[Os-project-managers] Bonmin etc. options passed through Couenne

[Horand Gassmann]

Hi guys,

In our options paper we say "Another use of the {\tt  category}  
attribute is to allow a solver to pass options on to external pieces  
of software that are used by the solver. For instance, Couenne..."

In the OSCouenneSolver we then go through contortions to build the  
option name out of the "name" and "category" attributes and pass it to  
the option loader in Couenne as e.g., "bonmin.warmstart". Wouldn't it  
be a lot easier and clearer(!) so simply put "bonmin.warmstart" as the  
*name* of the option right away? After all, this is the name you would  
use when calling Couenne in stand-alone fashion, and this is what the  
Couenne user's manual says you should do. It would also simplify our  
code considerably, and it would avoid the contortion of treating  
category "ipopt" special, since the loader does not prepend the  
'ipopt' to the option name. That is

name="print_level" value="6" category="ipopt"

must be sent to the option loader *without* the 'ipopt.' prepended. I  
say, using the "category" attribute in the way we are advocating in  
the paper is confusing and can do more harm than good. My preference  
would be to simply take that paragraph out of the paper.

Cheers

gus

Cheers

gus



-------------------------------------------------------

Horand I. Gassmann, Professor

School of Business Administration, Dalhousie University
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