[Math-atlas-announce] ATLAS 3.10.3 released

[R. C. W. <rcw...@ls...>]

Folks,

I am happy to announce the release of ATLAS 3.10.3.  Please forward this 
e-mail to any relevant mailing list, or to any parties that are 
repackaging the stable release that you know about.

ATLAS 3.10.3 should be noticeably faster than 3.10.2 on modern hardware, 
but the 3.11 series is almost always much faster on such systems.  While 
I was able to backport support for modern architectures, and even 
provide some reasonable kernels for modern ISA extensions, the 3.11 
series allows for much larger block factors and improved storage formats 
that are required to get decent performance many modern machines 
(including all AVX-enabled Intel chips).  So, if you can use it, 3.11 is 
still the best for modern machines by a long way.

I had hoped to have ATLAS 4.0 out by now, but various setbacks have 
delayed the release, necessitating 3.10.3, since 3.10.2 was not 
installing well on modern machines.

3.10.3 fixes these three bugs:
    http://math-atlas.sourceforge.net/errata3.10.2.html#herkNaN
    http://math-atlas.sourceforge.net/errata3.10.2.html#syr2kNaN
    http://math-atlas.sourceforge.net/errata3.10.2.html#rotmg

I have tested 3.10.3 to work on the following OSes:
   1. Linux
   2. Windows64 (cygwin64 builds now work!)
   3. AIX
   4. OS X

For OSes 2-4, see special sections in the install guide for additional help:
    http://math-atlas.sourceforge.net/atlas_install/node53.html
Hopefully other OSes (eg., Windows32, Solaris) still work from 3.10.2 
testing.

Also note that clang can now be used to build ATLAS by adding:
    --force-clang=/path/to/clang
to your configure line.  For the open version of clang, performance 
still tends to lag gcc, but is strongly improved from last release. 
Apple's clang appears to be substantially faster, but I may be mistaken.


New architecture support available in 3.10.3 includes:
    1. ARM32: a7, a9, a15 (auto-detect of SOFT/HARD ABI)
    2. ARM64: xgene1, a53, a57
    3. Intel: Corei3 & Corei4 (skylake)
    4. IBM: Z series, POWER8 (including little/big endian)

Support for modern vector extensions in atlas_simd.h:
    1. Intel AVX2
    2. IBM VSX & Z-series VX
    3. ARM64 Advanced SIMD
    4. ARM32 NEON (only if -Si ieee 0 flag is thrown)

Regards,
Clint

ATLAS 3.10.3 released 07/28/16, highlights of changes from 3.10.2
    * Updated F77 L1BLAS testers to those used LAPACK3.6.1
    * Fixed bug in rotmg revealed by LAPACK3.6.1 testers
    * Fixed bug in hprk/sprk that could cause NaN propogation in 
HERK/SYRK due
      to reading uninitialized memory in BETA=0 case
    * Fixed bug in threaded SYR2K/HER2K that could cause NaN propogation due
      to reading uninitialized memory
    * Extended matrix/vector norm functions to detect NaNs
    * Extended configure:
      + --force-clang=/path/to/clang : will use clang for all C compilers,
        even goodgcc (assumes gcc flag & inline-assembly compatibility)
      + --cripple-atlas-performance: install despite failing throttle check
      + Can now use arch string rather than enum # for -A arg
      + --force-tids now affects ATLrun.sh as well as threaded build
      + ARM32 autodetects SOFTFP/HARDFP ABI
    * backport of config & archdefs for:
      + POWER[7,8]le, IBMz[10,13,19], Corei[3,4], ARM[7,9,15,17],
        ARM64[xgene,a53,a57]
      + archdefs for NEON ARMa[7,15]
      + config support for IBM Z[9,196,12]
    * backport & extension of atlas_simd.h & atlas_cplxsimd.h
      + New SIMD kernels for: VSX, VXZ, AVX2, AdvancedSIMD, NEON
    * Fixed mflop test of PrintMMLine, that sometimes failed to print
      valid mflop due to negative values from prior runs
    * Removed ATL_dmm6x1x60_sse2_32.c from z index files (not valid cplx 
kern)
    * Forced MinGW comps to be ignored unless -Si nocygwin 1 is set
    * Added support for WOW64 detection & basic use, numerous changes to 
make
      work on cygwin64
    * Fixed uninit nM in s[1,2]nxtune.c's RecDoubleNX

-- 
**********************************************************************
** R. Clint Whaley, PhD * Assoc Prof, LSU * www.csc.lsu.edu/~whaley **
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