Getting the Code

The PMIx Reference RunTime Environment (PRRTE) Git repository (where most active development is done) is hosted at GitHub. At this time, the PMIx team has not issued any stable point releases of PRRTE. However, this is expected to begin fairly soon. Meantime, there are many useful new features (and bug fixes) on the master branch of the repository, and users sometimes find it advantageous to work from that branch.

Be aware, however, that the head of the development code tree is not guaranteed to be stable. We try very hard to not commit things that are broken, but this is an active development tree — bugs happen. When you find any bugs (and you undoubtedly will), please report them on the issues list. The PMIx community provides public read-only access to the PRRTE Git repository, but please feel free to post pull requests – they are always welcome!

You will need a Git client to obtain the code. We recommend getting the latest version available. If you do not have the command git in your path, you will likely need to download and install Git.

Github provides a simple button for obtaining the clone command. Clone either the master any of the release branches. For example (as of Jan 2018), to clone the main development repository via HTTPS:

    shell$ git clone https://github.com/pmix/prrte
    Cloning into ‘prrte’…
    remote: Counting objects: 394300, done.
    remote: Compressing objects: 100% (61/61), done.
    remote: Total 394300 (delta 35), reused 31 (delta 18), pack-reused 394221
    Receiving objects: 100% (394300/394300), 109.61 MiB | 921.00 KiB/s, done.
    Resolving deltas: 100% (322492/322492), done.
    Checking connectivity… done.
    shell$

Note that Git is natively capable of using many forms of web proxies. If your network setup requires the user of a web proxy, consult the Git documentation for more details.

After obtaining a successful Git clone, the following tools (and associated minimum versions) are required for developers to compile PRRTE from its repository sources:

GNU m4 – version 1.4.17
GNU autoconf – version 2.69
GNU automake – version 1.15
GNU libtool – version 2.4.6
Flex – version 2.5.35

Critical Note

As of May 29, 2018, PRRTE no longer carries embedded copies of libevent, HWLOC, or PMIx. All three are required for PRRTE to build and operate. Most distributions carry libevent and hwloc packages, and PRRTE is fairly flexible on its version requirements. However, PMIx is not yet as widespread in its availability, and you may find it necessary to download and build it yourself.

Supported versions are shown below. For convenience, we include a link to the project’s web site in case you need (or choose) to install it directly:

libevent – version 2.0.21, 2.0.22, or 2.1.8
hwloc – version 2.0.1 or 1.11.x
PMIx – version 2.1.1 or later (github master recommended)

Notes

Autotools notes:

Other version combinations may work, but are untested and unsupported. In particular, developers tend to use higher versions of Autotools for master/development work, and they usually work fine.
Although it should probably be assumed, you’ll also need a C/C++ compiler.
The HACKING file in the top-level directory of the checkout details how to install the tools listed above and the steps required to build a developer checkout of PRRTE. It always contains the most current information on how to build a developer’s copy of it.

NOTE: by default, when configuring and building PRRTE from a developer checkout, all debugging code is enabled. This results in a significant run-time performance penalty. There are several options for building an optimized PRRTE; see the HACKING file for more details.

NOTE: Most Linux distributions and OS X install Flex by default (and this is sufficient). Other operating systems may provide lex, but this is not sufficient — flex is required.

Preparing Autotools

Building PRRTE