[MITgcm-devel] netcdf test with mpi in genmake2

[Martin Losch]

Hi there,

it's probably a stupid question, but the netcdf test in genmake2 is a little confusing to me (and others).

when genmake2 is called with -mpi, then the genmake_tnc.F is changed to include the mpif.h header file. Often, one forgets to actually include or adjust the paths to the mpi include directory, so that this netcdf test fails, because the mpif.h header file is not found, even when everything is OK with the netcdf paths. The error message is then that netcdf cannot be included, but the real reason is that MPI-paths are not properly set. This has left me confused many times. 

Do we need this #include "mpif.h" in the netcdf test?
Wouldn't it make more sense to check if mpi-headers are available with a different test and leave the netcdf test alone?

Martin