17.2.48. MPI_Comm_create

MPI_Comm_create — Creates a new communicator.

17.2.48.1. SYNTAX

17.2.48.1.1. C Syntax

#include <mpi.h>

int MPI_Comm_create(MPI_Comm comm, MPI_Group group, MPI_Comm *newcomm)

17.2.48.1.2. Fortran Syntax

USE MPI
! or the older form: INCLUDE 'mpif.h'

MPI_COMM_CREATE(COMM, GROUP, NEWCOMM, IERROR)
    INTEGER COMM, GROUP, NEWCOMM, IERROR

17.2.48.1.3. Fortran 2008 Syntax

USE mpi_f08

MPI_Comm_create(comm, group, newcomm, ierror)
    TYPE(MPI_Comm), INTENT(IN) :: comm
    TYPE(MPI_Group), INTENT(IN) :: group
    TYPE(MPI_Comm), INTENT(OUT) :: newcomm
    INTEGER, OPTIONAL, INTENT(OUT) :: ierror

17.2.48.2. INPUT PARAMETER

  • comm : Communicator (handle).

  • group : Group, which is a subset of the group of comm (handle).

17.2.48.3. OUTPUT PARAMETERS

  • newcomm : New communicator (handle).

  • ierror : Fortran only: Error status (integer).

17.2.48.4. DESCRIPTION

This function creates a new communicator newcomm with communication group defined by group and a new context. The function sets newcomm to a new communicator that spans all the processes that are in the group. It sets newcomm to MPI_COMM_NULL for processes that are not in the group. Each process must call with a group argument that is a subgroup of the group associated with comm; this could be MPI_GROUP_EMPTY. The processes may specify different values for the group argument. If a process calls with a non-empty group, then all processes in that group must call the function with the same group as argument, that is: the same processes in the same order. Otherwise the call is erroneous.

17.2.48.5. NOTES

MPI_Comm_create provides a means of making a subset of processes for the purpose of separate MIMD computation, with separate communication space. newcomm, which is created by MPI_Comm_create, can be used in subsequent calls to MPI_Comm_create (or other communicator constructors) to further subdivide a computation into parallel sub-computations. A more general service is provided by MPI_Comm_split.

17.2.48.6. ERRORS

Almost all MPI routines return an error value; C routines as the return result of the function and Fortran routines in the last argument.

Before the error value is returned, the current MPI error handler associated with the communication object (e.g., communicator, window, file) is called. If no communication object is associated with the MPI call, then the call is considered attached to MPI_COMM_SELF and will call the associated MPI error handler. When MPI_COMM_SELF is not initialized (i.e., before MPI_Init/MPI_Init_thread, after MPI_Finalize, or when using the Sessions Model exclusively) the error raises the initial error handler. The initial error handler can be changed by calling MPI_Comm_set_errhandler on MPI_COMM_SELF when using the World model, or the mpi_initial_errhandler CLI argument to mpiexec or info key to MPI_Comm_spawn/MPI_Comm_spawn_multiple. If no other appropriate error handler has been set, then the MPI_ERRORS_RETURN error handler is called for MPI I/O functions and the MPI_ERRORS_ABORT error handler is called for all other MPI functions.

Open MPI includes three predefined error handlers that can be used:

  • MPI_ERRORS_ARE_FATAL Causes the program to abort all connected MPI processes.

  • MPI_ERRORS_ABORT An error handler that can be invoked on a communicator, window, file, or session. When called on a communicator, it acts as if MPI_Abort was called on that communicator. If called on a window or file, acts as if MPI_Abort was called on a communicator containing the group of processes in the corresponding window or file. If called on a session, aborts only the local process.

  • MPI_ERRORS_RETURN Returns an error code to the application.

MPI applications can also implement their own error handlers by calling:

Note that MPI does not guarantee that an MPI program can continue past an error.

See the MPI man page for a full list of MPI error codes.

See the Error Handling section of the MPI-3.1 standard for more information.

See also