m4 macro preprocessor has gone missing

[Davis__Timothy]

I require the m4 preprocessor macro command, but it has just gone missing from both the gold and plat* nodes in the Intel DevCloud.  The CMake "find_program (M4EXISTS m4)" no longer works.

Can you please reinstall it?

[ChithraJ_Intel]

Hi Davis,

Thanks for reaching out to us.

Could you please tell the node in which you tried out.

We couldn't find m4 in any gold nodes.However,we were able to find that m4 is installed in s001-n142 which is a platinum node.Could you please try requesting that particular node and see if it works.

Please find the below commands:

qsub -I -l nodes=s001-n142:ppn=2
m4 --help

Screenshot attached for your reference.

Hopes this resolve your issue.

[Davis__Timothy]

This is not a good solution.  I can't assume that any given platinum node is available.

I don't know which plat* node I tried.  I used this script, and it failed:

#PBS -l nodes=1:ppn=2:plat8153
#PBS -l walltime=24:00:00

cd $PBS_O_WORKDIR

cd GraphBLAS
make CC=gcc CXX=gcc JOBS=24

This has worked before, on any plat* node, but yesterday I got this error:

 % cat myjob_compile_plat_gcc.e506549
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:117 (message):
  m4 not found, but is required.  Install via your system package manager, or
  download at http://www.gnu.org/software/m4/m4.html or
  http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net for Windows

which is the output of this part of my GraphBLAS/CMakeLists.txt script:

find_program ( M4EXISTS m4 )
if ( NOT M4EXISTS )
    message ( FATAL_ERROR "m4 not found, but is required.  Install via your system package manager, or download at http://www.gnu.org/software/m4/m4.html or http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net for Windows" )
endif ( )
 

I've been compiling my code on the DevCloud for months, on the gold nodes, with this script (which picks any gold node at random) and it has never failed:

#PBS -l nodes=1:ppn=2:gold6128
#PBS -l walltime=24:00:00

cd $PBS_O_WORKDIR

cd GraphBLAS
make CC=gcc CXX=gcc JOBS=24

but it failed:

 cat myjob_compile_gold_gcc.e506799
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:117 (message):
  m4 not found, but is required.  Install via your system package manager, or
  download at http://www.gnu.org/software/m4/m4.html or
  http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net for Windows
 

This used to work, on any gold node.  Why was m4 uninstalled?  Can you please reinstall it on all gold and platinum nodes?

[Davis__Timothy]

Also, I cannot compile on the login nodes.  It is a large program and the login nodes timeout.

[Davis__Timothy]

Also, n142 is not a node I can use.  The Intel-led benchmark effort is using the "plat8153" nodes, which are nodes n145 to n156.  Node n142 may have a platinum CPU, but it does have the "plat8153" designation.

[Henry_G_Intel]

The m4 macro processor is a POSIX standard component that has been around for decades. The build systems for many applications rely on m4. It's on the login node, so please make sure it's available on the compute nodes too.

[Adweidh_Intel]

Dear Davis,

We understand your concern, we are working on this internally, will get back to you at the earliest.

[ChithraJ_Intel]

Hi Davis,

We had informed the concerned admin team regarding this issue and they are working on this, will get back to you soon.

[ChithraJ_Intel]

Hi Davis,

We are forwarding this case to Devcloud admin team.

[ChithraJ_Intel]

Hi Davis,

Could you please let us know more details about the use case which you are trying to achieve by getting m4 macro preprocessor installed on Devcloud. Are you trying to do anything related to oneAPI using this?

[Gael_H_Intel]

Hi - we are going to be implementing this request.  We will let you know when it is finished.

[ChithraJ_Intel]

Hi Davis,

Sorry for the delay in reply.

We have installed the m4 macro preprocessor in plat8153 nodes(n145 to n156). We could able to verify this in nodes n145, n149, n150 & n153. Could you please also verify the same and let us know whether you are able to find it so we can close the case.

Thanks.

[ChithraJ_Intel]

Hi Davis,

We haven't heard back anything from you. So, we are closing this case. Please feel free to raise a new thread if you have any further issues.

Thanks.