Build MIOpen for embedded systems

1. Install dependencies. The default location is /usr/local:

cmake -P install_deps.cmake --minimum --prefix /some/local/dir

2. Create the build directory.

mkdir build; cd build;

3. Configure for an embedded build.

The minimum static build configuration line, without an embedded precompiled kernels package or FindDb is:

CXX=/opt/rocm/llvm/bin/clang++ cmake -DMIOPEN_BACKEND=HIP -DMIOPEN_EMBED_BUILD=On -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="/some/local/dir" ..

To enable HIP kernels in MIOpen while using embedded builds, add -DMIOPEN_USE_HIP_KERNELS=On to configure line. For example:

CXX=/opt/rocm/llvm/bin/clang++ cmake -DMIOPEN_BACKEND=HIP -DMIOPEN_USE_HIP_KERNELS=On -DMIOPEN_EMBED_BUILD=On -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="/some/local/dir" ..

4. Embed FindDb and PerfDb.

FindDb provides a database of known convolution inputs. This allows you to use the best tuned kernels for your network. Embedding FindDb requires a semicolon-separated list of architecture CU pairs to embed on-disk databases in the binary (e.g., gfx906_60;gfx900_56).

CXX=/opt/rocm/llvm/bin/clang++ cmake -DMIOPEN_EMBED_BUILD=On -DMIOPEN_EMBED_DB=gfx900_56 ..

This configures the build directory for embedding (FindDb and PerfDb).

5. Embed the precompiled kernels package.

To prevent the loss of performance due to compile-time overhead, an MIOpen build can embed the precompiled kernels package. This package contains convolution kernels of known inputs, and allows you to avoid compiling kernels during runtime.

• Embed the precompiled package using a package install.

  apt-get install miopenkernels-<arch>-<num cu>
  

  Where <arch> is the GPU architecture (e.g., gfx900, gfx906) and <num cu> is the number of compute units (CUs) available in the GPU (e.g., 56, 64).

  If you choose not to install the precompiled kernel package, there is no impact to the functioning of MIOpen because MIOpen compiles these kernels on the target machine once the kernel is run. However, the compilation step may significantly increase the startup time for different operations.

  The utils/install_precompiled_kernels.sh script automates the above process. It queries your machine for the GPU architecture and then installs the appropriate package. You can invoke it using:

  ./utils/install_precompiled_kernels.sh
  

  To embed the precompiled kernels package, configure CMake using the MIOPEN_BINCACHE_PATH.

  CXX=/opt/rocm/llvm/bin/clang++ cmake -DMIOPEN_BINCACHE_PATH=/path/to/package/install -DMIOPEN_EMBED_BUILD=On ..
  

• Using the URL to a kernels binary. You can use the MIOPEN_BINCACHE_PATH flag with a URL that contains the binary.

  CXX=/opt/rocm/llvm/bin/clang++ cmake -DMIOPEN_BINCACHE_PATH=/URL/to/binary -DMIOPEN_EMBED_BUILD=On ..
  

  Precompiled kernels packages are installed in /opt/rocm/miopen/share/miopen/db.

  Here’s an example with gfx900 architecture and 56 CUs:

  CXX=/opt/rocm/llvm/bin/clang++ cmake -DMIOPEN_BINCACHE_PATH=/opt/rocm/miopen/share/miopen/db/gfx900_56.kdb -DMIOPEN_EMBED_BUILD=On ..
  

  As of ROCm 3.8 and MIOpen 2.7, precompiled kernels binaries are located at repo.radeon.com.

  Here’s an example with gfx906 architecture and 64 CUs:

  CXX=/opt/rocm/llvm/bin/clang++ cmake -DMIOPEN_BINCACHE_PATH=http://repo.radeon.com/rocm/miopen-kernel/rel-3.8/gfx906_60.kdb -DMIOPEN_EMBED_BUILD=On ..
  

6. Full configuration line.

To build MIOpen statically and embed the performance database, FindDb, and the precompiled kernels binary:

CXX=/opt/rocm/llvm/bin/clang++ cmake -DMIOPEN_BINCACHE_PATH=/path/to/package/install -DMIOPEN_EMBED_BUILD=On -DMIOPEN_EMBED_DB=gfx900_56 ..

After configuration is complete, run:

make -j