[DRMAA-WG] Meeting minutes - Conference call - Aug 25th - 19:00 UTC

[Andre Merzky]

Hi all, 

Quoting [Peter Tr?ger] (Aug 25 2010):
> 
> - Raised new issue: What are the default values for JobTemplate 
>   atrtributes ?
>   - So far, DRM system defaults are implicitely used when not setting 
>     an attribute
>   - Worked with getter / setter - based attribute change, how to 
>     realize with JT struct ?
>      - Two options: Notion of "invalid value", default for all 
>        attributes OR setting system defaults as struct value defaults
>      - Second option not implementable in all cases, example working 
>        directory

sorry for jumping in sideways again, I did not follow the complete
discussion I am afraid.  But isn't the first option also very
difficult to *use*?  Again for example for the working directory: an
'invalid value' as default would likely trigger the backend to
decline the job request.  So, the DRMAA user would need to set all
required values explicitely.

So, IMHO, a third option would be to allow for empty values, which
are then interpreted as 'unspecified', and set by the backend as
needed (e.g. with the system default working directory).

My $0.02, 

  Andre.


> - First option might mandate explicit error checking in DRMAA 
> applications, which was not mandatory with setter function exceptions
> - Problem identified as not big enough to roll-back data struct approach
> - Decision: Defining "invalid value" for data types is task of the 
> language binding
>      - Boolean in C: Use custom enumeration (TRUE, FALSE, INVALID) or 
> pointer to static values
>      - Numerical in C: Use magic number; since all long attributes are 
> unsigned, it could be MIN_INT
>      - Implementation strategy for Java exists
>      - With Python, just use NONE
> 
> > 4. JobInfo::jobTemplate vs. job monitoring attributes (check Google 
> > spreadsheet)
> > 5. Sanity check for OS type description (check 
> > http://tinyurl.com/25cy9u7 )
> > 6. Proposal for new JobInfo attributes: priority and memory 
> > consumption (check Google spreadsheet)
> > 7. Is SGE really not able to distinguish between user mode CPU time 
> > and system mode CPU time ? (check Google spreadsheet)
> > 8. Collaborative editing of Google spreadsheet
> >
> > Google spreadsheet:
> > http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AqyvnBscJNqxcnJBSUs5dXRrU29EUVhGOGthc1lDTFE
> 
> Not covered due to time constraints.
> 
> /Peter.
-- 
Nothing is ever easy.