Deep Neural Network Library (DNNL)
Note
Starting with version 1.1 the library is renamed to DNNL. Please read
Intel MKL-DNN to DNNL Transition Guide.
Note
Version 1.0 brings incompatible changes to the 0.20 version. Please read
Version 1.0 Transition Guide.
Deep Neural Network Library (DNNL) is an
open-source performance library for deep learning applications. The library
includes basic building blocks for neural networks optimized
for Intel Architecture Processors and Intel Processor Graphics.
DNNL is intended for deep learning applications and framework
developers interested in improving application performance
on Intel CPUs and GPUs. Deep learning practitioners should use one of the
applications enabled with DNNL:
Documentation
Developer guide explains programming
model, supported functionality, details of primitives implementations and
includes annotated examples.
API reference provides
comprehensive reference of the library API.
Installation
Pre-built binaries for Linux*, Windows*, and macOS* are available for download
in the releases section. Package
names use the following convention:
OS
Package name
Linux
dnnl_lnx__cpu_[_gpu_].tgz
Windows
dnnl_win__cpu_[_gpu_].zip
macOS
dnnl_mac__cpu_.tgz
Several packages are available for each operating system to ensure
interoperability with CPU or GPU runtime libraries used by the application.
Configuration
Dependency
cpu_iomp
Intel OpenMP runtime
cpu_gomp
GNU* OpenMP runtime
cpu_vcomp
Microsoft Visual C OpenMP runtime
cpu_tbb
Threading Building Blocks
The packages do not include library dependencies and these need to be resolved
in the application at build time. See the
System Requirements section below and the
Build Options
section in the developer guide for more
details on CPU and GPU runtimes.
If the configuration you need is not available, you can
build the library from source.
System Requirements
DNNL supports systems based on
Intel 64 or AMD64 architecture.
The library is optimized for the following CPUs:
Intel Atom processor with Intel SSE4.1 support
4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th generation Intel Core(TM) processor
Intel Xeon(R) processor E3, E5, and E7 family (formerly Sandy Bridge,
Ivy Bridge, Haswell, and Broadwell)
Intel Xeon Phi(TM) processor (formerly Knights Landing and Knights Mill)
Intel Xeon Scalable processor (formerly Skylake and Cascade Lake)
future Intel Xeon Scalable processor (code name Cooper Lake)
DNNL detects instruction set architecture (ISA) in the runtime and uses
just-in-time (JIT) code generation to deploy the code optimized
for the latest supported ISA.
WARNING
On macOS, applications that use DNNL may need to request special
entitlements if they use the hardened runtime. See the
linking guide
for more details.
The library is optimized for the following GPUs:
Intel HD Graphics
Intel UHD Graphics
Intel Iris Plus Graphics
Requirements for Building from Source
DNNL supports systems meeting the following requirements:
Operating system with Intel 64 architecture support
C++ compiler with C++11 standard support
CMake 2.8.11 or later
Doxygen 1.8.5 or later to build
documentation
Configurations of CPU and GPU engines may introduce additional build time
dependencies.
CPU Engine
Intel Architecture Processors and compatible devices are supported by the
DNNL CPU engine. The CPU engine is built by default and cannot
be disabled at build time. The engine can be configured to use the OpenMP or
TBB threading runtime. The following additional requirements apply:
OpenMP runtime requires C++ compiler with OpenMP 2.0 or later standard support
TBB runtime requires
Threading Building Blocks (TBB)
2017 or later.
Some implementations rely on OpenMP 4.0 SIMD extensions, and we recommend using
the Intel C++ Compiler for the best performance results.
GPU Engine
Intel Processor Graphics is supported by the DNNL GPU engine. The GPU
engine is disabled in the default build configuration. The following
additional requirements apply when GPU engine is enabled:
OpenCL* runtime library (OpenCL version 1.2 or later)
OpenCL driver (with kernel language support for OpenCL C 2.0 or later)
with Intel subgroups extension support
Runtime Dependencies
When DNNL is built from source, the library runtime dependencies
and specific versions are defined by the build environment.
Linux
Common dependencies:
System C/C++ runtime (libc.so, libstdc++.so)
Dynamic Linking Library (libdl.so)
C Math Library (libm.so)
POSIX Threads Library (libpthread.so)
Runtime specific dependencies:
Runtime configuration
Compiler
Dependency
DNNL_CPU_RUNTIME=OMP
GCC
GNU OpenMP runtime (libgomp.so)
DNNL_CPU_RUNTIME=OMP
Intel C/C++ Compiler
Intel OpenMP runtime (libiomp5.so)
DNNL_CPU_RUNTIME=OMP
Clang
Intel OpenMP runtime (libiomp5.so)
DNNL_CPU_RUNTIME=TBB
any
Threading Building Blocks (libtbb.so)
DNNL_GPU_RUNTIME=OCL
any
OpenCL runtime (libOpenCL.so)
Windows
Common dependencies:
Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (msvcrt.dll)
Runtime specific dependencies:
Runtime configuration
Compiler
Dependency
DNNL_CPU_RUNTIME=OMP
Microsoft Visual C++ Compiler
No additional requirements
DNNL_CPU_RUNTIME=OMP
Intel C/C++ Compiler
Intel OpenMP runtime (iomp5.dll)
DNNL_CPU_RUNTIME=TBB
any
Threading Building Blocks (tbb.dll)
DNNL_GPU_RUNTIME=OCL
any
OpenCL runtime (OpenCL.dll)
macOS
Common dependencies:
System C/C++ runtime (libc++.dylib, libSystem.dylib)
Runtime specific dependencies:
Runtime configuration
Compiler
Dependency
DNNL_CPU_RUNTIME=OMP
Intel C/C++ Compiler
Intel OpenMP runtime (libiomp5.dylib)
DNNL_CPU_RUNTIME=TBB
any
Threading Building Blocks (libtbb.dylib)
Validated Configurations
CPU engine was validated on RedHat* Enterprise Linux 7 with
GNU Compiler Collection 4.8, 5.4, 6.1, 7.2, and 8.1
Clang* 3.8.0
Intel C/C++ Compiler
17.0, 18.0, and 19.0
on Windows Server* 2012 R2 with
Microsoft Visual C++ 14.0 (Visual Studio 2015 Update 3)
on macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) with
Apple LLVM version 9.2 (XCode 9.2)
GPU engine was validated on Ubuntu* 18.04 with
on Windows Server 2019 with
Requirements for Pre-built Binaries
See README included into corresponding binary package.
Support
Please submit your questions, feature requests, and bug reports on the
GitHub issues page.
You may reach out to project maintainers privately at dnnl.maintainers@intel.com.
WARNING
The following functionality has preview status and might be changed without
prior notification in future releases:
Contributing
We welcome community contributions to DNNL. If you have an idea on how
to improve the library:
For changes impacting the public API, submit
an RFC pull request.
Ensure that the changes are consistent with the
code contribution guidelines
and coding style.
Ensure that you can build the product and run all the examples with your
patch.
For additional details, see contribution guidelines.
This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and
contributors are expected to adhere to the
Contributor Covenant code of conduct.
License
DNNL is licensed under Apache License Version 2.0. Refer to the
"LICENSE" file for the full license text and copyright notice.
This distribution includes third party software governed by separate license
terms.
3-clause BSD license:
Apache License Version 2.0:
Boost Software License, Version 1.0:
This third party software, even if included with the distribution of
the Intel software, may be governed by separate license terms, including
without limitation, third party license terms, other Intel software license
terms, and open source software license terms. These separate license terms
govern your use of the third party programs as set forth in the
"THIRD-PARTY-PROGRAMS" file.