Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 22:45:02 -0800 (PST) From: Steve Kargl <sgk@troutmask.apl.washington.edu> To: mike@smith.net.au (Mike Smith) Cc: bdodson@beowulf.utmb.edu, mike@smith.net.au, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Fortran in the base system (was Re: sysinstall) Message-ID: <199812160645.WAA72686@troutmask.apl.washington.edu> In-Reply-To: <199812160247.SAA00452@dingo.cdrom.com> from Mike Smith at "Dec 15, 1998 6:46:56 pm"
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According to Mike Smith:
> > According to M. L. Dodson:
> > > Mike Smith writes:
> > >>> If I might, I would like to suggest that any project along this
> > >>> line look to include g77 as well as C++ as part of the base
> > >>> system. This would help those of us interested in using FBSD for
> > >>> number crunching. I can generate some testing time, including
> > >>> compiling and testing some pretty hefty computational chemistry
> > >>
> > >> Can you clarify for us why having g77 in the base system, rather than
> > >> an easily-installable and easily-upgradeable port would be worthwhile?
> >
> > f77 = stock f2c+gcc
> > g77 = from egcs-1.1.1 port
> > pgf77 = Portland Group Fortran compilers for linux
> >
> > The compiled program computes the acoustical scattering from
> > an elastic spherical shell using standard partial wave analysis.
>
> This doesn't sound to me like any sort of justification. In fact, it
> looks like a specific application, and more to the point, a strong
> argument for having it a port.
>
A 33% increase in execution time doesn't seem like a good justification?
Justification:
1. g77 is designed with knowledge of the FSF backend. This permits
great optimization in the generated binary. This translates to
faster execution for any application.
2. g77 includes libU77 which provides access to the environment.
3. Actively maintained.
4. Well documented.
5. g77 contains many extensions to the deprecated Fortran 77 standard
that are commonly found in commerical products (i.e., Fortran code
port much easier).
6. M. Smith said --> "easily-installable and easily-upgradeable port".
Ha Ha Ha.
head -4 /usr/ports/lang/g77/Makefile
# New ports collection makefile for: GNU Fortran
# Version required: 0.5.19.1
# Space required: >= 10MB
# Date created: Wed Mar 22 18:51:05 MET 1995
This is ancient. The current version is 0.5.24.
7. An egcs port works. But, everyone who does any number crunching will
be wasting large amounts a disk space because of the massive redundancy
in /usr/{bin,lib,share/{info,man}} and /usr/local/{bin,lib,info,share/man}
--
Steve
finger kargl@troutmask.apl.washington.edu
http://troutmask.apl.washington.edu/~clesceri/kargl.html
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