PETSc 3

# ASE FAQ

1. Do you (or will you) support binary distribution of components?
   This is very unlikely, since our experiments on Linux indicated that almost any small change in the OS or support software (Python version, g++ version) breaks binary compatibility (essentially the machine you build the component on has to be virtually identical to the machine you run it on).
   Instead, we've adopted a source distribution model where the entire build process (downloading, configure, compiling, registering, etc) is handled cleanly by ASE

2. Do you intend to support F77 as client and server languages?
   No, but we would assistant anyone interested in doing this. The LLNL Babel Team does provide code generators for f77.

3. Are you compatible with the LLNL Babel Team SIDL code generator?
   We are compatible at the source code level (see 1. regarding binary compatibility). We are developing software tools to make it trivial to move "implementations" between the Babel generated code and the ASE.

4. How central to your plans is the use of SIDL?
   We are "betting the farm on it". We are rewriting all of PETSc to use SIDL and plan to do all future software development with SIDL.

5. How come I have to "buy into" this enormous infrastructure to use your software; I'd like to take the one or two modules I need and no use the rest of the stuff?
   You are free to use as little or as much of the functionality of the libraries we provide as you like; for example, you can use our linear solvers but not our nonlinear solvers, through the use of dynamic libraries your application executable does not contain anything you do not use.
   However, it is not feasible to "pull out" of the libraries just the source code you use, the dependencies are just too complex. You would need to pull in all the error handling code, the profiling code, the dynamic loading code and the infrastructure to make that code portable and to compile it; at that point your application make environment will need to be as complicated and sophisticated as the ASE. Hence it is far better to treat the ASE components simply as libraries that you link against.

The ASE source code is maintained using the BitKeeper revision control system and hosted at www.bkbits.net

The source for this page is at bk://sidl.bkbits.net/BuildSystem/docs/website/faq.html. This file is updated on the website using the following command in the bk://sidl.bkbits.net/BuildSystem/ repository:

make.py updateWebsite