LAM/MPI README
==============

Distribution information
------------------------

The general LAM web site can be found at:

	http://www.lam-mpi.org/

The latest release of the LAM software can be found at:

	http://www.lam-mpi.org/download/

The posts to the LAM mailing list are also archived on the web:

	http://www.lam-mpi.org/MailArchives/lam/

Mirrors of all of these sites are available.  Consult:

	http://www.lam-mpi.org/mirrors/


Introduction
------------

This is LAM/MPI version 6.5.9.  Users are highly encouraged to report
all problems with LAM 6.5.9 to the LAM mailing list (lam@lam-mpi.org).

While the LAM package has been proven to be stable in many operating
systems and hardware configurations, the LAM Team only has direct
access to a small number of configurations.

As such, we request that you also download the "lamtest" package from
the LAM web site and run it on your system.  If any errors are
encountered, please send us all the output (see the README file in
that package).  

We would greatly appreciate your time and effort in helping to verify
LAM/MPI on a wide variety of systems.

*** Users are ***highly*** encouraged to read the RELEASE_NOTES file,
*** as it contains information on all the new features in this version
*** of LAM/MPI.

Files
-----

The contents of the text files at this level are:

LICENSE		-- License notice
HISTORY		-- History of changes
INSTALL		-- How to install and run LAM
README		-- This file
RELEASE_NOTES	-- Description of features of this version

The contents of the directories at this level are:

config		-- installation configuration files
etc             -- configuration files that are installed
examples	-- example programs
man		-- manual pages (start with lam(7))
mpi2c++         -- C++ bindings for MPI
otb		-- source for LAM access commands
otb/sys		-- source for the LAM and IMPI daemons
romio           -- the ROMIO distribution for MPI IO from the Mathematics and 
                   Computer Science Division of the Argonne National
                   Laboratory
share		-- portable sources and header files
tools		-- source for LAM management utilities

Installation instructions and release notes are in the INSTALL and
RELEASE_NOTES files, respectively.  We recommend also checking the web
site since it may contain more up to date post-release information.

As of yet there is no LAM 6.5.9-specific documentation apart from the
release notes and the LAM 6.1 documentation (which, for the most part,
is applicable to LAM 6.5.9).  The LAM 6.1 documentation can be
obtained from http://www.lam-mpi.org/download/.


Contact information
-------------------

LAM is currently a software package from Indiana University.  That is,
there are graduate students who are actively working on LAM/MPI; they
are working on new features and bug fixes as well as actively pursuing
new research areas for better performance.

There are two mailing lists for LAM/MPI:

1. Announcement list.

This is a low-volume list that is used to announce new versions of
LAM/MPI, important patches, etc.  To subscribe or unsubscribe from
this list, visit the list information page:

	http://www.lam-mpi.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/lam-announce

2. General discussion/user list.

This list is used for general questions and discussion of LAM/MPI.
User can post questions, comments, etc. to this list.  To subscribe or
unsubscribe from this list, visit the list information page:

	http://www.lam-mpi.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/lam/

NOTE: People tend to only reply to the list; if you subscribe, post,
and then unsubscribe from the list, you will likely miss replies 

Also please be aware that lam@lam-mpi.org is a list that goes to a few
hundred people around the world -- it is not uncommon to move a
high-volume exchange off the list, and only post the final resolution
of the problem/bug fix to the list.  This prevents exchanges like "Did
you try X?", "Yes, I tried X, and it did not work.", "Did you try Y?",
etc. from cluttering up peoples' inboxes.


I have a question/problem.  What do I do?
-----------------------------------------

The INSTALL and RELEASE_NOTES files contain much information which may
answer your question.  Additionally, the INSTALL file provides a
"Troubleshooting" section on how to find information on specific
problems.


I need to contact the authors directly
--------------------------------------

Your best bet is to post to the general LAM user's mailing list.  We
all read it.  It is typically better to mail to the list than to mail
us individually.  Thanks.


Who are these authors, anyway?
------------------------------

Dr. Andrew Lumsdaine is a faculty in charge of the LAM/MPI project in
the Computer Science Department at Indiana Univeristy.  The lead
developers of LAM/MPI are Jeff Squyres, a Ph.D. Candidate in Computer
Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame and Brian
Barrett, a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Indiana University.
Several other students are also involved (to varying degrees); see
http://www.lam-mpi.org/credits.php.


Make today an MPI day!

-=-

LAM/MPI Project
http://www.lam-mpi.org/
Open Systems Laboratory / Computer Science Department
Indiana University 
