Rational solutions of the graphsack problem

A graphsack problem is a certain binary linear optimization problem with applications in optimal network design. From there a rational graphsack problem is derived by allowing the variables to vary continuously between 0 and 1. In this paper we deal with rational graphsack problems. First we develop the concept of compressed solutions and the concept of augmenting cuts. Making use of these concepts a very simple optimality criterion is derived. Finally an efficient algorithm solving rational graphsack problems is given which is polynomially bounded in time and which is closely related to the simplex algorithm.