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Re: A case for C++11 in Octave
From: |
Thomas Weber |
Subject: |
Re: A case for C++11 in Octave |
Date: |
Mon, 17 Nov 2014 08:54:38 +0100 |
User-agent: |
Mutt/1.5.23 (2014-03-12) |
On Fri, Nov 14, 2014 at 05:14:03PM +0100, c. wrote:
> Hi Carnë,
>
> On 14 Nov 2014, at 16:32, Carnë Draug <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> > I understand that the reason for not making use of it is to avoid making
> > users in ancient systems to build a recent compiler.
> > While I appreciate the value of being able to build on older systems, I'd
> > like to believe that users on such systems are either more interested on
> > older versions of Octave (they avoid upgrades, after all they're still
> > running CentOS 5 and without EPEL), or are capable enough to build gcc
> > themselves.
>
> Unfortunately the situation is not that simple.
I used to be in that situation, a long time ago on a Redhat-based
cluster. In order to build Octave, I first had to build a newer gcc
(installed version was 2.x something), than the ATLAS and some other
libraries and then Octave. So, this is not really a new situation for
Octave!
That said, if you decide to require a newer compiler, go the full way!
Take the *latest* available compiler and use all the features. As soon
as some people have to build a newer compiler, it does not matter if
they have to build 4.x or 4.x+1 - the work should be the same.
Of course, having some documentation on how to build Octave and its
build-dependencies.
> Many recent HPC systems, as for example
> http://www.hpc.cineca.it/hardware/plx are still using
> quite old systems:
>
> "Welcome to PLX DataPlex Cluster @ CINECA - RedHat EL 5.6!"
>
> and even if other versions of gcc than the default (which is 4.1.2)
> are available on that system, the most recent I managed to get
> installed there is 4.7 which does not yet implement the c++11 standard
> completely.
Ask the administrators. If you are one of them, ask for help on some
other forums (maybe the GCC mailling lists, I don't know). This cluster
will run for a few years, so at some point in time the pressure for you
to provide a C++11 compiler will be so high that you have to give in ...
> Indeed I am able to compile gcc 4.9 myself and that's what I need to do on
> my laptop anyway, but doing so on the cluster at the system level involves a
> lengthy and non trivial procedure.
>
> I believe the same applies to more other scientific HPC or corporate systems
> than
> you would expect, so I don't think it is a good idea to drop backward
> compatibility just yet ...
The pressue on these systems and their administrators will be mounting
anyways - Octave is hardly unique in willing to exploit the benefits of
C++11.
Thomas
- Re: A case for C++11 in Octave, (continued)
- Re: A case for C++11 in Octave, Mike Miller, 2014/11/17
- Re: A case for C++11 in Octave, Michael Goffioul, 2014/11/17
- Re: A case for C++11 in Octave, John W. Eaton, 2014/11/17
- Re: A case for C++11 in Octave, Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso, 2014/11/17
- Re: A case for C++11 in Octave, Michael Godfrey, 2014/11/17
- Re: A case for C++11 in Octave, c., 2014/11/15
Re: A case for C++11 in Octave,
Thomas Weber <=
Re: A case for C++11 in Octave, Michael Godfrey, 2014/11/14