add an notice about minimum Intel / GCC version required to configure output

Issue #2663 resolved
Roland Haas created an issue

Cactus requires full C++ 11 support, which for the Intel compiler suite requires a new enough Intel C++ compiler as well as a new enough STL (from g++) to work. While configure tests for features it does not give a hint as to what compiler version is required. In particular for the Intel compiler whose default setup often uses an old system installed g++ STL this can be annoying.

It would thus be good if configure, at least when detecting an Intel compiler, could output a minimum known good combination of Intel and g++ compiler to work. This may be Intel 2017 + gcc 6. Gcc 6 is a known requirement and stated in one of the release notes. Intel 2017 may be the first intel compiler to list compatibility with gcc 6 include files. Known to not work are versions Intel 2015 (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29371301/intel-c-compiler-what-is-highest-gcc-version-compatibility) and earlier.

The current minimum icpc version in simfactory option lists is intel 2017 or intel 2016 (on Caltech’s wheeler cluster which has not been tested for a while).

Comments (12)

  1. Roland Haas reporter

    There is no strict version check one could do. Eg gcc-4.8 on my debian box compiles the ET fine, but gcc-4.8 on an old RedHat based cluster fails. Either Debian includes some fixes in gcc or it is due to more modern system include files. In any case, sometimes even gcc-4.8 is fine, but not always.

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