[boost] [compute] Some questions

Subject: [boost] [compute] Some questions
From: Andrey Semashev (andrey.semashev_at_[hidden])
Date: 2014-12-23 04:20:58

Hi,

I have no experience with OpenCL or GPU computing in general, so bear
with me if my questions sound silly. I have a few questions regarding
Boost.Compute:

1. When you define a kernel (e.g. with the BOOST_COMPUTE_FUNCTION
macro), is this kernel supposed to be in C? Can it reference global
(namespace scope) objects and other functions? Other kernels?

2. When is the kernel compiled and uploaded to the device? Is it
possible to cache and reuse the compiled kernel?

3. Why is the library not thread-safe by default? I'd say, we're long
past single-threaded systems now, and having to always define the
config macro is a nuisance.

4. Is it possible to upload the data to process to the device's local
memroy from a user-provided buffer, without copying it to
boost::compute::vector? Same for downloading. What I'd like to do is
move some of data processing to the GPU while the rest is performed on
the CPU (possibly with other libraries), and avoid excessive copying.

5. Is it possible to pass buffers in the device-local memory between
different processes (on the CPU) without downloading/uploading data
to/from the CPU memory?

6. Is it possible to discover device capabilities? E.g. the amount of
local memory (total/used/free), execution units, vendor and device
name?

Thanks.