\input texinfo
@setfilename parallel_alternatives.info

@documentencoding utf-8

@settitle parallel_alternatives - Alternatives to GNU parallel

@node Top
@top parallel_alternatives

@menu
* NAME::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GNU Parallel AND ALTERNATIVES::
* AUTHOR::
* LICENSE::
* DEPENDENCIES::
* SEE ALSO::
@end menu

@node NAME
@chapter NAME

parallel_alternatives - Alternatives to GNU @strong{parallel}

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GNU Parallel AND ALTERNATIVES
@chapter DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GNU Parallel AND ALTERNATIVES

There are a lot programs with some of the functionality of GNU
@strong{parallel}. GNU @strong{parallel} strives to include the best of the
functionality without sacrificing ease of use.

@menu
* SUMMARY TABLE::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN xargs AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN find -exec AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN make -j AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ppss AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN pexec AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN xjobs AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN prll AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN dxargs AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN mdm/middleman AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN xapply AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AIX apply AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN paexec AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN map AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ladon AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN jobflow AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN gargs AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN orgalorg AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN Rust parallel AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN Rush AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN machma AND GNU Parallel::
* DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ClusterSSH AND GNU Parallel::
@end menu

@node SUMMARY TABLE
@section SUMMARY TABLE

The following features are in some of the comparable tools:

Inputs
 I1. Arguments can be read from stdin
 I2. Arguments can be read from a file
 I3. Arguments can be read from multiple files
 I4. Arguments can be read from command line
 I5. Arguments can be read from a table
 I6. Arguments can be read from the same file using #! (shebang)
 I7. Line oriented input as default (Quoting of special chars not needed)

Manipulation of input
 M1. Composed command
 M2. Multiple arguments can fill up an execution line
 M3. Arguments can be put anywhere in the execution line
 M4. Multiple arguments can be put anywhere in the execution line
 M5. Arguments can be replaced with context
 M6. Input can be treated as the complete command line

Outputs
 O1. Grouping output so output from different jobs do not mix
 O2. Send stderr (standard error) to stderr (standard error)
 O3. Send stdout (standard output) to stdout (standard output)
 O4. Order of output can be same as order of input
 O5. Stdout only contains stdout (standard output) from the command
 O6. Stderr only contains stderr (standard error) from the command

Execution
 E1. Running jobs in parallel
 E2. List running jobs
 E3. Finish running jobs, but do not start new jobs
 E4. Number of running jobs can depend on number of cpus
 E5. Finish running jobs, but do not start new jobs after first failure
 E6. Number of running jobs can be adjusted while running

Remote execution
 R1. Jobs can be run on remote computers
 R2. Basefiles can be transferred
 R3. Argument files can be transferred
 R4. Result files can be transferred
 R5. Cleanup of transferred files
 R6. No config files needed
 R7. Do not run more than SSHD's MaxStartups can handle
 R8. Configurable SSH command
 R9. Retry if connection breaks occasionally

Semaphore
 S1. Possibility to work as a mutex
 S2. Possibility to work as a counting semaphore

Legend
 - = no
 x = not applicable
 ID = yes

As every new version of the programs are not tested the table may be
outdated. Please file a bug-report if you find errors (See REPORTING
BUGS).

parallel:
I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 I7
M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6
O1 O2 O3 O4 O5 O6
E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6
R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9
S1 S2

xargs:
I1 I2 -  -  -  -  -
-  M2 M3 -  -  -
-  O2 O3 -  O5 O6
E1 -  -  -  -  -
-  -  -  -  -  x  -  -  -
-  -

find -exec:
-  -  -  x  -  x  -
-  M2 M3 -  -  -  -
-  O2 O3 O4 O5 O6
-  -  -  -  -  -  -
-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
x  x

make -j:
-  -  -  -  -  -  -
-  -  -  -  -  -
O1 O2 O3 -  x  O6
E1 -  -  -  E5 -
-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
-  -

ppss:
I1 I2 -  -  -  -  I7
M1 -  M3 -  -  M6
O1 -  -  x  -  -
E1 E2 ?E3 E4 - -
R1 R2 R3 R4 -  -  ?R7 ? ?
-  -

pexec:
I1 I2 -  I4 I5 -  -
M1 -  M3 -  -  M6
O1 O2 O3 -  O5 O6
E1 -  -  E4 -  E6
R1 -  -  -  -  R6 -  -  -
S1 -

xjobs, prll, dxargs, mdm/middelman, xapply, paexec, ladon, jobflow,
ClusterSSH: TODO - Please file a bug-report if you know what features
they support (See REPORTING BUGS).

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN xargs AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN xargs AND GNU Parallel

@strong{xargs} offers some of the same possibilities as GNU @strong{parallel}.

@strong{xargs} deals badly with special characters (such as space, \, ' and
"). To see the problem try this:

@verbatim
  touch important_file
  touch 'not important_file'
  ls not* | xargs rm
  mkdir -p "My brother's 12\" records"
  ls | xargs rmdir
  touch 'c:\windows\system32\clfs.sys'
  echo 'c:\windows\system32\clfs.sys' | xargs ls -l
@end verbatim

You can specify @strong{-0}, but many input generators are not
optimized for using @strong{NUL} as separator but are optimized for
@strong{newline} as separator. E.g @strong{head}, @strong{tail}, @strong{awk}, @strong{ls}, @strong{echo},
@strong{sed}, @strong{tar -v}, @strong{perl} (@strong{-0} and \0 instead of \n), @strong{locate}
(requires using @strong{-0}), @strong{find} (requires using @strong{-print0}), @strong{grep}
(requires user to use @strong{-z} or @strong{-Z}), @strong{sort} (requires using @strong{-z}).

GNU @strong{parallel}'s newline separation can be emulated with:

@strong{cat | xargs -d "\n" -n1 @emph{command}}

@strong{xargs} can run a given number of jobs in parallel, but has no
support for running number-of-cpu-cores jobs in parallel.

@strong{xargs} has no support for grouping the output, therefore output may
run together, e.g. the first half of a line is from one process and
the last half of the line is from another process. The example
@strong{Parallel grep} cannot be done reliably with @strong{xargs} because of
this. To see this in action try:

@verbatim
  parallel perl -e '\$a=\"1{}\"x10000000\;print\ \$a,\"\\n\"' '>' {} \
    ::: a b c d e f
  ls -l a b c d e f
  parallel -kP4 -n1 grep 1 > out.par ::: a b c d e f
  echo a b c d e f | xargs -P4 -n1 grep 1 > out.xargs-unbuf
  echo a b c d e f | \
    xargs -P4 -n1 grep --line-buffered 1 > out.xargs-linebuf
  echo a b c d e f | xargs -n1 grep 1 > out.xargs-serial
  ls -l out*
  md5sum out*
@end verbatim

@strong{xargs} has no support for keeping the order of the output, therefore
if running jobs in parallel using @strong{xargs} the output of the second
job cannot be postponed till the first job is done.

@strong{xargs} has no support for running jobs on remote computers.

@strong{xargs} has no support for context replace, so you will have to create the
arguments.

If you use a replace string in @strong{xargs} (@strong{-I}) you can not force
@strong{xargs} to use more than one argument.

Quoting in @strong{xargs} works like @strong{-q} in GNU @strong{parallel}. This means
composed commands and redirection require using @strong{bash -c}.

@verbatim
  ls | parallel "wc {} >{}.wc"
  ls | parallel "echo {}; ls {}|wc"
@end verbatim

becomes (assuming you have 8 cores)

@verbatim
  ls | xargs -d "\n" -P8 -I {} bash -c "wc {} >{}.wc"
  ls | xargs -d "\n" -P8 -I {} bash -c "echo {}; ls {}|wc"
@end verbatim

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN find -exec AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN find -exec AND GNU Parallel

@strong{find -exec} offer some of the same possibilities as GNU @strong{parallel}.

@strong{find -exec} only works on files. So processing other input (such as
hosts or URLs) will require creating these inputs as files. @strong{find
-exec} has no support for running commands in parallel.

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN make -j AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN make -j AND GNU Parallel

@strong{make -j} can run jobs in parallel, but requires a crafted Makefile
to do this. That results in extra quoting to get filename containing
newline to work correctly.

@strong{make -j} computes a dependency graph before running jobs. Jobs run
by GNU @strong{parallel} does not depend on eachother.

(Very early versions of GNU @strong{parallel} were coincidently implemented
using @strong{make -j}).

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ppss AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ppss AND GNU Parallel

@strong{ppss} is also a tool for running jobs in parallel.

The output of @strong{ppss} is status information and thus not useful for
using as input for another command. The output from the jobs are put
into files.

The argument replace string ($ITEM) cannot be changed. Arguments must
be quoted - thus arguments containing special characters (space '"&!*)
may cause problems. More than one argument is not supported. File
names containing newlines are not processed correctly. When reading
input from a file null cannot be used as a terminator. @strong{ppss} needs
to read the whole input file before starting any jobs.

Output and status information is stored in ppss_dir and thus requires
cleanup when completed. If the dir is not removed before running
@strong{ppss} again it may cause nothing to happen as @strong{ppss} thinks the
task is already done. GNU @strong{parallel} will normally not need cleaning
up if running locally and will only need cleaning up if stopped
abnormally and running remote (@strong{--cleanup} may not complete if
stopped abnormally). The example @strong{Parallel grep} would require extra
postprocessing if written using @strong{ppss}.

For remote systems PPSS requires 3 steps: config, deploy, and
start. GNU @strong{parallel} only requires one step.

@menu
* EXAMPLES FROM ppss MANUAL::
@end menu

@node EXAMPLES FROM ppss MANUAL
@subsection EXAMPLES FROM ppss MANUAL

Here are the examples from @strong{ppss}'s manual page with the equivalent
using GNU @strong{parallel}:

@strong{1} ./ppss.sh standalone -d /path/to/files -c 'gzip '

@strong{1} find /path/to/files -type f | parallel gzip

@strong{2} ./ppss.sh standalone -d /path/to/files -c 'cp "$ITEM" /destination/dir '

@strong{2} find /path/to/files -type f | parallel cp @{@} /destination/dir

@strong{3} ./ppss.sh standalone -f list-of-urls.txt -c 'wget -q '

@strong{3} parallel -a list-of-urls.txt wget -q

@strong{4} ./ppss.sh standalone -f list-of-urls.txt -c 'wget -q "$ITEM"'

@strong{4} parallel -a list-of-urls.txt wget -q @{@}

@strong{5} ./ppss config -C config.cfg -c 'encode.sh ' -d /source/dir -m
192.168.1.100 -u ppss -k ppss-key.key -S ./encode.sh -n nodes.txt -o
/some/output/dir --upload --download ; ./ppss deploy -C config.cfg ;
./ppss start -C config

@strong{5} # parallel does not use configs. If you want a different username put it in nodes.txt: user@@hostname

@strong{5} find source/dir -type f | parallel --sshloginfile nodes.txt --trc @{.@}.mp3 lame -a @{@} -o @{.@}.mp3 --preset standard --quiet

@strong{6} ./ppss stop -C config.cfg

@strong{6} killall -TERM parallel

@strong{7} ./ppss pause -C config.cfg

@strong{7} Press: CTRL-Z or killall -SIGTSTP parallel

@strong{8} ./ppss continue -C config.cfg

@strong{8} Enter: fg or killall -SIGCONT parallel

@strong{9} ./ppss.sh status -C config.cfg

@strong{9} killall -SIGUSR2 parallel

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN pexec AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN pexec AND GNU Parallel

@strong{pexec} is also a tool for running jobs in parallel.

@menu
* EXAMPLES FROM pexec MANUAL::
@end menu

@node EXAMPLES FROM pexec MANUAL
@subsection EXAMPLES FROM pexec MANUAL

Here are the examples from @strong{pexec}'s info page with the equivalent
using GNU @strong{parallel}:

@strong{1} pexec -o sqrt-%s.dat -p "$(seq 10)" -e NUM -n 4 -c -- \
  'echo "scale=10000;sqrt($NUM)" | bc'

@strong{1} seq 10 | parallel -j4 'echo "scale=10000;sqrt(@{@})" | bc > sqrt-@{@}.dat'

@strong{2} pexec -p "$(ls myfiles*.ext)" -i %s -o %s.sort -- sort

@strong{2} ls myfiles*.ext | parallel sort @{@} ">@{@}.sort"

@strong{3} pexec -f image.list -n auto -e B -u star.log -c -- \
  'fistar $B.fits -f 100 -F id,x,y,flux -o $B.star'

@strong{3} parallel -a image.list \
  'fistar @{@}.fits -f 100 -F id,x,y,flux -o @{@}.star' 2>star.log

@strong{4} pexec -r *.png -e IMG -c -o - -- \
  'convert $IMG $@{IMG%.png@}.jpeg ; "echo $IMG: done"'

@strong{4} ls *.png | parallel 'convert @{@} @{.@}.jpeg; echo @{@}: done'

@strong{5} pexec -r *.png -i %s -o %s.jpg -c 'pngtopnm | pnmtojpeg'

@strong{5} ls *.png | parallel 'pngtopnm < @{@} | pnmtojpeg > @{@}.jpg'

@strong{6} for p in *.png ; do echo $@{p%.png@} ; done | \
  pexec -f - -i %s.png -o %s.jpg -c 'pngtopnm | pnmtojpeg'

@strong{6} ls *.png | parallel 'pngtopnm < @{@} | pnmtojpeg > @{.@}.jpg'

@strong{7} LIST=$(for p in *.png ; do echo $@{p%.png@} ; done)
  pexec -r $LIST -i %s.png -o %s.jpg -c 'pngtopnm | pnmtojpeg'

@strong{7} ls *.png | parallel 'pngtopnm < @{@} | pnmtojpeg > @{.@}.jpg'

@strong{8} pexec -n 8 -r *.jpg -y unix -e IMG -c \
  'pexec -j -m blockread -d $IMG | \
  jpegtopnm | pnmscale 0.5 | pnmtojpeg | \
  pexec -j -m blockwrite -s th_$IMG'

@strong{8} Combining GNU @strong{parallel} and GNU @strong{sem}.

@strong{8} ls *jpg | parallel -j8 'sem --id blockread cat @{@} | jpegtopnm |' \
  'pnmscale 0.5 | pnmtojpeg | sem --id blockwrite cat > th_@{@}'

@strong{8} If reading and writing is done to the same disk, this may be
faster as only one process will be either reading or writing:

@strong{8} ls *jpg | parallel -j8 'sem --id diskio cat @{@} | jpegtopnm |' \
  'pnmscale 0.5 | pnmtojpeg | sem --id diskio cat > th_@{@}'

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN xjobs AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN xjobs AND GNU Parallel

@strong{xjobs} is also a tool for running jobs in parallel. It only supports
running jobs on your local computer.

@strong{xjobs} deals badly with special characters just like @strong{xargs}. See
the section @strong{DIFFERENCES BETWEEN xargs AND GNU Parallel}.

Here are the examples from @strong{xjobs}'s man page with the equivalent
using GNU @strong{parallel}:

@strong{1} ls -1 *.zip | xjobs unzip

@strong{1} ls *.zip | parallel unzip

@strong{2} ls -1 *.zip | xjobs -n unzip

@strong{2} ls *.zip | parallel unzip >/dev/null

@strong{3} find . -name '*.bak' | xjobs gzip

@strong{3} find . -name '*.bak' | parallel gzip

@strong{4} ls -1 *.jar | sed 's/\(.*\)/\1 > \1.idx/' | xjobs jar tf

@strong{4} ls *.jar | parallel jar tf @{@} '>' @{@}.idx

@strong{5} xjobs -s script

@strong{5} cat script | parallel

@strong{6} mkfifo /var/run/my_named_pipe;
xjobs -s /var/run/my_named_pipe &
echo unzip 1.zip >> /var/run/my_named_pipe;
echo tar cf /backup/myhome.tar /home/me >> /var/run/my_named_pipe

@strong{6} mkfifo /var/run/my_named_pipe;
cat /var/run/my_named_pipe | parallel &
echo unzip 1.zip >> /var/run/my_named_pipe;
echo tar cf /backup/myhome.tar /home/me >> /var/run/my_named_pipe

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN prll AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN prll AND GNU Parallel

@strong{prll} is also a tool for running jobs in parallel. It does not
support running jobs on remote computers.

@strong{prll} encourages using BASH aliases and BASH functions instead of
scripts. GNU @strong{parallel} supports scripts directly, functions if they
are exported using @strong{export -f}, and aliases if using @strong{env_parallel}.

@strong{prll} generates a lot of status information on stderr (standard
error) which makes it harder to use the stderr (standard error) output
of the job directly as input for another program.

Here is the example from @strong{prll}'s man page with the equivalent
using GNU @strong{parallel}:

@verbatim
  prll -s 'mogrify -flip $1' *.jpg
  parallel mogrify -flip ::: *.jpg
@end verbatim

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN dxargs AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN dxargs AND GNU Parallel

@strong{dxargs} is also a tool for running jobs in parallel.

@strong{dxargs} does not deal well with more simultaneous jobs than SSHD's
MaxStartups. @strong{dxargs} is only built for remote run jobs, but does not
support transferring of files.

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN mdm/middleman AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN mdm/middleman AND GNU Parallel

middleman(mdm) is also a tool for running jobs in parallel.

Here are the shellscripts of http://mdm.berlios.de/usage.html ported
to GNU @strong{parallel}:

@verbatim
  seq 19 | parallel buffon -o - | sort -n > result
  cat files | parallel cmd
  find dir -execdir sem cmd {} \;
@end verbatim

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN xapply AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN xapply AND GNU Parallel

@strong{xapply} can run jobs in parallel on the local computer.

Here are the examples from @strong{xapply}'s man page with the equivalent
using GNU @strong{parallel}:

@strong{1} xapply '(cd %1 && make all)' */

@strong{1} parallel 'cd @{@} && make all' ::: */

@strong{2} xapply -f 'diff %1 ../version5/%1' manifest | more

@strong{2} parallel diff @{@} ../version5/@{@} < manifest | more

@strong{3} xapply -p/dev/null -f 'diff %1 %2' manifest1 checklist1

@strong{3} parallel --link diff @{1@} @{2@} :::: manifest1 checklist1

@strong{4} xapply 'indent' *.c

@strong{4} parallel indent ::: *.c

@strong{5} find ~ksb/bin -type f ! -perm -111 -print | xapply -f -v 'chmod a+x' -

@strong{5} find ~ksb/bin -type f ! -perm -111 -print | parallel -v chmod a+x

@strong{6} find */ -... | fmt 960 1024 | xapply -f -i /dev/tty 'vi' -

@strong{6} sh <(find */ -... | parallel -s 1024 echo vi)

@strong{6} find */ -... | parallel -s 1024 -Xuj1 vi

@strong{7} find ... | xapply -f -5 -i /dev/tty 'vi' - - - - -

@strong{7} sh <(find ... |parallel -n5 echo vi)

@strong{7} find ... |parallel -n5 -uj1 vi

@strong{8} xapply -fn "" /etc/passwd

@strong{8} parallel -k echo < /etc/passwd

@strong{9} tr ':' '\012' < /etc/passwd | xapply -7 -nf 'chown %1 %6' - - - - - - -

@strong{9} tr ':' '\012' < /etc/passwd | parallel -N7 chown @{1@} @{6@}

@strong{10} xapply '[ -d %1/RCS ] || echo %1' */

@strong{10} parallel '[ -d @{@}/RCS ] || echo @{@}' ::: */

@strong{11} xapply -f '[ -f %1 ] && echo %1' List | ...

@strong{11} parallel '[ -f @{@} ] && echo @{@}' < List | ...

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AIX apply AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AIX apply AND GNU Parallel

@strong{apply} can build command lines based on a template and arguments -
very much like GNU @strong{parallel}. @strong{apply} does not run jobs in
parallel. @strong{apply} does not use an argument separator (like @strong{:::});
instead the template must be the first argument.

Here are the examples from
https://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_aix_71/com.ibm.aix.cmds1/apply.htm

1. To obtain results similar to those of the @strong{ls} command, enter:

@verbatim
  apply echo *
  parallel echo ::: *
@end verbatim

2. To compare the file named @strong{a1} to the file named @strong{b1}, and the
file named @strong{a2} to the file named @strong{b2}, enter:

@verbatim
  apply -2 cmp a1 b1 a2 b2
  parallel -N2 cmp ::: a1 b1 a2 b2
@end verbatim

3. To run the @strong{who} command five times, enter:

@verbatim
  apply -0 who 1 2 3 4 5
  parallel -N0 who ::: 1 2 3 4 5
@end verbatim

4. To link all files in the current directory to the directory
@strong{/usr/joe}, enter:

@verbatim
  apply 'ln %1 /usr/joe' *
  parallel ln {} /usr/joe ::: *
@end verbatim

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN paexec AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN paexec AND GNU Parallel

@strong{paexec} can run jobs in parallel on both the local and remote computers.

@strong{paexec} requires commands to print a blank line as the last
output. This means you will have to write a wrapper for most programs.

@strong{paexec} has a job dependency facility so a job can depend on another
job to be executed successfully. Sort of a poor-man's @strong{make}.

Here are the examples from @strong{paexec}'s example catalog with the equivalent
using GNU @strong{parallel}:

@table @asis
@item 1_div_X_run:
@anchor{1_div_X_run:}

@verbatim
  ../../paexec -s -l -c "`pwd`/1_div_X_cmd" -n +1 <<EOF [...]
  parallel echo {} '|' `pwd`/1_div_X_cmd <<EOF [...]
@end verbatim

@item all_substr_run:
@anchor{all_substr_run:}

@verbatim
  ../../paexec -lp -c "`pwd`/all_substr_cmd" -n +3 <<EOF [...]
  parallel echo {} '|' `pwd`/all_substr_cmd <<EOF [...]
@end verbatim

@item cc_wrapper_run:
@anchor{cc_wrapper_run:}

@verbatim
  ../../paexec -c "env CC=gcc CFLAGS=-O2 `pwd`/cc_wrapper_cmd" \
             -n 'host1 host2' \
             -t '/usr/bin/ssh -x' <<EOF [...]
  parallel echo {} '|' "env CC=gcc CFLAGS=-O2 `pwd`/cc_wrapper_cmd" \
             -S host1,host2 <<EOF [...]
  # This is not exactly the same, but avoids the wrapper
  parallel gcc -O2 -c -o {.}.o {} \
             -S host1,host2 <<EOF [...]
@end verbatim

@item toupper_run:
@anchor{toupper_run:}

@verbatim
  ../../paexec -lp -c "`pwd`/toupper_cmd" -n +10 <<EOF [...]
  parallel echo {} '|' ./toupper_cmd <<EOF [...]
  # Without the wrapper:
  parallel echo {} '| awk {print\ toupper\(\$0\)}' <<EOF [...]
@end verbatim

@end table

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN map AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN map AND GNU Parallel

@strong{map} sees it as a feature to have less features and in doing so it
also handles corner cases incorrectly. A lot of GNU @strong{parallel}'s code
is to handle corner cases correctly on every platform, so you will not
get a nasty surprise if a user for example saves a file called: @emph{My
brother's 12" records.txt}

@strong{map}'s example showing how to deal with special characters fails on
special characters:

@verbatim
  echo "The Cure" > My\ brother\'s\ 12\"\ records

  ls | \
    map 'echo -n `gzip < "%" | wc -c`; echo -n '*100/'; wc -c < "%"' | bc
@end verbatim

It works with GNU @strong{parallel}:

@verbatim
  ls | \
    parallel 'echo -n `gzip < {} | wc -c`; echo -n '*100/'; wc -c < {}' | bc
@end verbatim

And you can even get the file name prepended:

@verbatim
  ls | \
    parallel --tag '(echo -n `gzip < {} | wc -c`'*100/'; wc -c < {}) | bc'
@end verbatim

@strong{map} has no support for grouping. So this gives the wrong results
without any warnings:

@verbatim
  parallel perl -e '\$a=\"1{}\"x10000000\;print\ \$a,\"\\n\"' '>' {} \
    ::: a b c d e f
  ls -l a b c d e f
  parallel -kP4 -n1 grep 1 > out.par ::: a b c d e f
  map -p 4 'grep 1' a b c d e f > out.map-unbuf
  map -p 4 'grep --line-buffered 1' a b c d e f > out.map-linebuf
  map -p 1 'grep --line-buffered 1' a b c d e f > out.map-serial
  ls -l out*
  md5sum out*
@end verbatim

The documentation shows a workaround, but not only does that mix
stdout (standard output) with stderr (standard error) it also fails
completely for certain jobs (and may even be considered less readable):

@verbatim
  parallel echo -n {} ::: 1 2 3

  map -p 4 'echo -n % 2>&1 | sed -e "s/^/$$:/"' 1 2 3 | sort | cut -f2- -d:
@end verbatim

@strong{map}s replacement strings (% %D %B %E) can be simulated in GNU
@strong{parallel} by putting this in @strong{~/.parallel/config}:

@verbatim
  --rpl '%'
  --rpl '%D $_=::shell_quote(::dirname($_));'
  --rpl '%B s:.*/::;s:\.[^/.]+$::;'
  --rpl '%E s:.*\.::'
@end verbatim

@strong{map} cannot handle bundled options: @strong{map -vp 0 echo this fails}

@strong{map} does not have an argument separator on the command line, but
uses the first argument as command. This makes quoting harder which again
may affect readability. Compare:

@verbatim
  map -p 2 perl\\\ -ne\\\ \\\'/^\\\\S+\\\\s+\\\\S+\\\$/\\\ and\\\ print\\\ \\\$ARGV,\\\"\\\\n\\\"\\\' *

  parallel -q perl -ne '/^\S+\s+\S+$/ and print $ARGV,"\n"' ::: *
@end verbatim

@strong{map} can do multiple arguments with context replace, but not without
context replace:

@verbatim
  parallel --xargs echo 'BEGIN{'{}'}END' ::: 1 2 3
@end verbatim

@strong{map} does not set exit value according to whether one of the jobs
failed:

@verbatim
  parallel false ::: 1 || echo Job failed

  map false 1 || echo Never run
@end verbatim

@strong{map} requires Perl v5.10.0 making it harder to use on old systems.

@strong{map} has no way of using % in the command (GNU Parallel has -I to
specify another replacement string than @strong{@{@}}).

By design @strong{map} is option incompatible with @strong{xargs}, it does not
have remote job execution, a structured way of saving results,
multiple input sources, progress indicator, configurable record
delimiter (only field delimiter), logging of jobs run with possibility
to resume, keeping the output in the same order as input, --pipe
processing, and dynamically timeouts.

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ladon AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ladon AND GNU Parallel

@strong{ladon} can run multiple jobs on files in parallel.

@strong{ladon} only works on files and the only way to specify files is
using a quoted glob string (such as \*.jpg). It is not possible to
list the files manually.

As replacement strings it uses FULLPATH DIRNAME BASENAME EXT RELDIR RELPATH

These can be simulated using GNU @strong{parallel} by putting this in @strong{~/.parallel/config}:

@verbatim
    --rpl 'FULLPATH $_=::shell_quote($_);chomp($_=qx{readlink -f $_});'
    --rpl 'DIRNAME $_=::shell_quote(::dirname($_));chomp($_=qx{readlink -f $_});'
    --rpl 'BASENAME s:.*/::;s:\.[^/.]+$::;'
    --rpl 'EXT s:.*\.::'
    --rpl 'RELDIR $_=::shell_quote($_);chomp(($_,$c)=qx{readlink -f $_;pwd});s:\Q$c/\E::;$_=::dirname($_);'
    --rpl 'RELPATH $_=::shell_quote($_);chomp(($_,$c)=qx{readlink -f $_;pwd});s:\Q$c/\E::;'
@end verbatim

@strong{ladon} deals badly with filenames containing " and newline, and it fails for output larger than 200k:

@verbatim
    ladon '*' -- seq 36000 | wc
@end verbatim

@menu
* EXAMPLES FROM ladon MANUAL::
@end menu

@node EXAMPLES FROM ladon MANUAL
@subsection EXAMPLES FROM ladon MANUAL

It is assumed that the '--rpl's above are put in @strong{~/.parallel/config}
and that it is run under a shell that supports '**' globbing (such as @strong{zsh}):

@strong{1} ladon "**/*.txt" -- echo RELPATH

@strong{1} parallel echo RELPATH ::: **/*.txt

@strong{2} ladon "~/Documents/**/*.pdf" -- shasum FULLPATH >hashes.txt

@strong{2} parallel shasum FULLPATH ::: ~/Documents/**/*.pdf >hashes.txt

@strong{3} ladon -m thumbs/RELDIR "**/*.jpg" -- convert FULLPATH -thumbnail 100x100^ -gravity center -extent 100x100 thumbs/RELPATH

@strong{3} parallel mkdir -p thumbs/RELDIR\; convert FULLPATH -thumbnail 100x100^ -gravity center -extent 100x100 thumbs/RELPATH ::: **/*.jpg

@strong{4} ladon "~/Music/*.wav" -- lame -V 2 FULLPATH DIRNAME/BASENAME.mp3

@strong{4} parallel lame -V 2 FULLPATH DIRNAME/BASENAME.mp3 ::: ~/Music/*.wav

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN jobflow AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN jobflow AND GNU Parallel

@strong{jobflow} can run multiple jobs in parallel.

Just like @strong{xargs} output from @strong{jobflow} jobs running in parallel mix
together by default. @strong{jobflow} can buffer into files (placed in
/run/shm), but these are not cleaned up - not even if @strong{jobflow} dies
unexpectently. If the total output is big (in the order of RAM+swap)
it can cause the system to run out of memory.

@strong{jobflow} gives no error if the command is unknown, and like @strong{xargs}
redirection requires wrapping with @strong{bash -c}.

@strong{jobflow} makes it possible to set ressource limits on the running
jobs. This can be emulated by GNU @strong{parallel} using @strong{bash}'s @strong{ulimit}:

@verbatim
  jobflow -limits=mem=100M,cpu=3,fsize=20M,nofiles=300 myjob

  parallel 'ulimit -v 102400 -t 3 -f 204800 -n 300 myjob'
@end verbatim

@menu
* EXAMPLES FROM jobflow README::
@end menu

@node EXAMPLES FROM jobflow README
@subsection EXAMPLES FROM jobflow README

@strong{1} cat things.list | jobflow -threads=8 -exec ./mytask @{@}

@strong{1} cat things.list | parallel -j8 ./mytask @{@}

@strong{2} seq 100 | jobflow -threads=100 -exec echo @{@}

@strong{2} seq 100 | parallel -j100 echo @{@}

@strong{3} cat urls.txt | jobflow -threads=32 -exec wget @{@}

@strong{3} cat urls.txt | parallel -j32 wget @{@}

@strong{4} find . -name '*.bmp' | jobflow -threads=8 -exec bmp2jpeg @{.@}.bmp @{.@}.jpg

@strong{4} find . -name '*.bmp' | parallel -j8 bmp2jpeg @{.@}.bmp @{.@}.jpg

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN gargs AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN gargs AND GNU Parallel

@strong{gargs} can run multiple jobs in parallel.

It caches output in memory. This causes it to be extremely slow when
the output is larger than the physical RAM, and can cause the system
to run out of memory.

See more details on this in @strong{man parallel_design}.

Output to stderr (standard error) is changed if the command fails.

Here are the two examples from @strong{gargs} website.

@strong{1} seq 12 -1 1 | gargs -p 4 -n 3 "sleep @{0@}; echo @{1@} @{2@}"

@strong{1} seq 12 -1 1 | parallel -P 4 -n 3 "sleep @{1@}; echo @{2@} @{3@}"

@strong{2} cat t.txt | gargs --sep "\s+" -p 2 "echo '@{0@}:@{1@}-@{2@}' full-line: \'@{@}\'"

@strong{2} cat t.txt | parallel --colsep "\\s+" -P 2 "echo '@{1@}:@{2@}-@{3@}' full-line: \'@{@}\'"

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN orgalorg AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN orgalorg AND GNU Parallel

@strong{orgalorg} can run the same job on multiple machines. This is related
to @strong{--onall} and @strong{--nonall}.

@strong{orgalorg} supports entering the SSH password - provided it is the
same for all servers. GNU @strong{parallel} advocates using @strong{ssh-agent}
instead, but it is possible to emulate @strong{orgalorg}'s behavior by
setting SSHPASS and by using @strong{--ssh "sshpass ssh"}.

To make the emulation easier, make a simple alias:

@verbatim
  alias par_emul="parallel -j0 --ssh 'sshpass ssh' --nonall --tag --linebuffer"
@end verbatim

If you want to supply a password run:

@verbatim
  SSHPASS=`ssh-askpass`
@end verbatim

or set the password directly:

@verbatim
  SSHPASS=P4$$w0rd!
@end verbatim

If the above is set up you can then do:

@verbatim
  orgalorg -o frontend1 -o frontend2 -p -C uptime
  par_emul -S frontend1 -S frontend2 uptime

  orgalorg -o frontend1 -o frontend2 -p -C top -bid 1
  par_emul -S frontend1 -S frontend2 top -bid 1

  orgalorg -o frontend1 -o frontend2 -p -er /tmp -n 'md5sum /tmp/bigfile' -S bigfile
  par_emul -S frontend1 -S frontend2 --basefile bigfile --workdir /tmp  md5sum /tmp/bigfile
@end verbatim

@strong{orgalorg} has a progress indicator for the transferring of a
file. GNU @strong{parallel} does not.

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN Rust parallel AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN Rust parallel AND GNU Parallel

Rust parallel focuses on speed. It is almost as fast as @strong{xargs}. It
implements a few features from GNU @strong{parallel}, but lacks many
functions. All these fail:

@verbatim
  # Show what would be executed
  parallel --dry-run echo ::: a
  # Read arguments from file
  parallel -a file echo
  # Changing the delimiter
  parallel -d _ echo ::: a_b_c_
@end verbatim

These do something different from GNU @strong{parallel}

@verbatim
  # Read more arguments at a time -n 
  parallel -n 2 echo ::: 1 a 2 b
  # -q to protect quoted $ and space
  parallel -q perl -e '$a=shift; print "$a"x10000000' ::: a b c
  # Generation of combination of inputs
  parallel echo {1} {2} ::: red green blue ::: S M L XL XXL
  # {= perl expression =} replacement string
  parallel echo '{= s/new/old/ =}' ::: my.new your.new
  # --pipe
  seq 100000 | parallel --pipe wc
  # linked arguments
  parallel echo ::: S M L :::+ small medium large ::: R G B :::+ red green blue
  # Run different shell dialects
  zsh -c 'parallel echo \={} ::: zsh && true'
  csh -c 'parallel echo \$\{\} ::: shell && true'
  bash -c 'parallel echo \$\({}\) ::: pwd && true'
  # Rust parallel does not start before the last argument is read
  (seq 10; sleep 5; echo 2) | time parallel -j2 'sleep 2; echo'
  tail -f /var/log/syslog | parallel echo
@end verbatim

Rust parallel has no remote facilities.

It uses /tmp/parallel for tmp files and does not clean up if
terminated abrubtly. If another user on the system uses Rust parallel,
then /tmp/parallel will have the wrong permissions and Rust parallel
will fail. A malicious user can setup the right permissions and
symlink the output file to one of the user's files and next time the
user uses Rust parallel it will overwrite this file.

If /tmp/parallel runs full during the run, Rust parallel does not
report this, but finishes with success - thereby risking data loss.

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN Rush AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN Rush AND GNU Parallel

Rush (https://github.com/shenwei356/rush) is written in Go and based
on gargs.

Rush has some string manipulations that can be emulated by putting
this into ~/.parallel/config (% is used instead of ^):

@verbatim
  --rpl '{:} s:(\.[^/]+)*$::'
  --rpl '{:%([^}]+?)} s:$$1(\.[^/]+)*$::'
  --rpl '{/:%([^}]*?)} s:.*/(.*)$$1(\.[^/]+)*$:$1:'
  --rpl '{/:} s:(.*/)?([^/.]+)(\.[^/]+)*$:$2:'
@end verbatim

Here are the examples from @strong{rush}'s website:

@strong{1} seq 1 10 | rush echo @{@}

@strong{1} seq 1 10 | parallel echo @{@}

@strong{2} seq 1 10 | rush 'echo @{@}' -k

@strong{2} seq 1 10 | parallel -k 'echo @{@}'

@strong{3} seq 1 | rush 'sleep 2; echo @{@}' -t 1

@strong{3} seq 1 | parallel --timeout 1 'sleep 2; echo @{@}'

@strong{4} seq 1 | rush 'python script.py' -r 3

@strong{4} seq 1 | parallel --retries 4 'python script.py'

@strong{5} echo dir/file_1.txt.gz | rush 'echo @{/@} @{%@} @{^_1.txt.gz@}'

@strong{5} echo dir/file_1.txt.gz | parallel --plus 'echo @{//@} @{/@} @{%_1.txt.gz@}'

@strong{6} echo dir.d/file.txt.gz | rush 'echo @{.@} @{:@} @{%.@} @{%:@}'

@strong{6} echo dir.d/file.txt.gz | parallel 'echo @{.@} @{:@} @{/.@} @{/:@}'

@strong{7} echo 12 file.txt dir/s_1.fq.gz | rush 'echo job @{#@}: @{2@} @{2.@} @{3%:^_1@}'

@strong{7} echo 12 file.txt dir/s_1.fq.gz | parallel --colsep ' ' 'echo job @{#@}: @{2@} @{2.@} @{3/:%_1@}'

@strong{8} echo a=b=c | rush 'echo @{1@} @{2@} @{3@}' -d =

@strong{8} echo a=b=c | parallel --colsep = 'echo @{1@} @{2@} @{3@}'

@strong{9} echo a=b=c | rush -D "=" -k 'echo @{@}'

@strong{9} echo -n a=b=c | parallel -d "=" -k 'echo @{@}'

@strong{9a} echo abc | rush -D "" -k 'echo @{@}'

@strong{9a} echo -n abc | parallel --pipe --recend '' --block 1 -k parallel echo

@strong{10} seq 1 | rush 'echo Hello, @{fname@} @{lname@}!' -v fname=Wei -v lname=Shen

@strong{10} seq 1 | parallel -N0 'fname=Wei; lname=Shen; echo Hello, $@{fname@} $@{lname@}!'

@strong{11} echo read_1.fq.gz | rush -v p=@{:^_1@} 'echo @{p@} @{p@}_2.fq.gz'

@strong{11} echo read_1.fq.gz | parallel 'p=@{:%_1@}; echo $@{p@} $@{p@}_2.fq.gz'

@strong{12} seq 1 3 | rush 'sleep @{@}; echo @{@}' -c -t 2

@strong{12} seq 1 3 | parallel --joblog mylog --timeout 2 'sleep @{@}; echo @{@}'

@strong{12} Followed by:

@strong{12} seq 1 3 | parallel --joblog mylog --retry-failed 'sleep @{@}; echo @{@}'

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN machma AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN machma AND GNU Parallel

Todo. Requires Go > 1.6.

@node DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ClusterSSH AND GNU Parallel
@section DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ClusterSSH AND GNU Parallel

ClusterSSH solves a different problem than GNU @strong{parallel}.

ClusterSSH opens a terminal window for each computer and using a
master window you can run the same command on all the computers. This
is typically used for administrating several computers that are almost
identical.

GNU @strong{parallel} runs the same (or different) commands with different
arguments in parallel possibly using remote computers to help
computing. If more than one computer is listed in @strong{-S} GNU @strong{parallel} may
only use one of these (e.g. if there are 8 jobs to be run and one
computer has 8 cores).

GNU @strong{parallel} can be used as a poor-man's version of ClusterSSH:

@strong{parallel --nonall -S server-a,server-b do_stuff foo bar}

@node AUTHOR
@chapter AUTHOR

When using GNU @strong{parallel} for a publication please cite:

O. Tange (2011): GNU Parallel - The Command-Line Power Tool, ;login:
The USENIX Magazine, February 2011:42-47.

This helps funding further development; and it won't cost you a cent.
If you pay 10000 EUR you should feel free to use GNU Parallel without citing.

Copyright (C) 2007-10-18 Ole Tange, http://ole.tange.dk

Copyright (C) 2008,2009,2010 Ole Tange, http://ole.tange.dk

Copyright (C) 2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017 Ole Tange,
http://ole.tange.dk and Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Parts of the manual concerning @strong{xargs} compatibility is inspired by
the manual of @strong{xargs} from GNU findutils 4.4.2.

@node LICENSE
@chapter LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017
Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
at your option any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

@menu
* Documentation license I::
* Documentation license II::
@end menu

@node Documentation license I
@section Documentation license I

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this documentation
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the file fdl.txt.

@node Documentation license II
@section Documentation license II

You are free:

@table @asis
@item @strong{to Share}
@anchor{@strong{to Share}}

to copy, distribute and transmit the work

@item @strong{to Remix}
@anchor{@strong{to Remix}}

to adapt the work

@end table

Under the following conditions:

@table @asis
@item @strong{Attribution}
@anchor{@strong{Attribution}}

You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or
licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or
your use of the work).

@item @strong{Share Alike}
@anchor{@strong{Share Alike}}

If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute
the resulting work only under the same, similar or a compatible
license.

@end table

With the understanding that:

@table @asis
@item @strong{Waiver}
@anchor{@strong{Waiver}}

Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from
the copyright holder.

@item @strong{Public Domain}
@anchor{@strong{Public Domain}}

Where the work or any of its elements is in the public domain under
applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.

@item @strong{Other Rights}
@anchor{@strong{Other Rights}}

In no way are any of the following rights affected by the license:

@itemize
@item Your fair dealing or fair use rights, or other applicable
copyright exceptions and limitations;

@item The author's moral rights;

@item Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or in
how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights.

@end itemize

@end table

@table @asis
@item @strong{Notice}
@anchor{@strong{Notice}}

For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the
license terms of this work.

@end table

A copy of the full license is included in the file as cc-by-sa.txt.

@node DEPENDENCIES
@chapter DEPENDENCIES

GNU @strong{parallel} uses Perl, and the Perl modules Getopt::Long,
IPC::Open3, Symbol, IO::File, POSIX, and File::Temp. For remote usage
it also uses rsync with ssh.

@node SEE ALSO
@chapter SEE ALSO

@strong{find}(1), @strong{xargs}(1), @strong{make}(1), @strong{pexec}(1), @strong{ppss}(1),
@strong{xjobs}(1), @strong{prll}(1), @strong{dxargs}(1), @strong{mdm}(1)

@bye
