rocblashandle

rocblas_handle is an opaque context object used by the rocBLAS library, part of the ROCm platform for AMD GPUs. It encapsulates per-context resources and settings required for executing BLAS operations on the device. Programs typically create a handle, use it in rocBLAS function calls, and then destroy it when finished.

The handle is created with a function such as rocblas_create_handle and destroyed with rocblas_destroy_handle. It is common practice to create one handle per thread or per independent workflow segment and reuse the same handle for multiple BLAS operations to reduce overhead.

Most rocBLAS routines require the handle to be passed as the first argument. Examples include single-precision and double-precision matrix-matrix or matrix-vector operations, among others. By using a handle, the library can manage and optimize resources, such as the associated execution stream and memory settings, for the sequence of operations contained within that handle.

The handle can be configured to control execution behavior. It can be associated with a specific GPU stream through a function like rocblas_set_stream, enabling concurrent execution with other tasks. It can also be configured to use a particular pointer mode, such as rocblas_pointer_mode_host or rocblas_pointer_mode_device, which determines whether scalar parameters are read from host or device memory.

Error handling follows the rocBLAS convention, with functions returning a status code indicating success or failure. Best practices include creating a handle once per thread, checking return statuses, potentially synchronizing as needed, and destroying the handle to release resources when done.

See also: ROCm, rocBLAS, HIP, GPU-accelerated linear algebra.