[mpi-21] Documents

[Jeff Squyres <jsquyres@xxxxxxxxx>]

Per Rich's note about making a consolidated MPI-2.1 document  
(including all of MPI-1.2+errata and all MPI-2.1+errata), I think  
that's a fantastic idea.

1. What will be the source format for this document (and for  
successive MPI documents)?  The original MPI documents were written in  
the then-current version of LaTeX (Rainer Keller tells me that you  
have to downgrade to that version of LaTeX to build the docs).  Are  
other source formats possible?

LaTeX is fine, but there are only a few people who can write in it;  
the learning curve is fairly steep.  Other open formats with free  
editors are feasible for large documents.  For example, OpenOffice  
supports templates, natively exports to multiple formats (such as PDF  
and HTML), supports digital signatures to guarantee the One True MPI  
Standard Document, etc.  Others are likely possible, too.

2. PDF is fairly prevalent these days; it would be good if MPI-2.1  
(and later) had official PDF's published.  I don't have much of an  
opinion about official postscript docs anymore; does anyone still have  
a requirement for that?  Official HTML should also be published.  In  
making PDF's, it would be quite useful if they were fully indexed,  
cross-linked (e.g., clicking in the TOC and index takes you to the  
appropriate section), and full-text searchable.  [pdf]LaTeX,  
OpenOffice, and others can produce such PDF documents.

--
Jeff Squyres
Cisco Systems