Re: [Help-glpk] GLPK and the COIN-OR OSI interface

[Brady Hunsaker]

On Sun, 2004-08-01 at 20:53, Robbie Morrison wrote:
> Hello [help-glpk] list
> 
> First, some background.  As I understand it, COIN-OR
> (COmputational INfrastructure for Operations Research)
> is an IBM-sponsored initiative which combines open-source
> solvers with a shared problem definition specification.
> The idea is to enable solvers and problems to be readily
> swapped.  The COIN-OR website is at: http://www.coin-or.org.
> 
> My guess is that the existing and future relationship
> between GLPK and the COIN-OR project is a complex topic.
> 

Well, it's not too complex.  The licenses are different and
incompatible, so you can't distribute GLPK and COIN-OR together or any
binary that uses both.  But COIN-OR does distribute an interface to
GLPK.  You can download the source code to it, then compile and link it
to GLPK yourself.

> I want to ask about one aspect: the COIN-OR OSI (Open
> Solver Interface) initiative.  OSI is intended to provide
> a common interface layer for various Operations Research
> problems, including LP and MILP.
> 
> I searched the [help-glpk] archive for information on OSI
> and located an old posting, headed as follows:
> 
>     From:  Brady Hunsaker
>     Subject:  Re: [Help-glpk] GLPK implementing OSI
>     Date:  Mon, 19 Nov 2001 09:49:57 -0500
> 
> The current COIN-OR FAQ indicates that GLPK does support OSI:
<snip>
>
> I also searched the GLPK v4.5 documentation, but could find
> no references to an OSI interface.
> 
> Could someone provide an update on this development please ??
> 
> many thanks in advance
> Robbie Morrison
> PhD student - model-supported energy policy
> Technical University of Berlin, Germany
> Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

The interface is part of COIN-OR; not part of GLPK.  To download it, go
to the COIN-OR website for instructions (most people use CVS to download
the code).

At present the OsiGlpk interface probably doesn't support GLPK 4.5, but
does support GLPK 4.4 and earlier.  Recently Joseph Young has updated
the interface for 4.5; check the archives of the coin-discuss mailing
list and contact him directly for the code.  His work may become part of
COIN-OR in the near future.  One way or another, I expect 4.5 will be
supported by the end of the month.

Brady Hunsaker
http://www.engr.pitt.edu/hunsaker/