Installing boostmpi

This tutorial will walk you through the process of building mpiboost. To follow, you only need four basic things:

  • A UNIX-like machine with web access.
  • An MPI implementation. Issuing the mpicc –help in your shell should not result in an error.
  • A C++ compiler, preferably a Version 4.x gcc.
  • A working Python installation, Version 2.4 or newer.

Step 1: Build Boost

You may already have a working copy of the Boost C++ libraries. If so, make sure that it’s version 1.37.0 or newer. If not, no problem, there are simple instructions on how to build and install boost available.

Note

You need to compile boost with MPI support. Consult the Boost documentation on how to achieve that with your MPI implemenation.

Step 2: Create and Customize a Configuration File

Copy and paste the following text into a file called .aksetup-defaults.py (Make sure not to miss the initial dot, it’s important.) in your home directory:

BOOST_INC_DIR = ['/home/andreas/pool/include/boost-1_37']
BOOST_LIB_DIR = ['/home/andreas/pool/lib']
BOOST_PYTHON_LIBNAME = ['boost_python-gcc43-mt']

You will need to adapt the path names in this file to your personal situation, of course.

Additionally, make sure that the compiler tag in BOOST_PYTHON_LIBNAME matches your boost libraries. (It’s gcc43 in the example, which stands for gcc Version 4.3. Yours may be different. Find out by looking at the directory listing of $HOME/pool/lib, or wherever you installed the Boost libraries.)

Step 3: Download and Unpack boostmpi

Download the latest release of boostmpi. Then do this:

$ tar xfz boostmpi-VERSION.tar.gz

Step 4: Build and Install boostmpi

Actually compiling and installing hedge should now be fairly simple:

$ cd boostmpi-VERSION # if you're not there already
$ sudo python setup.py install

Get some coffee while boostmpi is installed. If you don’t get any errors, congratulations! You have successfully installed boostmpi.

Step 5: Run Tests

You can run boostmpi’s automated unit tests by typing:

$ cd boostmpi-VERSION # if you're not there already
$ cd test
$ mpirun -np 5 python run_all.py