GitLab

- can be convenient to bundle IO options as a single parameter

STYLE: change return type of NewOFstream from Ostream to OSstream

- make stream constructors explicit

- remove "using std::ifstream", "using std::iofstream" statements
  for a cleaner namespace.

* copy/move assignments for ITstream

* IStringStream: default construct and construct from std::string
  instead of Foam::string

- reduce some overhead in masterOFstream

- simplify Pstream handling of string variants (#1525)

- use allocator class to wrap the stream pointers instead of passing
  them into ISstream, OSstream and using a dynamic cast to delete
  then. This is especially important if we will have a bidirectional
  stream (can't delete twice!).

STYLE:

- file stream constructors with std::string (C++11)

- for rewind, explicit about in|out direction. This is not currently
  important, but avoids surprises with any future bidirectional access.

- combined string streams in StringStream.H header.
  Similar to <sstream> include that has both input and output string
  streams.

Original commit message:
------------------------

Parallel IO: New collated file format

When an OpenFOAM simulation runs in parallel, the data for decomposed fields and
mesh(es) has historically been stored in multiple files within separate
directories for each processor.  Processor directories are named 'processorN',
where N is the processor number.

This commit introduces an alternative "collated" file format where the data for
each decomposed field (and mesh) is collated into a single file, which is
written and read on the master processor.  The files are stored in a single
directory named 'processors'.

The new format produces significantly fewer files - one per field, instead of N
per field.  For large parallel cases, this avoids the restriction on the number
of open files imposed by the operating system limits.

The file writing can be threaded allowing the simulation to continue running
while the data is being written to file.  NFS (Network File System) is not
needed when using the the collated format and additionally, there is an option
to run without NFS with the original uncollated approach, known as
"masterUncollated".

The controls for the file handling are in the OptimisationSwitches of
etc/controlDict:

OptimisationSwitches
{
    ...

    //- Parallel IO file handler
    //  uncollated (default), collated or masterUncollated
    fileHandler uncollated;

    //- collated: thread buffer size for queued file writes.
    //  If set to 0 or not sufficient for the file size threading is not used.
    //  Default: 2e9
    maxThreadFileBufferSize 2e9;

    //- masterUncollated: non-blocking buffer size.
    //  If the file exceeds this buffer size scheduled transfer is used.
    //  Default: 2e9
    maxMasterFileBufferSize 2e9;
}

When using the collated file handling, memory is allocated for the data in the
thread.  maxThreadFileBufferSize sets the maximum size of memory in bytes that
is allocated.  If the data exceeds this size, the write does not use threading.

When using the masterUncollated file handling, non-blocking MPI communication
requires a sufficiently large memory buffer on the master node.
maxMasterFileBufferSize sets the maximum size in bytes of the buffer.  If the
data exceeds this size, the system uses scheduled communication.

The installation defaults for the fileHandler choice, maxThreadFileBufferSize
and maxMasterFileBufferSize (set in etc/controlDict) can be over-ridden within
the case controlDict file, like other parameters.  Additionally the fileHandler
can be set by:
- the "-fileHandler" command line argument;
- a FOAM_FILEHANDLER environment variable.

A foamFormatConvert utility allows users to convert files between the collated
and uncollated formats, e.g.
    mpirun -np 2 foamFormatConvert -parallel -fileHandler uncollated

An example case demonstrating the file handling methods is provided in:
$FOAM_TUTORIALS/IO/fileHandling

The work was undertaken by Mattijs Janssens, in collaboration with Henry Weller.

This reverts commit c5bea524.

This reverts commit b18f6cc1.

Previously Fstreams had stdStream() as a public member and the other
streams had stream() as a protected member.

All serial streams now have public method stdStream() and the stream()
method has been eliminated. This is not only more consistent, but also
avoids confusion (for the programmer, not the compiler) with the
ITstream::stream() method.