[Ipopt] HSL distribution/compilation

[Stefan Vigerske]

Hi,

> We're looking at changing the way HSL packages are distributed -
> probably moving to have each package in its own .tar.gz/.zip archive
> with everything it needs.
>
> We're also looking at adding interfaces for some more up to date
> packages to IPOPT.
>
> Would it be better if we produced a single coinhsl.tar.gz with
> everything in it, or would people prefer to stick with individual
> packages as at present? (I'd aim to produce one representing the archive
> (free to everyone, non-redistributable) and a separate one for the main
> library (free to academics)).

One tarball that has it's all would be great.
Does the first option mean that we could build Ipopt binaries with some 
HSL code that can be put on the web and used in commercial products?

If one has single tarballs, then it would be good to have some kind of 
version number in its name.

> Assuming a single download is preferable, would it be better with its
> own autotools based installation that just deposits a libhsl.so and
> libhsl.a somewhere friendly, or to integrate it into the IPOPT build
> tools (as at present) so the user can build it directly into their
> libipopt library?

I would prefer the latter one, adapting Ipopt's ThirdParty/HSL to build 
the sources from your tarball. That way, one can be more sure that the 
same compiler and compiler flags are uses as for the rest of Ipopt.

Stefan