[SciPy-dev] scipy distutils questions

[Pearu Peterson]

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005, Arnd Baecker wrote:

> I got some further info on  this:
>
> The lapack stuff is provided in
>  libmkl_lapack64.so  and  libmkl.so
> which are in /opt/intel/mkl72/lib/64
> To link correctly, they need
>  libifcore.so   libguide.so
> which are in /opt/intel/fc_90/lib/
> and
>  libpthread.so
> which is in /usr/lib/
>
> We tried the following, but without success
>
> [atlas]
> library_dirs = /opt/intel/mkl72/lib/64:/opt/intel/fc_90/lib/
> include_dirs = /opt/intel/mkl72/include/
> atlas_libs = mkl_lapack64,mkl,ifcore

First, mkl is NOT atlas.

mkl: http://www.intel.com/cd/software/products/asmo-na/eng/perflib/mkl/index.htm
atlas: http://math-atlas.sourceforge.net/

system_info assumes that atlas libraries are used
according to official instructions given in 
http://math-atlas.sourceforge.net/errata.html#LINK

mkl and atlas are different libraries of optimized blas/lapack/.. 
libraries. So the problem boils down to adding mkl support to system_info.
Btw, then also fftpack, ufunc's, random could take advantage of mkl some 
day..

Adding mkl support means implementing

class intelmkl_info(system_info):
     section = 'intelmkl'
     dir_env_var = 'INTELMKL'
     _lib_names = ['mkl']
     ..

class in system_info.py and adding required hooks to lapack_opt, blas_opt
classes.


The link
   http://www.intel.com/software/products/mkl/docs/mklqref/index.htm
seems to be broken but to implement intelmkl support, one needs to know
how/where mkl libraries are installed and how to use them (the order of 
libraries, etc), this information should come with mkl, I couldn't find 
this information from internet.

Pearu