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| cannam@167 | 25 <title>FFTW 3.3.8: Caveats in Using Wisdom</title> | 
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| cannam@167 | 71 <a name="Caveats-in-Using-Wisdom"></a> | 
| cannam@167 | 72 <div class="header"> | 
| cannam@167 | 73 <p> | 
| cannam@167 | 74 Previous: <a href="Words-of-Wisdom_002dSaving-Plans.html#Words-of-Wisdom_002dSaving-Plans" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Words of Wisdom-Saving Plans</a>, Up: <a href="Other-Important-Topics.html#Other-Important-Topics" accesskey="u" rel="up">Other Important Topics</a>   [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> | 
| cannam@167 | 75 </div> | 
| cannam@167 | 76 <hr> | 
| cannam@167 | 77 <a name="Caveats-in-Using-Wisdom-1"></a> | 
| cannam@167 | 78 <h3 class="section">3.4 Caveats in Using Wisdom</h3> | 
| cannam@167 | 79 <a name="index-wisdom_002c-problems-with"></a> | 
| cannam@167 | 80 | 
| cannam@167 | 81 <blockquote> | 
| cannam@167 | 82 <i> | 
| cannam@167 | 83 <p>For in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge | 
| cannam@167 | 84 increaseth sorrow. | 
| cannam@167 | 85 </i> | 
| cannam@167 | 86 [Ecclesiastes 1:18] | 
| cannam@167 | 87 <a name="index-Ecclesiastes"></a> | 
| cannam@167 | 88 </p></blockquote> | 
| cannam@167 | 89 | 
| cannam@167 | 90 <a name="index-portability-1"></a> | 
| cannam@167 | 91 <p>There are pitfalls to using wisdom, in that it can negate FFTW’s | 
| cannam@167 | 92 ability to adapt to changing hardware and other conditions. For | 
| cannam@167 | 93 example, it would be perfectly possible to export wisdom from a | 
| cannam@167 | 94 program running on one processor and import it into a program running | 
| cannam@167 | 95 on another processor.  Doing so, however, would mean that the second | 
| cannam@167 | 96 program would use plans optimized for the first processor, instead of | 
| cannam@167 | 97 the one it is running on. | 
| cannam@167 | 98 </p> | 
| cannam@167 | 99 <p>It should be safe to reuse wisdom as long as the hardware and program | 
| cannam@167 | 100 binaries remain unchanged. (Actually, the optimal plan may change even | 
| cannam@167 | 101 between runs of the same binary on identical hardware, due to | 
| cannam@167 | 102 differences in the virtual memory environment, etcetera.  Users | 
| cannam@167 | 103 seriously interested in performance should worry about this problem, | 
| cannam@167 | 104 too.)  It is likely that, if the same wisdom is used for two | 
| cannam@167 | 105 different program binaries, even running on the same machine, the | 
| cannam@167 | 106 plans may be sub-optimal because of differing code alignments.  It is | 
| cannam@167 | 107 therefore wise to recreate wisdom every time an application is | 
| cannam@167 | 108 recompiled.  The more the underlying hardware and software changes | 
| cannam@167 | 109 between the creation of wisdom and its use, the greater grows | 
| cannam@167 | 110 the risk of sub-optimal plans. | 
| cannam@167 | 111 </p> | 
| cannam@167 | 112 <p>Nevertheless, if the choice is between using <code>FFTW_ESTIMATE</code> or | 
| cannam@167 | 113 using possibly-suboptimal wisdom (created on the same machine, but for a | 
| cannam@167 | 114 different binary), the wisdom is likely to be better.  For this reason, | 
| cannam@167 | 115 we provide a function to import wisdom from a standard system-wide | 
| cannam@167 | 116 location (<code>/etc/fftw/wisdom</code> on Unix): | 
| cannam@167 | 117 <a name="index-wisdom_002c-system_002dwide"></a> | 
| cannam@167 | 118 </p> | 
| cannam@167 | 119 <div class="example"> | 
| cannam@167 | 120 <pre class="example">int fftw_import_system_wisdom(void); | 
| cannam@167 | 121 </pre></div> | 
| cannam@167 | 122 <a name="index-fftw_005fimport_005fsystem_005fwisdom"></a> | 
| cannam@167 | 123 | 
| cannam@167 | 124 <p>FFTW also provides a standalone program, <code>fftw-wisdom</code> (described | 
| cannam@167 | 125 by its own <code>man</code> page on Unix) with which users can create wisdom, | 
| cannam@167 | 126 e.g. for a canonical set of sizes to store in the system wisdom file. | 
| cannam@167 | 127 See <a href="Wisdom-Utilities.html#Wisdom-Utilities">Wisdom Utilities</a>. | 
| cannam@167 | 128 <a name="index-fftw_002dwisdom-utility"></a> | 
| cannam@167 | 129 </p> | 
| cannam@167 | 130 <hr> | 
| cannam@167 | 131 <div class="header"> | 
| cannam@167 | 132 <p> | 
| cannam@167 | 133 Previous: <a href="Words-of-Wisdom_002dSaving-Plans.html#Words-of-Wisdom_002dSaving-Plans" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Words of Wisdom-Saving Plans</a>, Up: <a href="Other-Important-Topics.html#Other-Important-Topics" accesskey="u" rel="up">Other Important Topics</a>   [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> | 
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