Hi,
besides using BLACS and ScaLAPACK for a project at university,
I'd like to package them for the Debian project.
They are used for parallel computation on clusters (like CLOWN)
or on parallel machines (like the Intel Paragon).
BLACS is the "Basic Linear Algebra Communcation Subprograms"
package and ScaLAPACK is "Scalable LAPACK". LAPACK is already
part of Debian. PBLAS ("Parallel Basic Linear Algebra
Subprograms") is part of ScaLAPACK.
BLACS and ScaLAPACK depend on MPI or PVM (to different libraries
with same interface) and BLAS and LAPACK.
For more information have a look at
http://www.netlib.org/<package>
where package is on of blacs, scalapack, lapack, blas...
The License is no problem: the ScaLAPACK has this notice in its
FAQ (http://www.netlib.org/scalapack/faq.html#1.4):
1.4) Are there legal restrictions on the use of ScaLAPACK software?
ScaLAPACK (like LINPACK, EISPACK, LAPACK, etc) is a
freely-available software package. It is available from netlib
via anonymous ftp and the World Wide Web. It can, and is, being
included in commercial packages (e.g., IBM's Parallel ESSL, NAG
Numerical PVM and MPI Library). We only ask that proper credit be
given to the authors.
Like all software, it is copyrighted. It is not trademarked, but
we do ask the following:
If you modify the source for these routines we ask that you
change the name of the routine and comment the changes made to
the original.
We will gladly answer any questions regarding the software. If a
modification is done, however, it is the responsibility of the
person who modified the routine to provide support.
I emailed <blacs@cs.utk.edu> about the license of BLACS which I
could not find and the answer was:
> That's great. We're very excited to have ScaLAPACK included in
> the Debian project. Yes, the "legal use" of the BLACS is exactly
> the same as for ScaLAPACK. Freely-available software.
Compiling the whole thing might be tricky, so the whole thing
might take some time.
Regards,
--
Philipp Frauenfelder [PGP] mail: pfrauenf@debian.org
Tel./Fax: +41 1 850 54 64 or pfrauenf@niederglatt.lugs.ch
Proudly running Debian GNU/Linux, see http://www.debian.org/