@@ -1524,13 +1524,29 @@ MISCELLANEOUS FUNCTIONALITY
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Enable the PERUSE MPI data analysis interface.
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--enable-heterogeneous
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- Enable support for running on heterogeneous clusters (e.g., machines
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- with different endian representations). Heterogeneous support is
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- disabled by default because it imposes a minor performance penalty.
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-
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- *** THE HETEROGENEOUS FUNCTIONALITY IS CURRENTLY BROKEN - DO NOT USE ***
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-
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- --enable-spc
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+ Enable support for running on heterogeneous clusters where data
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+ types are equivalent sizes across nodes, but may have differing
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+ endian representations. Heterogeneous support is disabled by
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+ default because it imposes a minor performance penalty.
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+
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+ Note that the MPI standard does not guarantee that all
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+ heterogeneous communication will function properly, especially
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+ when the conversion between the different representations leads to
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+ loss of accuracy or range. For example, if a message with a
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+ 16-bit integer datatype is sent with value 0x10000 to a receiver
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+ where the same integer datatype is only 8 bits, the value will be
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+ truncated at the receiver. Similarly, problems can occur if a
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+ floating point datatype in one MPI process uses X1 bits for its
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+ mantissa and Y1 bits for its exponent, but the same floating point
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+ datatype in another MPI process uses X2 and Y2 bits, respectively
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+ (where X1 != X2 and/or Y1 != Y2). Type size differences like this
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+ can lead to unexpected behavior.
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+
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+ Open MPI's heterogeneous support correctly handles endian
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+ differences between datatype representations that are otherwise
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+ compatible.
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+
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+ --enable-spc
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Enable software-based performance counters capability.
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--with-wrapper-cflags=<cflags>
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