mpi4py.run — MPI for Python 3.0.3 documentation

# mpi4py.run

New in version 3.0.0.

At import time, `mpi4py` initializes the MPI execution environment calling `MPI_Init_thread()` and installs an exit hook to automatically call `MPI_Finalize()` just before the Python process terminates. Additionally, `mpi4py` overrides the default `MPI.ERRORS_ARE_FATAL` error handler in favor of `MPI.ERRORS_RETURN`, which allows translating MPI errors in Python exceptions. These departures from standard MPI behavior may be controversial, but are quite convenient within the highly dynamic Python programming environment. Third-party code using `mpi4py` can just `from mpi4py import MPI` and perform MPI calls without the tedious initialization/finalization handling. MPI errors, once translated automatically to Python exceptions, can be dealt with the common `try`…`except`…`finally` clauses; unhandled MPI exceptions will print a traceback which helps in locating problems in source code.

Unfortunately, the interplay of automatic MPI finalization and unhandled exceptions may lead to deadlocks. In unattended runs, these deadlocks will drain the battery of your laptop, or burn precious allocation hours in your supercomputing facility.

Consider the following snippet of Python code. Assume this code is stored in a standard Python script file and run with mpiexec in two or more processes.

    from mpi4py import MPI
    assert MPI.COMM_WORLD.Get_size() > 1
    rank = MPI.COMM_WORLD.Get_rank()
    if rank == 0:
        1/0
        MPI.COMM_WORLD.send(None, dest=1, tag=42)
    elif rank == 1:
        MPI.COMM_WORLD.recv(source=0, tag=42)

Process 0 raises `ZeroDivisionError` exception before performing a send call to process 1. As the exception is not handled, the Python interpreter running in process 0 will proceed to exit with non-zero status. However, as `mpi4py` installed a finalizer hook to call `MPI_Finalize()` before exit, process 0 will block waiting for other processes to also enter the `MPI_Finalize()` call. Meanwhile, process 1 will block waiting for a message to arrive from process 0, thus never reaching to `MPI_Finalize()`. The whole MPI execution environment is irremediably in a deadlock state.

To alleviate this issue, `mpi4py` offers a simple, alternative command line execution mechanism based on using the -m flag and implemented with the `runpy` module. To use this features, Python code should be run passing `-m mpi4py` in the command line invoking the Python interpreter. In case of unhandled exceptions, the finalizer hook will call `MPI_Abort()` on the `MPI_COMM_WORLD` communicator, thus effectively aborting the MPI execution environment.

Warning

When a process is forced to abort, resources (e.g. open files) are not cleaned-up and any registered finalizers (either with the `atexit` module, the Python C/API function `Py_AtExit()`, or even the C standard library function `atexit()`) will not be executed. Thus, aborting execution is an extremely impolite way of ensuring process termination. However, MPI provides no other mechanism to recover from a deadlock state.

## Interface options

The use of `-m mpi4py` to execute Python code on the command line resembles that of the Python interpreter.

- `mpiexec -n numprocs python -m mpi4py pyfile [arg] ...`
- `mpiexec -n numprocs python -m mpi4py -m mod [arg] ...`
- `mpiexec -n numprocs python -m mpi4py -c cmd [arg] ...`
- `mpiexec -n numprocs python -m mpi4py - [arg] ...`

`<pyfile>`

  Execute the Python code contained in pyfile, which must be a filesystem path referring to either a Python file, a directory containing a `__main__.py` file, or a zipfile containing a `__main__.py` file.

`-m``<mod>`

  Search `sys.path` for the named module mod and execute its contents.

`-c``<cmd>`

  Execute the Python code in the cmd string command.

`-`

  Read commands from standard input (`sys.stdin`).

See also

Command line
  Documentation on Python command line interface.