Annoyting type_size problem

John M May (johnmay@coral.llnl.gov)
Wed, 18 Dec 1996 17:05:20 -0800 (PST)

The MPI-1 standard says that MPI_Type_size returns the size
of a type in an int parameter:

int MPI_Type_size( MPI_Datatype type, int * size );

On the other hand, MPI_Type_extent uses an MPI_Aint. Others
have already noticed this inconsistency; for example early
versions of MPICH used an MPI_Aint in MPI_Type_size,
while later ones follow the letter of the standard here.

Now in the I/O proposal, there are two analogous functions,
MPI_File_get_type_size and MPI_File_get_type_extent. Both
return their results in an MPI_Aint.

My question is, will the MPI_Type_size function be changed
to use an MPI_Aint, or should the MPI_File_get_type_size
function be changed to use an int? Or will the inconsistency
remain so that MPI-1 can remain as it while the new functions
"get it right"?

John