2004-09-16: [RDC] added support for user options, BUT also noticed
            that now options are read at every pardo, so the semantics of
            a program containing more than one pardo needs to be clarified.

2003-10-15: [RDC] removed special treatment of start and stop
            node as it makes little sense with parfuns, and does
            not allow the user to control load balancing.
            Having a resident sequential master means that start
            and stop nodes simply coincide with the master node.