diff --git a/libsrc/core/profiler.cpp b/libsrc/core/profiler.cpp
index f738fd55..29a69182 100644
--- a/libsrc/core/profiler.cpp
+++ b/libsrc/core/profiler.cpp
@@ -35,6 +35,17 @@ namespace ngcore
         fclose(prof); // NOLINT
       }
 
+    if (getenv ("NGPROFILE"))
+      {
+       std::string filename = "netgen.prof";
+#ifdef PARALLEL
+       filename += "."+ToString(id);
+#endif
+       if (id == 0) logger->info( "write profile to file {}", filename );
+       FILE *prof = fopen(filename.c_str(),"w"); // NOLINT
+       Print (prof);
+       fclose(prof); // NOLINT
+      }
   }
 
   void NgProfiler :: Print (FILE * prof)
diff --git a/libsrc/core/utils.cpp b/libsrc/core/utils.cpp
index 82fcfb31..0347d244 100644
--- a/libsrc/core/utils.cpp
+++ b/libsrc/core/utils.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
 
 namespace ngcore
 {
+  // parallel netgen
+  int id = 0, ntasks = 1;
+
 #ifdef WIN32
   // windows does demangling in typeid(T).name()
   NGCORE_API std::string Demangle(const char* typeinfo) { return typeinfo; }
diff --git a/libsrc/core/utils.hpp b/libsrc/core/utils.hpp
index c8dc1e9e..da90e1d3 100644
--- a/libsrc/core/utils.hpp
+++ b/libsrc/core/utils.hpp
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@
 
 namespace ngcore
 {
+  // MPI rank, nranks TODO: Rename
+  extern NGCORE_API int id, ntasks;
+  
   NGCORE_API std::string Demangle(const char* typeinfo);
 
 #if defined(__GNUC__)
diff --git a/libsrc/general/mpi_interface.hpp b/libsrc/general/mpi_interface.hpp
index c45494b6..91cb0af3 100644
--- a/libsrc/general/mpi_interface.hpp
+++ b/libsrc/general/mpi_interface.hpp
@@ -14,9 +14,8 @@
 
 namespace netgen
 {
-
-  extern DLL_HEADER int id, ntasks;
-  
+  using ngcore::id;
+  using ngcore::ntasks;
 
 #ifdef PARALLEL
   
diff --git a/libsrc/general/netgenout.hpp b/libsrc/general/netgenout.hpp
index fafe495e..076a6df1 100644
--- a/libsrc/general/netgenout.hpp
+++ b/libsrc/general/netgenout.hpp
@@ -4,14 +4,11 @@
 // #include <ostream>
 // #include <mystdlib.h>
 // #include <meshing.hpp>
+#include "mpi_interface.hpp"
 
 namespace netgen
 {
 
-#ifdef PARALLEL
-extern int id;
-extern int ntasks;
-#endif
 DLL_HEADER extern int printmessage_importance;
 DLL_HEADER extern int printdots;
 
diff --git a/libsrc/meshing/global.cpp b/libsrc/meshing/global.cpp
index df6bcece..e5036cde 100644
--- a/libsrc/meshing/global.cpp
+++ b/libsrc/meshing/global.cpp
@@ -50,10 +50,6 @@ namespace netgen
 
   string ngdir = ".";
 
-  // parallel netgen
-  int id = 0, ntasks = 1;
-
-
   void Ng_PrintDest(const char * s)
   {
     if (id == 0)