Re: Seg fault with test_sparse.m

[Joe Koski]

on 8/16/06 2:47 PM, David Bateman at address@hidden wrote:

> Joe Koski wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> After getting a successful build of octave-2.9.7 on my Mac G5 with OS X
>> 10.4.7, Xcode tools 2.3 (gcc-4.0.1) and gfortran, I installed dejaGNU and
>> ran make check. I got one IO error, but things were going well until I hit
>> test_sparse. There I got a seg fault. I have attached the terminal output
>> and fntest.log output in case you want to see them.
>> 
>> I then moved to the test directory and ran octave. Here's what I got:
>> 
>> octave:1> test_sparse
>> writing test output to sptest.log
>>   
>>>>>>> /Tools/octave-2.9.7/test/test_sparse.m
>>>>>>>            
>> warning: Calculating Sparse Matrix Type
>> panic: Bus error -- stopping myself...
>> Bus error
>> Joe-Koskis-Computer:/Tools/octave-2.9.7/test jakoski$
>> 
>> I have also attached the sptest.log for your information.
>> 
>> To my untrained eye, the script seems to be running through quite a few
>> tests before the failure. Things are almost working.
>> 
>> Anyway, I'll be available to try things, but maybe it's time for someone
>> with sparse matrix knowledge (definitely not me) to try this on a Mac. I'll
>> be available to assist anyone who wants to try building octave-2.9.7 or
>> later on a Mac under OS X 10.4. I can cut many hours from the build process
>> with my experience from the last few days.
>> 
>> The other problem that I have is with the legend.m routine in octave-forge.
>> The problem is persistent with any script that uses legend. As I said, I can
>> file a bug report, if it is an unknown problem.
>> 
>> Meanwhile, I'll go back to octave-2.1.73 for my routine stuff. Let me know
>> when or if I can help or try something.
>> 
>> As an aside, I've been around complicated software and complicated
>> engineering systems for over 40 years, and I have seldom seen things that
>> went cleanly from start to finish. There's always something, and the problem
>> never seems to be the thing that you were worrying about.
>> 
>> Joe
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>   
> 
> I tried looking at this in June with Marius Schamschula, but couldn't
> identify the exact test causing the issues. Firstly, is UFSparse
> correctly installed? If so which version? In any case, I'd promised
> myself I'd steal my wife's powerbook for a few hours to test this out
> one of these days, though I'd be happy if some one else could identify
> exactly which test is failing. From your logs it seems that something like
> 
> sm = sprandn(8,8,0.2)
> fm = rand(8,8);
> am = sm .^ fm;
> am2 = am(find(am != 0)
> 
> might fail for your. If it does I have a chance of finding the problem
> without bothering my wife :-)
> 
> D.
> 
David,

You are so correct. Your test fails on my system:

Joe-Koskis-Computer:~/Codes/octave_test_files jakoski$ octave
GNU Octave, version 2.9.7 (powerpc-apple-darwin8.7.0).
Copyright (C) 2006 John W. Eaton.
This is free software; see the source code for copying conditions.
There is ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; not even for MERCHANTIBILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  For details, type `warranty'.

Additional information about Octave is available at http://www.octave.org.

Please contribute if you find this software useful.
For more information, visit http://www.octave.org/help-wanted.html

Report bugs to <address@hidden> (but first, please read
http://www.octave.org/bugs.html to learn how to write a helpful report).

octave:1> sm = sprandn(8,8,0.2)
sm =

Compressed Column Sparse (rows = 8, cols = 8, nnz = 12)

  (1, 1) -> -1.2817
  (6, 1) ->  1.0076
  (7, 1) -> -0.65782
  (5, 2) -> -1.2952
  (7, 3) -> -0.66335
  (1, 4) -> -0.64771
  (4, 4) ->  0.63989
  (7, 4) -> -0.40588
  (8, 6) -> -0.82241
  (5, 8) ->  1.1687
  (6, 8) ->  1.4763
  (7, 8) ->  0.24860

octave:2> fm = rand(8,8);
octave:3> am = sm .^ fm;
panic: Bus error -- stopping myself...

My UFSparse came directly from the Florida website:

  http://www.cise.ufl.edu/research/sparse/umfpack/

Which shows in the README as version 5.0. Of course there are seven other
libraries that must also be built before all the externals are satisfied
(according to the octave configure script, anyway): AMD-2.0, COLAMD-2.5,
CCOLAMD-2.5, CHOLMOD-1.1.1, CXSparse-2.0.1, metis-4.0, and CAMD-2.1. Since
all these are in separate directories, my fear is that a header file in one
library doesn't match the same header in another library. Just a thought.
Unfortunately, none of the libraries are easy to identify without opening
each individual README file. Of course metis-4.0 comes from

  http://glaros.dtc.umn.edu/gkhome/views/metis

If you want me to rebuild and retest, I'm available. Just let me know. I
just installed the Apple Xcode-2.4 developer tools which were released about
a week ago. I haven't tried building anything with the new tools yet,
though. I'm trying to keep the latest version of my OS and Xcode tools on
the premise that it's the target configuration for octave.

Joe