#NAME

MCE::Util - Utility functions

#VERSION

This document describes MCE::Util version 1.900

#SYNOPSIS

use MCE::Util;

#DESCRIPTION

A utility module for MCE. Nothing is exported by default. Exportable is get_ncpu.

#get_ncpu()

Returns the number of logical (online/active/enabled) CPU cores; never smaller than one.

my $ncpu = MCE::Util::get_ncpu();

Specifying 'auto' for max_workers calls MCE::Util::get_ncpu automatically. MCE 1.521 sets an upper-limit when specifying 'auto'. The reason is mainly to safeguard apps from spawning 100 workers on a box having 100 cores. This is important for apps which are IO-bound.

use MCE;

## 'Auto' is the total # of logical cores (lcores) (8 maximum, MCE 1.521).
## The computed value will not exceed the # of logical cores on the box.

my $mce = MCE->new(

max_workers => 'auto',       ##  1 on HW with 1-lcores;  2 on  2-lcores
max_workers =>  16,          ## 16 on HW with 4-lcores; 16 on 32-lcores

max_workers => 'auto',       ##  4 on HW with 4-lcores;  8 on 16-lcores
max_workers => 'auto*1.5',   ##  4 on HW with 4-lcores; 12 on 16-lcores
max_workers => 'auto*2.0',   ##  4 on HW with 4-lcores; 16 on 16-lcores
max_workers => 'auto/2.0',   ##  2 on HW with 4-lcores;  4 on 16-lcores
max_workers => 'auto+3',     ##  4 on HW with 4-lcores; 11 on 16-lcores
max_workers => 'auto-1',     ##  3 on HW with 4-lcores;  7 on 16-lcores

max_workers => MCE::Util::get_ncpu,   ## run on all lcores
);

In summary:

1. Auto has an upper-limit of 8 in MCE 1.521 (# of lcores, 8 maximum)
2. Math may be applied with auto (*/+-) to change the upper limit
3. The computed value for auto will not exceed the total # of lcores
4. One can specify max_workers explicitly to a hard value
5. MCE::Util::get_ncpu returns the actual # of lcores

#ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The portable code for detecting the number of processors was adopted from Test::Smoke::SysInfo.

#INDEX

MCE, MCE::Core

#AUTHOR

Mario E. Roy, <marioeroy AT gmail DOT com>

CONTENTS