Add sub-RFC for increased availability of NUMA API

rfcs/proposed/numa_support/increase-numa-support-availability.org

@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+# -*- fill-column: 80; -*-
+
+#+title: Improve predictability of API for NUMA support
+
+*Note:* This is a sub-RFC of the https://github.com/oneapi-src/oneTBB/pull/1535.
+Specifically, its section about "Increased availability of NUMA support".
+
+* Introduction
+oneTBB has a soft dependency on several variants of ~tbbbind~, which are loaded
+by the library as part of its initialization stage. In turn, each ~tbbbind~ has
+a hard dependency, i.e., relies on load-time linking, on a concrete version of
+the HWLOC library [1, 2]. The soft dependency of oneTBB on ~tbbbind~ allows the
+library to continue its execution even if the system loader is unable to resolve
+the hard dependency on HWLOC for ~tbbbind~. In this case, the HW topology is not
+discovered and the machine is seen as if all CPU cores were uniform, which is
+the default TBB behavior when NUMA constraints are not used. Thus, the following
+code returns meaningless values as these values are just ignored by oneTBB:
+
+#+begin_src C++
+std::vector<oneapi::tbb::numa_node_id> numa_nodes = oneapi::tbb::info::numa_nodes();
+std::vector<oneapi::tbb::core_type_id> core_types = oneapi::tbb::info::core_types();
+#+end_src
+
+An error is also not reported and the client code that uses NUMA support
+facilities may continue running expecting it to work as it was intended. Such
+behavior is not readily noticable by developers that use oneTBB and this
+represents the main problem with the current behavior.
+
+Having a dependency on a shared HWLOC library has a number of advantages:
+1. Code reuse with all of the positive consequences out of this. That's the
+   primary purpose of shared libraries.
+2. Sharing HWLOC context between its clients. This avoids performing the same
+   operations repeatedly with identical results.
+3. A drop-in replacement. Users are able to use their own version of HWLOC
+   without recompilation of oneTBB.
+
+The only disadvantage from depending on HWLOC library dynamically is that the
+developers that use oneTBB's NUMA support API need to make sure the library is
+available and can be found by oneTBB. Depending on the distribution model of a
+developer's code, this is achieved either by:
+1. Asking the end user to have necessary version of a dependency pre-installed.
+2. Bundling necessary HWLOC version together with other pieces of a product
+   release.
+
+However, the requirement to fulfill one of the above steps for the NUMA API to
+start paying off may be considered as an incovenience and, what is more
+important, it is not always obvious that one of these steps is needed.
+Especially, due to silent behavior in case HWLOC library cannot be found in the
+environment.
+
+This proposal suggests an improvement to reduce the effect of the disadvantage
+being dependent on a dynamic version of HWLOC library by having it linked
+statically with one of the ~tbbbind~ libraries that are distributed together
+with oneTBB, yet leaving possibility to specify another version of HWLOC library
+if users see the need.
+
+[1] [[https://www.open-mpi.org/projects/hwloc/][HWLOC project main page]]
+
+[2] [[https://github.com/open-mpi/hwloc][HWLOC project repository on GitHub]]
+
+* Proposal
+1. Introduce new variant of the ~tbbbind~ library with the name ~tbbbind_static~
+   which is statically-linked with HWLOC library and distributed along side with
+   the other ~tbbbind~ variants.
+2. Add loading of ~tbbbind_static~ as the last attempt to resolve the dependency
+   on functionality provided by ~tbbbind~ layer.
+3. Update the oneTBB documentation considering [[https://oneapi-src.github.io/oneTBB/search.html?q=tbb%3A%3Ainfo][these documentation pages]] to
+   include steps determining the variant of ~tbbbind~ being used.
+
+** Advantages
+The proposed behavior allows having a mechanism for resolving a dependency on
+HWLOC library in case it cannot be found in the environment, while still
+preferring user-provided version of HWLOC.
+
+As a result, the problematic use of oneTBB API mentioned above should work as
+expected, returning enumerated list of actual NUMA nodes and core types on the
+system the code is running on, provided that the loaded HWLOC library works on
+that system and that an application properly distributes all binaries of oneTBB,
+sets the environment so that the necessary variant of ~tbbbind~ library can be
+found and loaded.
+
+** Disadvantages
+1. There will be one more variation of a ~tbbbind~ binary to ship in oneTBB
+   distribution packages.
+2. Still silent by default behavior in case user failed to setup environment
+   with their own version of HWLOC library correctly. Although, specifying
+   ~TBB_VERSION=1~ envar will help identifying an issue with an environment
+   setup pretty quickly.
+3. Statically-linked HWLOC does not share its context with those loaded
+   dynamically in case of ~tbbbind_static~ library is used.
+
+* Alternative handling of inability to parse system topology
+The other behavior in case HWLOC library cannot be found is to be more explicit
+about the problem of a missing component and to either issue a warning or to
+refuse working requiring one of the ~tbbbind~ variant to be loaded (e.g., throw
+an exception).
+
+Comparing these alternative approaches to the one proposed.
+** Common Advantages
+- Explicitly tells that the functionality being used is not going to work
+  instead of just being silent.
+- Does not require additional variant of ~tbbbind~ library to be distributed
+  along with the others.
+
+** Common Disadvantages
+- Requires additional step from the user side to resolve the problem. In other
+  words, it does not provide complete solution to the problem.
+
+** Disadvantages of Issuing a Warning
+- The warning may still not be visible, especially if standard streams are
+  closed.
+
+** Disadvantages of Throwing an Exception
+- May break existing code as it does not expect an exception to be thrown.
+- Requires introduction of an additional exception hierarchy.