Standardization

Standardization

VECLIB conforms to a variety of existing standards. For example, it includes Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms (BLAS), levels 1, 2, and 3, and Sparse BLAS.

These products are available with standardized user interfaces on computers ranging from microcomputers to supercomputers. Because VECLIB conforms to these standards, it is a software bridge from other computers to Hewlett-Packard servers and workstations. However, even though the user interface is standardized, internal workings of HP VECLIB subprograms have been specialized for supported computers.

HP MLIB supports a subset of the BLAS Standard routines. BLAS standardization efforts, supported by software and hardware vendors and university groups, began with a BLAS Technical (BLAST) Forum meeting in November 1995 at the University of Tennessee. The efforts of the BLAST Forum resulted in a BLAS Standard specification in 1999. Refer to Chapter 2, “Basic Vector Operations,” and Chapter 3, “Basic Matrix Operations,” for details of supported subprograms.

Accessing VECLIB

The VECLIB and VECLIB8 libraries are available as archive and shared libraries. They consist of compiled subprograms ready for you to incorporate into your programs with the linker. Include the appropriate declarations and CALL statements in your Fortran source program and specify that VECLIB or VECLIB8 be used as an object library at link time. Refer to the LAPACK chapter for details about accessing the LAPACK library, The ScaLAPACK chapter for details about accessing the ScaLAPACK library, and the Distributed SuperLU chapter for details about accessing the Distributed SuperLU library.

MLIB libraries are installed in the /opt/mlib/ directory. The entire path depends on your system type, as follows:

Chapter 1 Introduction to VECLIB 3