[mpich-discuss] Possible bug: --enable-g=all configure option does not include all other --enable-g options

[Jeff Hammond]

--enable-g=all should enable all debugging options to satisfy the
principle of least surprise as well as simple English language meaning
of the word "all".

perhaps there should be an option
--enable-g=important/most/devel/useful/sane that enables all of the
debug options that are reasonable for the "average hardcore user" /
developer.

jeff

On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 4:33 PM, Jeremiah Willcock <jewillco at osl.iu.edu> wrote:
> On Mon, 11 Mar 2013, Dave Goodell wrote:
>
>> On Mar 11, 2013, at 3:36 PM CDT, Jeremiah Willcock <jewillco at osl.iu.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> In MPICH 3.0.2, the help message for the --enable-g=all configure option
>>> states that it enables "All of the above choices", but in fact (according to
>>> configure.ac) it does not enable the "handle" or "memarena" debugging flags.
>>> Is that the intended behavior?  Thank you for your help.
>>
>>
>> The situation is unclear.  I just did a little bit of git archaeology and
>> it looks like these flags were added prior to MPICH2-1.0.6, which is as far
>> back as I can look without having to sift through ancient CVS history.  The
>> pickaxe doesn't show any place where variables corresponding to those flags
>> might have been removed from the "all|yes)" case.  It looks like just a
>> mistake or sloppiness on someone's part in the distant past.
>>
>> I'm not sure what the right "fix" is.  The "memarena" option actually
>> introduces quite a bit of overhead that we may not want enabled casually.
>> The "handles" option is pretty lightweight, at least in stock MPICH.  I
>> suppose we could add both to the "all" option and then change the "yes"
>> option to be a set of reasonable defaults instead.
>>
>> Do you have a preference?  Or are you just observing a discrepancy?
>
>
> I was both observing a discrepancy and trying to debug something and was
> surprised that "all" didn't include "handles".
>
> -- Jeremiah Willcock
>
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-- 
Jeff Hammond
Argonne Leadership Computing Facility
University of Chicago Computation Institute
jhammond at alcf.anl.gov / (630) 252-5381
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhammond
https://wiki.alcf.anl.gov/parts/index.php/User:Jhammond