int MPI_Grequest_start(
  MPI_Grequest_query_function *query_fn,
  MPI_Grequest_free_function *free_fn,
  MPI_Grequest_cancel_function *cancel_fn,
  void *extra_state,
  MPI_Request *request
);

Parameters

query_fn

[in] callback function invoked when request status is queried (function)

free_fn

[in] callback function invoked when request is freed (function)

cancel_fn

[in] callback function invoked when request is cancelled (function)

extra_state

[in] Extra state passed to the above functions.

request

[out] Generalized request (handle)

Remarks

The call starts a generalized request and returns a handle to it in request.

Advice to users.

Note that a generalized request belongs, in C++, to the class MPI::Grequest, which is a derived class of MPI::Request. It is of the same type as regular requests, in C and Fortran. ( End of advice to users.)

The syntax and meaning of the callback functions are listed below. All callback functions are passed the extra_state argument that was associated with the request by the starting call MPI_GREQUEST_START. This can be used to maintain user-defined state for the request. In C, the query function is

typedef int MPI_Grequest_query_function(void *extra_state, MPI_Status *status);
 

in Fortran

SUBROUTINE GREQUEST_QUERY_FUNCTION(EXTRA_STATE, STATUS, IERROR)
INTEGER STATUS(MPI_STATUS_SIZE), IERROR
INTEGER(KIND=MPI_ADDRESS_KIND) EXTRA_STATE
 

and in C++

typedef int MPI::Grequest::Query_function(void* extra_state, MPI::Status& status);
 

query_fn function computes the status that should be returned for the generalized request. The status also includes information about successful/unsuccessful cancellation of the request (result to be returned by MPI_TEST_CANCELLED).

query_fn callback is invoked by the MPI_{WAIT|TEST}{ANY|SOME|ALL} call that completed the generalized request associated with this callback. The callback function is also invoked by calls to MPI_REQUEST_GET_STATUS, if the request is complete when the call occurs. In both cases, the callback is passed a reference to the corresponding status variable passed by the user to the MPI call; the status set by the callback function is returned by the MPI call. If the user provided MPI_STATUS_IGNORE or MPI_STATUSES_IGNORE to the MPI function that causes query_fn to be called, then MPI will pass a valid status object to query_fn, and this status will be ignored upon return of the callback function. Note that query_fn is invoked only after MPI_GREQUEST_COMPLETE is called on the request; it may be invoked several times for the same generalized request, e.g., if the user calls MPI_REQUEST_GET_STATUS several times for this request. Note also that a call to MPI_{WAIT|TEST}{SOME|ALL} may cause multiple invocations of query_fn callback functions, one for each generalized request that is completed by the MPI call. The order of these invocations is not specified by MPI.

In C, the free function is

typedef int MPI_Grequest_free_function(void *extra_state);
 

and in Fortran

SUBROUTINE GREQUEST_FREE_FUNCTION(EXTRA_STATE, IERROR)
INTEGER IERROR
INTEGER(KIND=MPI_ADDRESS_KIND) EXTRA_STATE
 

and in C++

typedef int MPI::Grequest::Free_function(void* extra_state);
 

free_fn function is invoked to clean up user-allocated resources when the generalized request is freed.

free_fn callback is invoked by the MPI_{WAIT|TEST}{ANY|SOME|ALL} call that completed the generalized request associated with this callback. free_fn is invoked after the call to query_fn for the same request. However, if the MPI call completed multiple generalized requests, the order in which free_fn callback functions are invoked is not specified by MPI.

free_fn callback is also invoked for generalized requests that are freed by a call to MPI_REQUEST_FREE (no call to WAIT_{WAIT|TEST}{ANY|SOME|ALL} will occur for such a request). In this case, the callback function will be called either in the MPI call MPI_REQUEST_FREE(request), or in the MPI call MPI_GREQUEST_COMPLETE(request), whichever happens last. I.e., in this case the actual freeing code is executed as soon as both calls MPI_REQUEST_FREE and MPI_GREQUEST_COMPLETE have occurred. The request is not deallocated until after free_fn completes. Note that free_fn will be invoked only once per request by a correct program.

Advice to users.

Calling MPI_REQUEST_FREE(request) will cause the request handle to be set to MPI_REQUEST_NULL. This handle to the generalized request is no longer valid. However, user copies of this handle are valid until after free_fn completes since MPI does not deallocate the object until then. Since free_fn is not called until after MPI_GREQUEST_COMPLETE, the user copy of the handle can be used to make this call. Users should note that MPI will deallocate the object after free_fn executes. At this point, user copies of the request handle no longer point to a valid request. MPI will not set user copies to MPI_REQUEST_NULL in this case, so it is up to the user to avoid accessing this stale handle. This is a special case where MPI defers deallocating the object until a later time that is known by the user. ( End of advice to users.)
 

In C, the cancel function is

typedef int MPI_Grequest_cancel_function(void *extra_state, int complete);
 

in Fortran

SUBROUTINE GREQUEST_CANCEL_FUNCTION(EXTRA_STATE, COMPLETE, IERROR)
INTEGER IERROR
INTEGER(KIND=MPI_ADDRESS_KIND) EXTRA_STATE
LOGICAL COMPLETE
 

and in C++

typedef int MPI::Grequest::Cancel_function(void* extra_state, bool complete);
 

cancel_fn function is invoked to start the cancelation of a generalized request. It is called by MPI_REQUEST_CANCEL(request). MPI passes to the callback function complete=true if MPI_GREQUEST_COMPLETE was already called on the request, and complete=false otherwise.

All callback functions return an error code. The code is passed back and dealt with as appropriate for the error code by the MPI function that invoked the callback function. For example, if error codes are returned then the error code returned by the callback function will be returned by the MPI function that invoked the callback function. In the case of MPI_{WAIT|TEST}{ANY} call that invokes both query_fn and free_fn, the MPI call will return the error code returned by the last callback, namely free_fn. If one or more of the requests in a call to MPI_{WAIT|TEST}{SOME|ALL} failed, then the MPI call will return MPI_ERR_IN_STATUS. In such a case, if the MPI call was passed an array of statuses, then MPI will return in each of the statuses that correspond to a completed generalized request the error code returned by the corresponding invocation of its free_fn callback function. However, if the MPI function was passed MPI_STATUSES_IGNORE, then the individual error codes returned by each callback functions will be lost.

Advice to users.

query_fn must not set the error field of status since query_fn may be called by MPI_WAIT or MPI_TEST, in which case the error field of status should not change. The MPI library knows the "context" in which query_fn is invoked and can decide correctly when to put in the error field of status the returned error code.

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

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_SUCCESS

No error; MPI routine completed successfully.

MPI_ERR_ARG

Invalid argument. Some argument is invalid and is not identified by a specific error class (e.g., MPI_ERR_RANK).

Example Code

The following sample code illustrates MPI_Grequest_start.

#include "mpi.h"
#include <stdio.h>
 
/* Simple test of generalized requests */
 
int query_fn( void *extra_state, MPI_Status *status )
{
    /* Set a default status */
    status->MPI_SOURCE = MPI_UNDEFINED;
    status->MPI_TAG = MPI_UNDEFINED;
    MPI_Status_set_cancelled( status, 0 );
    MPI_Status_set_elements( status, MPI_BYTE, 0 );
    return 0;
}
int free_fn( void *extra_state )
{
    int *b = (int *)extra_state;
    if (b) *b = *b - 1;
    /* The value returned by the free function is the error code returned by the wait/test function */
    return 0;
}
int cancel_fn( void *extra_state, int complete )
{
    return 0;
}
 
/*
* This is a very simple test of generalized requests. Normally, the
* MPI_Grequest_complete function would be called from another routine,
* often running in a separate thread. This simple code allows us to
* check that requests can be created, tested, and waited on in the
* case where the request is complete before the wait is called.
*
* Note that MPI did *not* define a routine that can be called within
* test or wait to advance the state of a generalized request.
* Most uses of generalized requests will need to use a separate thread.
*/
int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
{
    int errs = 0;
    int counter, flag;
    MPI_Status status;
    MPI_Request request;
 
    MPI_Init( &argc, &argv );
 
    MPI_Grequest_start( query_fn, free_fn, cancel_fn, NULL, &request );

    MPI_Test( &request, &flag, &status );
    if (flag) {
        errs++;
        fprintf( stderr, "Generalized request marked as complete\n" );
    }
 
    MPI_Grequest_complete( request );
 
    MPI_Wait( &request, &status );
 
    counter = 1;
    MPI_Grequest_start( query_fn, free_fn, cancel_fn, &counter, &request );
    MPI_Grequest_complete( request );
    MPI_Wait( &request, MPI_STATUS_IGNORE );

    if (counter) {
        errs++;
        fprintf( stderr, "Free routine not called, or not called with extra_data" );fflush(stderr);
    }
 
    MPI_Finalize();
    return 0;
}