1. The easiest way to get mpich is to use the web
page www.mcs.anl.gov/mpi/mpich1/download.html; you can also use
anonymous ftp from ftp.mcs.anl.gov in directory
pub/mpi. Get the file mpich.tar.gz.
(If that file is
too big, try getting the pieces from pub/mpi/mpisplit and
catting them together.)
2. Unpack the mpich.tar.gz file into a build directory. We
recommend using a locally mounted partition rather than an NFS
(network file system) partition. For example, on many systems,
/tmp or /sandbox are locally mounted. Make sure that
there is enough space available (100MB should be more than enough).
To unpack, assuming that mpich.tar.gz has been downloaded into
/tmp, use
% cd /tmp
% tar zxovf mpich.tar.gz
If your tar does not accept the z option, use
% cd /tmp
% gunzip -c mpich.tar.gz | tar zxovf -
3. Apply any patches. Check the web page
www.mcs.anl.gov/mpi/mpich1/buglist-tbl.html for any patches that
need to be applied. Normally, versions of mpich that already have
these important patches applied are available; they are indicated by a
fourth number in the release name (e.g., 1.2.2.3). But in some cases,
a patch is made available early. The patch page has
instructions on applying the patches.
Now you are ready to build