# parallel_doc

# General documentation for the parallel package for Octave

The info version of this document is accessible, after package installation, from the Octave commandline with `parallel_doc()`.

This documentation applies to version 3.1.1 of the parallel package.

The package contains functions for explicit local parallel execution, and functions for parallel execution over a cluster of machines, possibly combined with local parallel execution at each machine of the cluster.

The cluster-related functions may be disabled in distributed binaries of the parallel package for some operating systems.

An alternative to the parallel package is the mpi package.