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- Committer: Bazaar Package Importer
- Author(s): Camm Maguire
- Date: 2004-10-26 20:28:24 UTC
- mfrom: (1.1.1 upstream)
- Revision ID: james.westby@ubuntu.com-20041026202824-fdmack9iksv54eqe
Tags: 3.6.2-1
New upstream release
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- dox
- hosts
- src
- files removed:
- COPYING
- files modified:
- debian/changelog
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README
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NetPIPE Network Protocol Independent Performance Evaluator, Release 2.4
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Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999 Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc.
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$Id: README,v 1.13 1999/12/16 14:21:48 ghelmer Exp $
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This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
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it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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the Free Software Foundation. You should have received a copy of the
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GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the
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Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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The URL for this document:
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ftp://ftp.scl.ameslab.gov/pub/netpipe/README
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Getting NetPIPE
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---------------
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The NetPIPE implementation in C can be found at:
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ftp://ftp.scl.ameslab.gov/pub/netpipe/netpipe-2.4.tar.gz
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The source code for NetPIPE 2.4 is provided as a gzipped tar archive,
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which can be uncompressed with "gunzip netpipe-2.4.tar.gz" (or "gzip
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-d netpipe-2.4.tar.gz"), and then extracted from the uncompressed
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archive with the command "tar xvf netpipe-2.4.tar". If you do not
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have the gzip program, it can be obtained as:
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ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/gzip-1.2.4.tar
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Similarly, the NetPIPE implementation in Java can be found at:
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ftp://ftp.scl.ameslab.gov/pub/netpipe-Java-1.0.tar.gz
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The instructions that follow apply to the C implementation of
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NetPIPE.
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What is NetPIPE?
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----------------
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NetPIPE is a protocol independent performance tool that encapsulates
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the best of ttcp and netperf and visually represents the network
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performance under a variety of conditions. By taking the end-to-end
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application view of a network, NetPIPE clearly shows the overhead
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associated with different protocol layers. Netpipe answers such
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questions as: how soon will a given data block of size k arrive at its
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destination? Which network and protocol will transmit size k blocks
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the fastest? What is a given network's effective maximum throughput
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and saturation level? Does there exist a block size k for which the
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throughput is maximized? How much communication overhead is due to the
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network communication protocol layer(s)? How quickly will a small (< 1
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kbyte) control message arrive, and which network and protocol are best
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for this purpose?
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For a paper fully describing NetPIPE and sample investigation of
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network performance issues using NetPIPE, see
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http://www.scl.ameslab.gov/netpipe/paper/full.html.
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Building NetPIPE
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----------------
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NetPIPE is provided with protocol-specific shims for TCP (using the
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Berkeley sockets interface), MPI, and PVM. If you do not have MPI or
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PVM, don't worry; TCP is the typical shim used. It should be easy to
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write new interfaces for other protocols based on the examples shown
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by the TCP, MPI and PVM interfaces.
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NetPIPE requires an ANSI C compiler.
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Review the provided Makefile and change any necessary settings, such
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as the CFLAGS compiler flags, required extra libraries, and MPI or PVM
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library & include file pathnames if you have these communication
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libraries. If you want to turn on getrusage calls to get CPU time
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required for communication, add "-DHAVE_GETRUSAGE" to the CFLAGS line
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in the Makefile.
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Compile NetPIPE with the desired communication interface by using the
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command "make TCP", "make MPI", or "make PVM" as appropriate,
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corresponding to the executable files NPtcp, NPmpi, or NPpvm
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respectively.
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Consult the appropriate section below for details on running NetPIPE
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over TCP, MPI, or PVM, and the following section on interpreting the
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results.
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Running NPtcp
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-------------
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For TCP, run a NetPIPE receiver on one computer by issuing the command
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"NPtcp -r". Run a NetPIPE sender on another computer by issuing the
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command "NPtcp -t -h <receiver's address> -o <output file> -P" and any
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other options as appropriate (each option affects only the process on
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which it is specified -- options are not negotiated between the
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transmitter and the receiver):
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-A: specify buffers alignment e.g. "-A 4096"
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-a: asynchronous receive (a.k.a. preposted receive)
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This option currently has no effect on TCP
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-b: specify send and receive TCP buffer sizes e.g. "-b 32768"
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-h: specify hostname of receiver e.g. "-h mumblehost"
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-i: specify increment step size e.g. "-i 64"
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Default is exponential increment calculated at runtime
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-l: lower bound (start value for block size) e.g. "-l 1"
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-O: specify buffer offset e.g. "-O 127"
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-o: specify output filename e.g. "-o output.txt"
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-P: print real-time results on stdout
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-p: specify port e.g. "-p 5150"
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-s: stream option (default mode is "ping pong")
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If this option is used, it must be specified on both
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the sending and receiving processes
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-u: upper bound (stop value for block size) e.g. "-u 1048576"
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Running NPmpi
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-------------
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For MPI, how you run NPmpi may depend on the MPI implementation you
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are using. Assuming you are using the "p4" device (for a cluster of
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individual systems interconnected using TCP/IP) in the Argonne MPICH
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implementation, you could run NPmpi one of two ways.
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If your system's default machine file begins with the two
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names of the systems you want to test, use "mpirun -np 2
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NPmpi", followed by any of the NetPIPE options listed below.
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Otherwise, create a file that contains the host names of the
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two systems you want to include in the test, one host name on
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each line (assume the file is named "machines.p4"). Then, use
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the command "mpirun -machinefile machines.p4 -np 2 NPmpi",
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followed by any of the NetPIPE options listed below.
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To find out how to run NPmpi using any other implementation of MPI,
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please consult the implementation's documentation.
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The NetPIPE options for MPI are:
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-A: specify buffers alignment e.g. "-A 4096"
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-a: asynchronous receive (a.k.a. preposted receive)
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May not have any effect, depending on your MPI
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implementation
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-i: specify increment step size e.g. "-i 64"
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Default is exponential increment calculated at runtime
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-l: lower bound (start value for block size) e.g. "-l 1"
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-O: specify buffer offset e.g. "-O 127"
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-o: specify output filename e.g. "-o output.txt"
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-P: print real-time results on stdout
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-s: stream option (default mode is "ping pong")
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If this option is used, it must be specified on both
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the sending and receiving processes
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-u: upper bound (stop value for block size) e.g. "-u 1048576"
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Running NPpvm
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-------------
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First, start PVM with the command "pvm" on one machine and a second
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machine with the PVM command "add <othermachine>", where
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<othermachine> is the name of the other computer to include in the
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test. Exit the PVM command line interface. Start the receiver
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process on one of the machines with the command "NPpvm -r". Finally,
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start the transmitter process on the other machine with the command
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"NPpvm -t -o <output file> -P" and any other options as appropriate
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(each option affects only the process on which it is specified --
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options are not negotiated between the transmitter and the receiver):
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-A: specify buffers alignment e.g. "-A 4096"
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-a: asynchronous receive (a.k.a. preposted receive)
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This option has no effect on PVM
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-i: specify increment step size e.g. "-i 64"
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Default is exponential increment calculated at runtime
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-l: lower bound (start value for block size) e.g. "-l 1"
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-O: specify buffer offset e.g. "-O 127"
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-o: specify output filename e.g. "-o output.txt"
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-P: print real-time results on stdout
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-s: stream option (default mode is "ping pong")
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If this option is used, it must be specified on both
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the sending and receiving processes
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-u: upper bound (stop value for block size) e.g. "-u 1048576"
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Interpreting the Results
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------------------------
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NetPIPE's output file contains five columns: time to transfer the block,
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bits per second, bits in block, bytes in block, and variance. These
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columns may be graphed to represent and compare the network's
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performance. For example, the "network signature" graph can be
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created by graphing the time column versus the bits per second column
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(see the NetPIPE report at the URL above for the details why this
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graph is important and how to interpret it). The more traditional
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"throughput versus block size" graph can be created by
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graphing the bytes column versus the bits per second column.
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See http://www.scl.ameslab.gov/Projects/ClusterCookbook/nprun.html for
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a detailed tutorial on running NetPIPE and graphing the results.
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Help
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----
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NetPIPE is currently maintained by Guy Helmer. Email
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"ghelmer@scl.ameslab.gov" or call 515-294-9469 for help or
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suggestions.
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Changes
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-------
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version 2.4 (12/16/99)
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* Add getrusage calls to get CPU time used by communication if
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HAVE_GETRUSAGE is defined (be aware that no studies have been
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conducted to test the accuracy of results across different systems)
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* Use "unsigned int" instead of "unsigned long" to communicate 32-bit
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integers in TCP.c (this solves interoperability problems between
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Compaq/DEC Alphas and most other systems)
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* Add dummy "echo" commands after TCP, MPI, and PVM targets in the
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Makefile. Some implementations of make(1) (such as those found
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in Linux distributions) interpret the targets with no following
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statements as a rule to do something silly like
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"cc -O -o TCP TCP.c" after the dependency is satisfied.
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version 2.3 (9/24/98)
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* Add PVM interface contributed by Clark E. Dorman <dorman@s3i.com>
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* Revamp README file with instructions for NPmpi and NPpvm, and
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clarify some instructions for NPtcp
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version 2.2 (8/21/98):
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* Carefully check all return values from write(2) and read(2)
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system calls in TCP.c. Handle short reads properly. Make the Sync()
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function transmit and receive a useful string which can be
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checked for validity.
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* Correct the overloading of SendTime() and RecvTime() functions
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by breaking out SendRepeat() and RecvRepeat() as separate
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functions.
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* Handle systems whose accept(2) system call does not carry socket
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options over from the listening socket. In particular, set the
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TCP_NODELAY flag and socket buffers on an accepted socket.
Loggerhead is a web-based interface for Breezy
Version: 2.0.1