This is the top-level README for PGAPack V1.0 Copyright ========= See the file COPYRIGHT for Copyright and disclaimer information. Introduction ============ PGAPack is a general-purpose, data-structure-neutral, parallel genetic algorithm library being developed at Argonne National Laboratory. Key features are: * Callable from Fortran or C. * Runs on uniprocessors, parallel computers, and workstation networks. * Binary-, integer-, real-, and character-valued native data types. * Object-oriented data structure neutral design. * Parameterized population replacement. * Multiple choices for selection, crossover, and mutation operators. * Easy integration of hill-climbing heuristics. * Easy-to-use interface for novice and application users. * Fully extensible to support custom operators and new data types. * Extensive debugging facilities. * A large set of example problems. Availability ============ PGAPack is freely available. The complete distribution is available by anonymous ftp from from ftp.mcs.anl.gov in the file pub/pgapack/pgapack.tar.Z. The distribution contains all source code, installation instructions, users guide, and a collection of examples in C and Fortran. Additional information is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.mcs.anl.gov/pgapack.html. Computational Environment ========================= PGAPack is written in ANSI C and uses the MPI message passing interface and should run on most uniprocessors, parallel computers, and workstation networks. PGAPack has been tested on the workstations and parallel computers specified by the ARCH_TYPE variable below. Documentation ============= * The PGAPack users guide is in ./docs/user_guide.ps. * Man pages for PGAPack functions are in the ./man directory. * Installation instructions are in this README file and the users guide. * Example problems are in the ./examples directory. Installation Requirements ========================= To compile you must have an ANSI C compiler that includes a full implementation of the Standard C library and related header files. To build a *parallel* version of PGAPack you must provide an implementation of MPI (Message Passing Interface) for the parallel computer or workstation network you are running on. Most of our testing and development was done using MPICH, a freely available implementation of MPI. MPICH runs on many parallel computers and workstation networks and is publicly available and free. The complete distribution is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.mcs.anl.gov. Take the file mpich.tar.Z from the directory pub/mpi. Additional information about MPICH is avaliable on the World Wide Web at http://www.mcs.anl.gov/mpi. Installation Instructions ========================= When installing PGAPack you make two choices: whether to build a sequential (the default) or parallel version, and whether to build a debug or optimized (the default) version. In broad outline, the installation steps are as follows. 1. Make a directory to install PGAPack in (mkdir /usr/local/pga). 2. Change directories to the directory created in the last step (cd /usr/local/pga). 3. Obtain the compressed tar file pgapack.tar.Z by anonymous ftp in ftp.mcs.anl.gov from the directory pub/pgapack. 4. Uncompress the tar file (uncompress pgapack.tar.Z). 5. Untar the uncompressed tar file (tar xvf ./pgapack.tar). 6. Run configure to configure the makefiles (configure -arch ARCH_TYPE) where ARCH_TYPE is one of sun4 for Sun SparcStations workstations, next for NeXT workstations, rs600 for IBM RS6000 workstations, irix for Silicon Graphics workstations, hpux for Hewlett Packard workstations, alpha for DEC Alpha workstations, linux for machines running Linux, freebsd for machines running FreeBSD, generic for generic 32-bit machines, powerchallenge for the Silicon Graphics Power Challenge Array, challenge for the Silicon Graphics Challenge, t3d for the Cray T3D, sp2 for the IBM SP2, paragon for the Intel Paragon, or exemplar for the Convex Exemplar. The full configure options are configure -arch ARCH_TYPE [-cc CC] [-cflags CFLAGS] [-f77 FC] [-fflags FFLAGS] [-debug] [-mpiinc MPI_INCLUDE_DIRECTORY] [-mpilib MPI_LIBRARY] [-help] where all parameters except -arch are optional and do the following: [-cc]: The name of the ANSI C compiler, cc by default. [-cflags]: Options passed to the C compiler. [-f77]: The name of the Fortran 77 compiler, f77 by default. (The Fortran compiler is used only to compile the Fortran examples in the [./examples/] directory.) [-fflags]: Options passed to the Fortran compiler. [-debug]: If specified, enables the debugging features and compiles the source code with the -g flag. [-mpiinc]: The *directory* where MPI include files are located. [-mpilib]: The *full path* to the MPI library. If the [-mpilib] and [-mpiinc] options are specified, a parallel version of PGAPack will be built. If these flags are not specified a sequential version of PGAPack will be built. 7. Execute the makefile (make install). 8. Add PGAPack's man pages to your man page path. (setenv MANPATH "$MANPATH"":/home/pgapack/man") 9. Execute a simple test problem Sequential version ------------------ C: /usr/local/pga/examples/c/maxbit Fortran: /usr/local/pga/examples/fortran/maxbit Parallel version ------------------ C: mpirun -np 4 /usr/local/pga/examples/c/maxbit Fortran: mpirun -np 4 /usr/local/pga/examples/fortran/maxbit If a parallel version of PGAPack was used, the actual commands to execute a parallel program depend on the particular MPI implementation and parallel computer. If the MPICH implementation was used the "mpirun" command can be used to execute a parallel program on most systems. Example Installation ==================== Assuming you have the compressed tar file, pgapack.tar.Z, containing the distribution in /home/username. To build a sequential version of PGAPack containing debug features for a Sun SparcStation in /usr/local/pga and run a test example, type: uncompress /home/username/pgapack.tar.Z mkdir /usr/local/pga cd /usr/local/pga tar xvf /home/username/pgapack.tar configure -arch sun4 -debug make install /usr/local/pga/examples/c/maxbit To build a parallel version of PGAPack for an IBM SP parallel computer using an MPI implementation with include files in /usr/local/mpi/include and library in /usr/local/mpi/lib, and run a test example, type: uncompress /home/username/pgapack.tar.Z mkdir /usr/local/pga cd /usr/local/pga tar xvf /home/username/pgapack.tar configure -arch rs6000 -mpiinc /usr/local/mpi/include \ -mpilib /usr/local/mpi/lib/libmpi.a make install mpirun -np 4 /usr/local/pga/examples/c/maxbit PGAPack on PCs =================== PGAPack has not been ported to MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, or Apple OS. As mentioned earlier, however, PGAPack is written in ANSI standard C and should compile in these environments. Be aware, however, that PGAPack's random number generator, PGARandom01, assumes certain machine characteristics for ints and floats that may not correspond with what your PC and/or compiler support, resulting in erroneous values. Structure of the Distribution Directory ======================================= CHANGES: Changes new to this release of PGAPack. COPYRIGHT: Copyright and disclaimer information. README: This file. configure.in: The ``source code'' for the configure script. configure: Unix shell script to configure Makefile.in for a specific architecture. Makefile.in: Prototype that is configured into ``Makefile'' by configure. docs: Directory containing documentation. examples: A directory containing C and Fortran examples. include: The PGAPack include directory. lib: The directory the library will be installed in. man: The directory containing the PGAPack man pages. source: The source code for the PGAPack system. test: A directory containing programs to verify the installation. Email Addresses =============== To join the PGAPack mailing list to receive announcements of new versions, enhancements, and bug fixes, send electronic mail to pgapack@mcs.anl.gov Bug reports should be sent to pgapack-bugs@mcs.anl.gov The World Wide Web page for PGAPack is http://www.mcs.anl.gov/pgapack.html and contains up-to-date news and a list of outstanding bug reports. When reporting a bug please include as much information and documentation as possible. Helpful information would include PGAPack version number, MPI implementation and version used (if any), configuration options, type of computer system, problem description and error message output. It is helpful if you put a PGAPrintContextVariable call before and after the PGASetUp call. Additionally, if possible, build a debug version of PGAPack and send ``high-level'' output from running your program with the trace facility enabled. Contributions ============= PGAPack was written to be extensible in two ways: adding new operators that work with existing data types, and defining new data types. Enhancements of either type that you wish to share are welcome for possible inclusion in future versions of PGAPack. Acknowledgment ============== Users of PGAPack are asked to acknowledge its use in any document referencing work based on the program, such as published research. Also, please supply to us a copy of any published research referencing work based on the software.
