Stxxl: Documentation for STXXL library

1.3.0

The core of STXXL is an implementation of the C++ standard template library STL for external memory (out-of-core) computations, i.e., STXXL implements containers and algorithms that can process huge volumes of data that only fit on disks. While the compatibility to the STL supports ease of use and compatibility with existing applications, another design priority is high performance. Here is a selection of STXXL performance features:

transparent support of multiple disks
variable block lengths
overlapping of I/O and computation
prevention of OS file buffering overhead
algorithm pipelining

Supported Operating Systems

Linux (kernel >= 2.4.18)
Solaris
Mac OS X
FreeBSD
other POSIX compatible systems should work, but have not been tested
Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Supported Compilers

The following compilers have been tested in different STXXL configurations. Other compilers might work, too, but we don't have the resources (systems, compilers or time) to test them. Feedback is welcome.

The compilers marked with '*' are the developer's favorite choices and are most thoroughly tested.

                |         parallel            parallel
                |  stxxl   stxxl     stxxl     stxxl
  compiler      |                   + boost   + boost
----------------+----------------------------------------
  GCC 4.5 c++0x |    x     PMODE²      -         -
  GCC 4.5       |    x     PMODE²      -         -
* GCC 4.4 c++0x |    x     PMODE²      x       PMODE²
  GCC 4.4       |    x     PMODE²      x       PMODE²
  GCC 4.3 c++0x |    x     PMODE²      x       PMODE²
  GCC 4.3       |    x     PMODE²      x       PMODE²
  GCC 4.2       |    x     MCSTL       x       MCSTL
  GCC 4.1       |    x       -         x         -
  GCC 4.0       |    x       -         x         -
  GCC 3.4       |    x       -         x         -
  GCC 3.3       |    o       -         o         -
  GCC 2.95      |    -       -         -         -
* ICPC 11.1.072 |    x¹    MCSTL¹      x¹      MCSTL¹
  ICPC 11.0.084 |    x¹    MCSTL¹      x¹      MCSTL¹
  ICPC 10.1.026 |    x¹    MCSTL¹      x¹      MCSTL¹
  ICPC 10.0.026 |    x¹    MCSTL¹      x¹      MCSTL¹
  ICPC 9.1.053  |    x¹      -         x¹        -
  ICPC 9.0.032  |    x¹      -         x¹        -
* MSVC 2008 9.0 |    -       -         x         -
  MSVC 2005 8.0 |    -       -         x         -

 x   = full support
 o   = partial support
 -   = unsupported
 ?   = untested
 MCSTL = supports parallelization using the MCSTL library
 PMODE = supports parallelization using libstdc++ parallel mode
 ¹   = you may have to add a -gcc-name=<gcc-x.y> option if the system default
       gcc does not come in the correct version:
       icpc 9.0: use with gcc 3.x
       icpc 9.1: use with gcc before 4.2
       icpc 10.x, 11.x with mcstl support: use with gcc 4.2
 ²   = MCSTL has been superseded by the libstdc++ parallel mode in gcc 4.3,
       full support requires gcc 4.4 or later, only partial support in gcc 4.3

Supported BOOST versions

The Boost libraries are required on Windows platforms using MSVC compiler and optional on other platforms.

STXXL has been tested with Boost 1.40.0 and 1.42.0. Other versions may work, too, but older versions will not get support.

Installation and Usage Instructions

Installing from subversion

Questions

Questions concerning use and development of the STXXL library and bug reports should be posted to the FORUMS. Please search the forum before posting, your question may have been answered before.

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

License

STXXL is distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
You can find a copy of the license in the accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or online at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt.