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NAME

       lamexec - Run non-MPI programs on LAM nodes.

SYNOPSIS

       lamexec [-fhvD] [-c # | -np #] [-nw | -w] [-pty] [-s node] [-x
              VAR1[=VALUE1][,VAR2[=VALUE2],...]]  [where] program [-- args]

OPTIONS

       -c #      Synonym for -np (see below).

       -D        Use the executable program location as the current working directory for created
                 processes.   The  current working directory of the created processes will be set
                 before the user's program is invoked.

       -f        Do not configure standard I/O file descriptors - use defaults.

       -h        Print useful information on this command.

       -np #     (see below).  Run this many copies of the program  on  the  given  nodes.   This
                 option  indicates  that  the  specified file is an executable program and not an
                 application schema.  If no nodes are specified, all LAM nodes are considered for
                 scheduling;  LAM  will schedule the programs in a round-robin fashion, "wrapping
                 around" (and scheduling multiple copies on a single node) if necessary.

       -nw       Do not wait for all processes to complete before exiting lamexec.   This  option
                 is mutually exclusive with -w.

       -pty      Enable  pseudo-tty  support.   Among  other  things,  this enabled line-buffered
                 output (which is probably what you want).  The only reason that this feature  is
                 not  enabled  by  default  is  because it is so new and has not been extensively
                 tested yet.

       -s node   Load the program from this node.  This option is not valid on the  command  line
                 if an application schema is specified.

       -v        Be verbose; report on important steps as they are done.

       -w        Wait for all applications to exit before lamexec exits.

       -x        Export  the specified environment variables to the remote nodes before executing
                 the program.  Existing environment variables can be specified (see the  Examples
                 section, below), or new variable names specified with corresponding values.  The
                 parser for the -x option is not very sophisticated; it does not even  understand
                 quoted  values.  Users are advised to set variables in the environment, and then
                 use -x to export (not define) them.

       where     A set of node and/or CPU identifiers indicating where to start

       -- args   Pass these runtime arguments to every new process.  This must always be the last
                 argument  to  lamexec.   This  option  is  not  valid  on the command line if an
                 application schema is specified.

DESCRIPTION

       lamexec is essentially a clone of the mpirun(1), but is intended for non-MPI programs.

       One invocation of lamexec starts a non-MPI application running under LAM.   To  start  the
       same  program  on  all  LAM nodes, the application can be specified on the lamexec command
       line.  To start multiple applications on the LAM nodes, an application schema is  required
       in  a separate file.  See appschema(5) for a description of the application schema syntax,
       but it essentially contains multiple lamexec command lines, less the command name  itself.
       The  ability  to  specify  different  options for different instantiations of a program is
       another reason to use an application schema.

   Location Nomenclature
       The location nomenclature that is used for  the  where  clause  mention  in  the  SYNOPSIS
       section,  above, is identical to mpirun(1)'s nomenclature.  See the mpirun(1) man page for
       a lengthy discussion of the location nomenclature.

       Note that the by-CPU syntax, while valid for lamexec, is not quite as  meaningful  because
       process  rank ordering in MPI_COMM_WORLD is irrelevant.  As such, the by-node nomenclature
       is typically the preferred syntax for lamexec.

   Application Schema or Executable Program?
       To distinguish the two different forms, lamexec looks on the command line for nodes or the
       -c option.  If neither is specified, then the file named on the command line is assumed to
       be an application schema.  If either one or both are specified, then the file  is  assumed
       to  be  an  executable  program.   If  nodes and -c both are specified, then copies of the
       program are started on the specified nodes according to an internal LAM scheduling policy.
       Specifying  just  one  node effectively forces LAM to run all copies of the program in one
       place.  If -c is given, but not nodes, then all LAM nodes are used.  If  nodes  is  given,
       but not -c, then one copy of the program is run on each node.

   Program Transfer
       By  default,  LAM  searches  for executable programs on the target node where a particular
       instantiation will run.   If  the  file  system  is  not  shared,  the  target  nodes  are
       homogeneous,  and  the  program is frequently recompiled, it can be convenient to have LAM
       transfer the program from a source node (usually the local node) to each target node.  The
       -s option specifies this behavior and identifies the single source node.

   Locating Files
       LAM  looks  for  an  executable  program  by  searching the directories in the user's PATH
       environment variable as defined on the source node(s).  This behavior is  consistent  with
       logging  into  the source node and executing the program from the shell.  On remote nodes,
       the "." path is the home directory.

       LAM looks for an application schema in three directories: the local directory,  the  value
       of  the  LAMAPPLDIR environment variable, and laminstalldir/boot, where "laminstalldir" is
       the directory where LAM/MPI was installed.

   Standard I/O
       LAM directs UNIX standard input to /dev/null on all remote nodes.  On the local node  that
       invoked lamexec, standard input is inherited from lamexec.  The default is what used to be
       the -w option to prevent conflicting access to the terminal.

       LAM directs UNIX standard output and error to the LAM daemon on  all  remote  nodes.   LAM
       ships  all  captured  output/error  to  the node that invoked lamexec and prints it on the
       standard output/error of lamexec.  Local processes inherit the  standard  output/error  of
       lamexec and transfer to it directly.

       Thus  it  is  possible  to redirect standard I/O for LAM applications by using the typical
       shell redirection procedure on lamexec.

              % lamexec N my_app  my_input  my_output

       The -f option avoids all the setup required  to  support  standard  I/O  described  above.
       Remote  processes  are  completely  directed to /dev/null and local processes inherit file
       descriptors from lamboot(1).

   Pseudo-tty support
       The -pty option enabled pseudo-tty support for process output.  This allows,  among  other
       things, for line buffered output from remote nodes (which is probably what you want).

       This  option  is  not currently the default for lamexec because it has not been thoroughly
       tested on a variety of different Unixes. Users are encouraged to use -pty and  report  any
       problems back to the LAM Team.

   Current Working Directory
       The  current  working  directory  for new processes created on the local node is inherited
       from lamexec.  The current working directory for new processes created on remote nodes  is
       the remote user's home directory.  This default behavior is overridden by the -D option.

       The  -D option will change the current working directory of new processes to the directory
       where the executable resides before the new user's program is invoked.

       An alternative to the -D option is the -wd option.  -wd allows  the  user  to  specify  an
       arbitrary  current  working directory (vs. the location of the executable).  Note that the
       -wd option can be used in application schema files (see appschema(5)) as well.

   Process Environment
       Processes in the application inherit their environment from the LAM daemon upon  the  node
       on  which  they are running.  The environment of a LAM daemon is fixed upon booting of the
       LAM with lamboot(1) and is inherited from the user's shell.  On the origin node this  will
       be  the shell from which lamboot(1) was invoked and on remote nodes this will be the shell
       started by rsh(1).   When  running  dynamically  linked  applications  which  require  the
       LD_LIBRARY_PATH  environment  variable  to be set, care must be taken to ensure that it is
       correctly set when booting the LAM.

   Exported Environment Variables
       The -x option to lamexec can be used to export specific environment variables to  the  new
       processes.  While the syntax of the -x option allows the definition of new variables, note
       that the parser for this option is currently not very sophisticated -  it  does  not  even
       understand  quoted  values.  Users are advised to set variables in the environment and use
       -x to export them; not to define them.

EXAMPLES

       lamexec N prog1
           Load and execute prog1 on all nodes.  Search for the executable file on each node.

       lamexec -c 8 prog1
           Run 8 copies of prog1 wherever LAM wants to run them.

       lamexec n8-10 -v -nw -s n3 prog1 -- -q
           Load and execute prog1 on nodes 8, 9, and 10.  Search for prog1 on node 3 and transfer
           it  to  the  three  target  nodes.  Report as each process is created.  Give "-q" as a
           command line to each new process.  Do not wait for the processes  to  complete  before
           exiting lamexec.

       lamexec -v myapp
           Parse  the application schema, myapp, and start all processes specified in it.  Report
           as each process is created.

       lamexec N N -pty -wd /workstuff/output -x DISPLAY run_app.csh
           Run the application "run_app.csh" (assumedly a C shell script) twice on each  node  in
           the  system  (ideal for 2-way SMPs).  Also enable pseudo-tty support, change directory
           to /workstuff/output, and export the DISPLAY variable to the  new  processes  (perhaps
           the shell script will invoke an X application such as xv to display output).

       lamexec -np 5 -D `pwd`/my_application
           A  common  usage  of  lamexec in environments where a filesystem is shared between all
           nodes in the multicomputer, using the shell-escaped "pwd" command specifies  the  full
           name  of  the  executable to run.  This prevents the need for putting the directory in
           the path; the remote notes will have an  absolute  filename  to  execute  (and  change
           directory to it upon invocation).

DIAGNOSTICS

       lamexec: Exec format error
           A  non-ASCII  character  was  detected  in  the application schema.  This is usually a
           command line usage error where lamexec is  expecting  an  application  schema  and  an
           executable file was given.

       lamexec: syntax error in application schema, line XXX
           The  application  schema  cannot  be  parsed because of a usage or syntax error on the
           given line in the file.

       filename: No such file or directory
           This error can occur in two cases.  Either the named file cannot be located or it  has
           been found but the user does not have sufficient permissions to execute the program or
           read the application schema.

RETURN VALUE

       lamexec returns 0 if all processes started by lamexec exit normally.  A non-zero value  is
       returned  if  an  internal  error  occurred  in  lamexec,  or one or more processes exited
       abnormally.  If an internal error occurred in lamexec, the  corresponding  error  code  is
       returned.   In  the  event  that  one  or more processes exit with non-zero exit code, the
       return value of the process that lamexec first notices died abnormally will  be  returned.
       Note  that,  in general, this will be the first process that died but is not guaranteed to
       be so.

       However, note that if the -nw switch is used, the  return  value  from  lamexec  does  not
       indicate the exit status of the processes started by it.

SEE ALSO

       mpimsg(1), mpirun(1), mpitask(1), loadgo(1)