MPI} support. Fedora includes link:http://www.mpich.org/[MPICH] and link:https://www.open-mpi.org/[OpenMPI] implementations of {MPI}. Software can be used with either of these, or without any {MPI} support (if a non {MPI} version is available).
 
Software built with {MPI} is provided as separate packages for each {MPI} implementation:
 
<software>-mpich
<software>-openmpi
 
These packages can be installed using {dnf} in the same way as normal packages.
 
Binaries provided by the software, if any, will also be suffixed to clearly mark which implementation of {MPI} is in use:
 
<binary>_mpich
<binary>_mpi
 
For example, NEST is provided as:
 
nest-mpich
nest-openmpi
 
and the binaries in these are respectively named:
 
nest_mpich
nest_openmpi
 
MPI Environment modules
 
To use an MPI build, the appropriate link:https://modules.readthedocs.io/en/latest/[environment module] must be loaded. These correctly setup paths, and environment variables. For MPICH builds:
 
module load mpi/mpich-$arch # $arch is the architecture, for example x86_64
 
For OpenMPI builds:
 
module load mpi/openmpi-$arch # $arch is the architecture, for example x86_64
 
The architecture can be obtained using the `uname` command in a terminal:
 
uname -m
 
It is generally easier to add these lines to the `~/.bashrc` file (for bash users) so that these commands are automatically run on each login.
 
Where required, use of software with {MPI} is documented on a separate page.