5. CONVERSE Client-Server Interface

This note describes the CONVERSE client-server (CCS) module. This module enables CONVERSE programs to act as parallel servers, responding to requests from (non-CONVERSE) programs across the internet.

The CCS module is split into two parts- client and server. The server side is the interface used by a CONVERSE program; the client side is used by arbitrary (non-CONVERSE) programs. The following sections describe both these parts.

A CCS client accesses a running CONVERSE program by talking to a server-host, which receives the CCS requests and relays them to the appropriate processor. The server-host is charmrun for net- versions, and is the first processor for all other versions.