Solved by tom in post #2 
              
              
                In the end, you use .to, just like you would in the “modern” PyTorch idiom. 
The variable function not founds in ATen can nonetheless be found using “rgrep” or somesuch on the source, in this case it is found in tools/autograd/templates/python_variable_methods.cpp or also, after you have built PyTor…