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by Peter Dzwig
As the summer vacations ended out came news that probably cheered the hearts of many an HPC programmer – and possibly a few investors too – that Cray had succeeded in acquiring several of SiCortex's assets including the PathScale EKO compiler suite. PathScale's suite provides 64-bit C support as well as C++ and Fortran compilers for Linux-based environments.
In a move which may have surprised some, Cray will use some of those assets internally, but will also partner with the open source world through a combination of existing PathScale engineers and NetSyncro.com who will continue to develop the compiler, provide support for users, re-brand their efforts as “PathScale”, and be supported by a “new PathScale” company. Netsyncro.com is a open-source oriented group of long-term UNIX and Linux developers with a wide range of experience. This new structure will enable Cray to use some of the PathScale assets to develop its own IP, while permitting existing users of PathScale on Cray to keep using their favourite tools. In addition, while important for many standard “Cray-style” HPC applications, PathScale's suite is also used on platforms other than Cray. The licencing for these is, according to the community site, being sorted; so it looks like no-one will miss out.
Cray's future toolchain continue to provide a diverse range of compilers for its boxes with PathScale sitting alongside offerings from Portland Group PGI server C/C++/Fortran compilers and tools for Linux and Cray's own CCE.
Interesting side comments have included suggestions that the new PathScale will direct research towards multicore architectures.