[Beowulf] Open source and the Draft Report of the Task Force on High Performance Computing

[Dmitri Chubarov]

Hi, Gavin,

It seems to be an inevitable conclusion that in the view of the authors of
the Report Beowulf is not HPC.

All the best


On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 7:26 PM, Gavin W. Burris <bug at wharton.upenn.edu>
wrote:

> Hi, Bill.
>
> This is perplexing...
>
> So, the Linux kernel and supporting tools that make the operating system
> aren't
> being factored in here?  The compiler?  The libraries?  If "very little
> open
> source" has "made its way into broad use within HPC," what OS are the
> majority
> running if not Linux?  This seem to be greatly uninformed, or pushing an
> agenda.  The only way I can see this excerpt as even remotely true would
> be if
> you applied a very narrow survey to a specific application set.  But that
> narrow view does not apply to a full operational stack or all of HPC in
> general!  I'm baffled, because this does not jive with my lay of the land.
>
> Cheers.
>
> On 07:29PM Wed 08/27/14 -0700, Bill Broadley wrote:
> >
> > The URL:
> >
> http://energy.gov/seab/downloads/draft-report-task-force-high-performance-computing
> >
> > One piece I found particularly interesting:
> >
> >   There has been very little open source that has made its way into
> broad use
> >   within the HPC commercial community where great emphasis is placed on
> >   serviceability and security. There is a better track record in data
> analytics
> >   recently with map/reduce as a notable example. This is less of an
> issue for
> >   universities or national laboratories but they represent no more than
> about
> >   10%-15% of all HPC usage. Of course, one cannot “force” the adoption
> of open
> >   source but one should also not plan on it being a panacea to any
> ecosystem
> >   shortcoming. A focus investment effort within universities could
> expand the
> >   volume of open source and increase the chances that some of the
> software
> >   output could become commercialized. It should be noted that the most
> >   significant consumption of open source software is China and it is
> also the
> >   case that the Chinese are rare contributors to open source as well.
> >   Investments in open source or other policy actions to stimulate
> creation are
> >   likely to produce a disproportionate benefit accruing to the Chinese.
> >
> >
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> --
> Gavin W. Burris
> Senior Project Leader for Research Computing
> The Wharton School
> University of Pennsylvania
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