Question regarding threads and GM

Hello

I was wondering what are the extents to which you can use threading/forking
in a mpich over gm or straight gm type program. I know that system() and
fork() calls are fine as long as they are called before mpi_init(). But what
about pthread_create().

Can you create a few threads before executing mpi_init() as long as only one
of those threads used the mpi functions? Or is threading completely
forbiden?

I am running Red Hat linux 7.1, mpich over GM 1.2..5 and GM 1.4pre48

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Harvey Davis
Australian Department of Defence