Configuring PETSc and Eclipse Parallel Tools Platform (PTP) on macOS and Linux (C++ / Fortran)

The PETSc (Portable, Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computation) framework provides high-performance data structures, sparse matrix operations, and scalable linear/nonlinear solvers for finite element and scientific modeling. Setting up PETSc within the Eclipse Parallel Tools Platform (PTP) IDE simplifies debugging and cross-compilation across macOS and Linux.

Platforms Verified: macOS Yosemite • Ubuntu 14.04 LTS • CentOS / RHEL (OpenMPI) • C++ and Fortran Compilers

1. Building PETSc with OpenMPI

Configure PETSc with shared libraries and debugging enabled:

./configure --with-shared-libraries=1 --with-debugging=1 PETSC_ARCH=debug
make PETSC_DIR=/path/to/petsc PETSC_ARCH=debug all
make PETSC_DIR=/path/to/petsc PETSC_ARCH=debug test

2. Eclipse Project Configuration

1. Environment Variables: In Project Properties → C/C++ Build → Environment, add:
   • PETSC_DIR: Absolute path to your PETSc root directory.
   • PETSC_ARCH: Set to debug for Debug configurations and release for Release.
2. Include Paths: Under C/C++ General → Paths and Symbols → Includes:

   ${PETSC_DIR}/include
   ${PETSC_DIR}/${PETSC_ARCH}/include

3. Linker Libraries & Path: Under C/C++ Build → Settings → Linker:
   • Libraries (-l): Add petsc
   • Library search path (-L): Add ${PETSC_DIR}/${PETSC_ARCH}/lib
   • Miscellaneous Linker flags: Add runtime path binding:

     -Wl,-rpath,"${PETSC_DIR}/${PETSC_ARCH}/lib"

4. Fortran Preprocessing Flags: If using gfortran, navigate to Fortran Build → Settings → Miscellaneous and add:

   -cpp -dM

3. Verification Test (C++)

#include <iostream>
#include "petsc.h"

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    PetscInitialize(&argc, &argv, PETSC_NULL, PETSC_NULL);
    PetscPrintf(PETSC_COMM_WORLD, "PETSc successfully initialized in Eclipse!
");
    PetscFinalize();
    return 0;
}