#1284: Want stand-alone parameter parser --------------------------+------------------------------------------------- Reporter: eschnett | Owner: Type: enhancement | Status: new Priority: major | Milestone: Component: Cactus | Version: Resolution: | Keywords: --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
Comment (by eschnett):
Regarding MPI_Init: It is not possible to circumvent calling MPI_Init, as this is the first thing that needs to be done in an executable. There is no way to make a decision before this point, since e.g. command line arguments and environment variables are not yet available.
Regarding outputting parameters: You can set IO::parfile_write="generate", which outputs the current values instead of copying the parameter file. Thorn Formaline also outputs all parameter values in a format that is easier to parse, but people haven't really been interested.
A while ago, some people mentioned they would parse parameter files themselves and thus didn't like a complex parameter file syntax. Instead of parsing parameter files, there could be a generic parameter file parser that is easy to use and gets the syntax correct. Now I see there is much opposition to such an idea -- we should remember this next time we discuss parameter file syntax, as people apparently aren't supposed to parse parameter files by themselves anyway.