[Numpy-discussion] Default builds of OpenBLAS development branch are now fork safe

[Sturla Molden]

Carl Kleffner <cmkleffner at gmail.com> wrote:
> MKL BLAS LAPACK has issues as well:
> <a
> href="http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-mkl-110-bug-fixes">http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-mkl-110-bug-fixes</a>
> .
> In case of OpenBLAS or GOTOBLAS what precisly is the problem you identify
> as showstopper?

For example:

https://github.com/xianyi/OpenBLAS/issues/340

However, the main problem is the quality of the projects:

- GotoBLAS2 is abandonware. After Goto went to Intel, all development has
ceased. Any bugs will not be fixed.

- GotoBLAS2 uses OpenMP on Posix. GOMP is not fork-safe (though not an
issue on Windows).

- OpenBLAS looks a bit like a one-man student project. Right now Zhang
Xianyi is writing his dissertation, so development has stopped. 

- The SIMD code is written in inline assembly instead of using compiler
intrinsics for SIMD ops. This makes it hard to contribute as it is
insufficient just to know C. 

- AT&T syntax in the inline assembly prevents us from building with MSVC.


Sturla