Re: [wwwdocs] Add "-fexternal-blas" to gcc-4.3/changes.html

[Erik Edelmann <erik dot edelmann at iki dot fi>]

On Mon, Oct 23, 2006 at 11:05:02AM +0200, Tobias Burnus wrote:
> Richard Guenther wrote:
> > Does it work with BLAS only or with any lapack style library?  In this
> > case at least the documentation should read like "calls to a linear
> > algebra library
> > like BLAS or LAPACK for matrix".  Of course in that case I also
> > dislike the option name, but
> > I don't have a particular better idea either.

        <...>

> But if you think that many people think of only Netlib's BLAS when one
> uses the term "BLAS", we indeed need to find a better wording.

My impression of the situation is that the name "BLAS" is a general name
for libraries implmementing a specified set of routines, rather than a
specific implementation -- just as "Fortran" is a name of a language
rather than a specific compiler.  "Netlib's BLAS" is often referred to
as "the reference implmementation".  Since that implmementation is the
one that defines what routines a BLAS library is supposed to implement
and how they are supposed to behave, it could perhaps be considered to
be a little more BLAS than other BLASes.  OTOH, the very idea, if I have
understood it correctly, is that that implementation is just a reference
implementation, i.e. a kind of a standard expressed as code, and that
others can (and are encouraged to) provide better optimized
implementations.  Therefore, both the wording of the docs and the
option are IMHO OK.


        Erik