Release Notices for Cactus 4.0 beta 12
======================================
Date: June 7, 2002

Released modules:
================
Cactus
CactusBase
CactusBench
CactusConnect
CactusEinstein
CactusElliptic
CactusExamples
CactusExternal
CactusIO
CactusPUGH
CactusPUGHIO
CactusTest
CactusUtils
CactusWave

New thorns:
==========
CactusPUGHIO/IOHDF5 (formerly in AlphaThorns)
CactusPUGHIO/IOHDF5Util (formerly in BetaThorns)
CactusPUGHIO/IOStreamedHDF5 (formerly in BetaThorns)
CactusPUGHIO/IOPanda (formerly in AlphaThorns)
CactusExamples/HelloWorld
CactusExamples/SampleIO
CactusExamples/DemoInterp (former CactusTest/TestInterp)
CactusConnect/Socket (formerly in BetaThorns)
CactusBase/LocalInterp (formerly in BetaThorns)
CactusTest/TestInterp (replaced by new version)
CactusEinstein/ADMAnalysis
CactusEinstein/ADMBase
CactusEinstein/ADMConstraints
CactusEinstein/CoordGauge
CactusEinstein/EvolSimple
CactusEinstein/IDSimple
CactusEinstein/SpaceMask
CactusEinstein/StaticConformal

Removed thorns:
==============
CactusPUGHIO/IOHDF5 (replaced by new version from AlphaThorns arrangement
CactusElliptic/EllTest
CactusEinstein/Einstein

Deprecated thorns:
=================

New supported architectures / operating systems
===============================================

Fujitsu VPP300, VPP700, VPP5000
IA32/OpenBSD 3.0 and 3.1
IA32/Windows XP

CVS Tag:

Cactus_4_0_Beta_12

==============================================================================


CHANGES FOR BETA 12
===================

Utilities
=========

Testsuites:
New scripts for running and comparing testsuites with more options
and output.

Flesh
=====

Key/value tables:
A standard API to store, query and, pass around key/value tables.
A table holds a set of key/value pairs, where the key is a character
string and the value may be a scalar or 1-dimensional array of any
Cactus data type (character, integer, real number, or complex number).
The table API will be used by other Cactus APIs such as hyperslabbing,
reduction, interpolation, and I/O thorns to pass optional information.
(There's a new chapter in the User's Guide on how to use the table API.)

Vector groups:
Can have a group of variables which appears as a one
dimensional array of the sources, with the number of GVs in
this group decided at run time.

Additions of array sizes:
can specify sizes by integer constants or parameters (from
same thorn or shared parameter) which may be used in arithmetic
operations (using *,+,/,-,%,^)

Scheduler:
STORAGE lines in the schedule.ccl file must now indicate how
many timelevels to use, for grid variables with more than one
timelevel.

Array parameters:
A parameters can now be an array of values instead of just a
single number.

Accumulator parameters:
A parameter value can now be automatically built from the
values of other parameters.

Parameter aliasing:
Parameters can now be given a different name from their
original definition in the sources, or other thorns which
use them. This can be used to prevent conflicts when
using or extending a parameter from another implementation.

TAGS on groups:
Groups can now have an optional tags table (a set of key value
pairs) associated with them. These can be queried and
manipulated through the standard table interface.


Util Thorns
===========

CactusBase/LocalInterp:
This thorn provides interpolation local to a processor. It includes
the former PUGHInterp CCTK_InterpLocal() interpolator, and a new
CCTK_InterpLocalUniform() interpolator.

CactusConnect/Socket:
This thorn provides platform-independent socket I/O functionality
which can be used by other thorns.
Thorns CactusConnect/HTTPD and CactusPUGHIO/IOStreamedHDF5 now inherit
from thorn Socket.

New I/O thorns:
IOHDF5, IOHDF5Util, IOStreamedHDF5, and IOPanda were moved from their
development arrangements into production mode. They provide new I/O
methods for output of arbitrary grid variables (and hyperslabs thereof)
in HDF5 and IEEEIO file format.

Reorganization of I/O Parameters:
Some I/O parameter names changed in order to make the naming scheme
consistent between all I/O thorns. The old parameter names are still
there and can be used. A perl script is provided to rename the changed
I/O parameters in your parameter files automatically:

http://www.cactuscode.org/Development/Release/FixParametersForBETA13.pl

CactusBase/IOUtil:
The new filenaming scheme for output files is now the default.
This effects all existing testsuites because the output filenames
changed.
The old scheme can be selected by setting IO::new_filename_scheme = "no".

CactusBase/IOASCII:
CactusIO/IOJpeg:
CactusPUGHIO/IOHDF5:
CactusPUGHIO/IOStreamedHDF5:
CactusPUGHIO/IOFlexIO:
CactusPUGHIO/IOPanda:
CactusExamples/SampleIO:
The option 'out_every' can be set in an option string of the 'out_vars'
I/O parameter to set the output frequency for individual variables.

CactusPUGHIO/IOHDF5:
CactusPUGHIO/IOStreamedHDF5:
CactusPUGHIO/IOFlexIO:
CactusPUGHIO/IOPanda:
The options 'origin', 'direction', 'extent', and 'downsample' can be
set as hyperslab parameters in an option string of the 'out_vars' I/O
parameter to specify a hyperslab selection for individual variables.


Einstein Thorns
===============

The Einstein thorns were reworked for Beta 12, essentially breaking up
the former CactusEinstein/Einstein into more modular components. Much
more documentation for the Einstein thorns is now available in the
ThornGuide.

Refer to the web pages at

www.cactuscode.org/Community/Relativity.html

for a complete description.

Test Thorns
===========

CactusTest/TestInterp
This is a new test driver for interpolators, which tests 3 different
interpolator APIs: CCTK_InterpGV(), CCTK_InterpLocal(), and
CCTK_InterpLocalUniform().


==============================================================================


KNOWN BUGS IN BETA 12
=====================
(See Cactus bug tracking system for a complete list)

* The testsuite test_wavef90_zero.par from CactusWave/WaveToyF90 doesn't
pass on most platforms because of uninitialized boundaries.

* The testsuite test_maximal_1.par from CactusEinstein/Maximal doesn't
pass on multiple processors.

* Recovering and file reading from chunked files doesn't work because
of a bug in the I/O and hyperslabbing code.
You should recombine the files into a single unchunked fike and restart
from that one instead.

* Some testsuites from thorn CactusTest/TestInterp are reported as failing
on a few platforms although the created output files only differ in
machine precision. This is because the Cactus testsuite script cannot
be configured yet to use different precisions when comparing individual
output files in the same testsuite.


==============================================================================


WHAT TO EXPECT IN BETA 13
=========================

Improved interfaces for Interpolation and Reduction

==============================================================================


TEST MACHINES NOTES
===================

Notes:

1. CactusElliptic/EllPETSc only tested on Linux IA32 and SGI 64 bit
2. CactusPUGHIO/IOPanda only tested with MPI configurations
3. On Cray T3E, SP3, and Fujitsu systems the ThornList had to be split into
two separate lists because the bindings library wouldn't build otherwise
(argument line to ar command too long).


* Intel IA32 (Linux Redhat 7.2, LAM/MPICH)

o gullveig.aei.mgp.de w/wo MPI (Intel ifc/icc 6.0)
- testsuites failing
CactusWave/WaveToyF90 (test_wavef90_zero.par)

o gullveig.aei.mgp.de w/wo MPI (Absoft f90, gcc 2.76)
- testsuites failing
CactusWave/WaveToyF90 (test_wavef90_zero.par)

o platinum.ncsa.uiuc.edu w/wo MPI (Portland C/C++/Fortran compilers 3.3-2)
- testsuites failing
CactusWave/WaveToyF90 (test_wavef90_zero.par)
CactusEinstein/IDBrillData (test_wsor.par)


* Intel IA64 (Linux ia64 2.4.16)

o titan.ncsa.uiuc.edu Intel C/C++/F90 wo MPI
- testsuites failing
CactusWave/WaveToyF90 (test_wavef90_zero.par)


* Intel IA32 (Windows XP/Windows NT, Digital Fortran 6.0, MSVC++ ??)

o gullveig.aei-potsdam.mpg.de wo MPI
- not compiling (HDF5 not installed)
CactusPUGHIO/IOHDF5Util
CactusPUGHIO/IOHDF5
CactusPUGHIO/IOStreamedHDF5

- testsuites failing
CactusEinstein/ADM (test_ADMadj.par)
CactusEinstein/ADMConstraints (ADMConstraints_Shift.par)


* SGI 64 bit (Irix 6.5, MIPSPro f90/cc/CC (7.3.1.2m), Native MPI)

o origin.aei-potsdam.mpg.de, w/wo MPI


* SGI 32 bit (Irix 6.5, MIPSpro f90/cc/CC (7.2.1))

o lux.aei-potsdam.mpg.de w native compilers wo MPI
- not compiling
CactusEinstein/TimeGeodesic

- testsuites failing
CactusEinstein/ADMConstraints (ADMConstraints_Shift.par)


* Dec Alpha (OSF1 V5.1, Compaq cc(6.4-014) C++(6.3-008) f90 (5.5-1877),
Elan MPI)

o lemieux.psc.edu, w/wo MPI
- testsuites failing
with MPI some testsuites are failing but it looks like a transient
file problem


* Dec Alpha (OSF1 V4.0, c++(gcc version 2.8.1) DIGITAL Fortran 90 V5.2-705,
w/wo MPI)

o holodec19.aei-potsdam.mpg.de
- testsuites failing
CactusWave/WaveToyF90 (test_wavef90_zero.par)


* IBM SP3 (AIX 4.3.3.0)

o seaborg.nersc.gov with native compilers, native MPI
- testsuites failing
CactusWave/WaveToyF90 (test_wavef90_zero.par)


* Cray T3E (Unicos 2.0.5.54)

o pc.rzg.mpg.de with native MPI
- testsuites failing
CactusEinstein/ADMConstraints (ADMConstraints_Shift.par)
CactusEinstein/AHFinder (test_AHF_1.par)
CactusEinstein/IDBrillData (test_wsor.par)
CactusEinstein/Maximal (test_maximal_1.par)
BetaThorns/Cartoon2D (test_cartoon_3.par)


* Sun Sparc II (SunOS 5.7)

o pitcairn.mcs.anl.gov with native compilers, no MPI
- not compiling:
CactusEinstein/TimeGeodesic (internal compiler error on exa_dt.F)

- testsuites failing
CactusWave/WaveToyF90 (test_wavef90_zero.par)
BetaThorns/Cartoon2D (test_cartoon_3.par)


* MacOS X (Darwin Kernal Version 5.4)

o seidelg4.aei-potsdam.mpg.de
[Absoft F90, Apple C/C++ (gcc 2.95.2), MPICH or LAM]


* Hitachi SR8000-F1 (HI-UX/MPP)

o sr8000.lrz-muenchen.de with native compilers, native MPI
- not compiling:
CactusTest/TestInterp (C++ compiler doesn't know name spaces)

- testsuites failing
CactusWave/WaveToyF90 (test_wavef90_zero.par)
CactusEinstein/IDBrillData (test_brilldata_1.par)
CactusEinstein/IDBrillData (test_brilldata_2.par)


* Fujitsu VPP700

o vpp1.lrz-muenchen.de with native compilers, native MPI
- not compiling:
CactusTest/TestInterp (C++ compiler doesn't know name spaces)
The configuration with all CactusEinstein thorns couldn't be
built (linker command line too long).

- testsuites failing
CactusWave/WaveToyF90 (test_wavef90_zero.par)