SGI: Development

I am porting a C++ app to SGI/MIPS that relies on the Boost library. I installed the Nekoware version of Boost (1.35) with which I can compile the app but I still have one issue and one wish.

The issue: the app was parallelised using OpenMP which the MIPSPro compilers implement using the SGI-specific sproc(2) technology. The multithreading stuff in Boost is based on POSIX threads, however. This means the parallel app won't run because sproc-s and pthreads are not compatible (see man 2 sproc).

I thought maybe recompiling Boost without the pthreads bits could help. Unfortunately the Boost website offers no instructions on how to build the library under IRIX any more, but the good soul who compiled it for Nekoware could maybe provide a few hints on how to get the build process working with the MIPSPro toolset. I am reluctant to do it on my own...

The wish: I would very much appreciate a possibly detailed guide on how to compile a more recent version of Boost with MIPSPro (V 7.4), and some extra hints/tips regarding the sproc vs pthreads issue described above. Anyone having experience in this regard?

Finally, here is the promise: if I get this working, I would contribute a Boost V1.42 Nekoware package.

Many thanks, Inoshishi

pthreads is supported on Irix, presumably you've seen this(?):

http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?coll=0650&db=man&fname=/usr/share/catman/p_man/cat5/pthreads.z

Boost was ported by dexter1; there is some discussion and patches for it here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6782&p=7281231#p7281231

I am afraid you misunderstood my post. I do know that pthreads are supported. In fact, the problem is that the MIPSPro compilers implement OpenMP not by using pthreads, but by the SGI-specific sproc mechanism, and sproc-s are not compatible with pthreads, which are used by the Boost libraries on which my code depends.

regards, Inoshishi

many thanks, I'll check this out.
regards, Inoshishi