function index

MPI_Allreduce

 Combines values from all processes and distributes the result back to all processes 
int MPI_Allreduce(
  void *sendbuf,
  void *recvbuf,
  int count,
  MPI_Datatype datatype,
  MPI_Op op,
  MPI_Comm comm
);

Parameters

sendbuf
[in] starting address of send buffer (choice)
recvbuf
[out] starting address of receive buffer (choice)
count
[in] number of elements in send buffer (integer)
datatype
[in] data type of elements of send buffer (handle)
op
[in] operation (handle)
comm
[in] communicator (handle)

Remarks

MPI includes variants of each of the reduce operations where the result is returned to all processes in the group. MPI requires that all processes participating in these operations receive identical results.

Same as MPI_REDUCE except that the result appears in the receive buffer of all the group members.

The ``in place'' option for intracommunicators is specified by passing the value MPI_IN_PLACE to the argument sendbuf at the root. In such case, the input data is taken at each process from the receive buffer, where it will be replaced by the output data.

If comm is an intercommunicator, then the result of the reduction of the data provided by processes in group A is stored at each process in group B, and vice versa. Both groups should provide the same count value.

Thread and Interrupt Safety

This routine is thread-safe. This means that this routine may be safely used by multiple threads without the need for any user-provided thread locks. However, the routine is not interrupt safe. Typically, this is due to the use of memory allocation routines such as malloc or other non-MPICH runtime routines that are themselves not interrupt-safe.

Notes for Fortran

All MPI routines in Fortran (except for MPI_WTIME and MPI_WTICK) have an additional argument ierr at the end of the argument list. ierr is an integer and has the same meaning as the return value of the routine in C. In Fortran, MPI routines are subroutines, and are invoked with the call statement.

All MPI objects (e.g., MPI_Datatype, MPI_Comm) are of type INTEGER in Fortran.

Notes on collective operations

The reduction functions (MPI_Op) do not return an error value. As a result, if the functions detect an error, all they can do is either call MPI_Abort or silently skip the problem. Thus, if you change the error handler from MPI_ERRORS_ARE_FATAL to something else, for example, MPI_ERRORS_RETURN, then no error may be indicated.

The reason for this is the performance problems in ensuring that all collective routines return the same error value.

Errors

All MPI routines (except MPI_Wtime and MPI_Wtick) return an error value; C routines as the value of the function and Fortran routines in the last argument. Before the value is returned, the current MPI error handler is called. By default, this error handler aborts the MPI job. The error handler may be changed with MPI_Comm_set_errhandler (for communicators), MPI_File_set_errhandler (for files), and MPI_Win_set_errhandler (for RMA windows). The MPI-1 routine MPI_Errhandler_set may be used but its use is deprecated. The predefined error handler MPI_ERRORS_RETURN may be used to cause error values to be returned. Note that MPI does not guarentee that an MPI program can continue past an error; however, MPI implementations will attempt to continue whenever possible.

MPI_ERR_BUFFER
Invalid buffer pointer. Usually a null buffer where one is not valid.
MPI_ERR_COUNT
Invalid count argument. Count arguments must be non-negative; a count of zero is often valid.
MPI_ERR_TYPE
Invalid datatype argument. May be an uncommitted MPI_Datatype (see MPI_Type_commit).
MPI_ERR_OP
Invalid operation. MPI operations (objects of type MPI_Op) must either be one of the predefined operations (e.g., MPI_SUM) or created with MPI_Op_create.
MPI_ERR_COMM
Invalid communicator. A common error is to use a null communicator in a call (not even allowed in MPI_Comm_rank).

Example Code

The following sample code illustrates MPI_Allreduce.

#include "mpi.h"
 #include <stdio.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    int count = 1000;
    int *in, *out, *sol;
    int i, fnderr=0;
    int rank, size;

    MPI_Init(&argc, &argv);
    MPI_Comm_size(MPI_COMM_WORLD, &size);
    MPI_Comm_rank(MPI_COMM_WORLD, &rank);
    in = (int *)malloc( count * sizeof(int) );
    out = (int *)malloc( count * sizeof(int) );
    sol = (int *)malloc( count * sizeof(int) );
    for (i=0; i<count; i++)
    {
        *(in + i) = i;
        *(sol + i) = i*size;
        *(out + i) = 0;
    }
    MPI_Allreduce( in, out, count, MPI_INT, MPI_SUM, MPI_COMM_WORLD );
    for (i=0; i<count; i++)
    {
        if (*(out + i) != *(sol + i))
        {
            fnderr++;
        }
    }
    if (fnderr)
    {
        fprintf( stderr, "(%d) Error for type MPI_INT and op MPI_SUM\n", rank );
        fflush(stderr);
    }
    free( in );
    free( out );
    free( sol );
    MPI_Finalize();
    return fnderr;
}