Newsgroups: comp.parallel.pvm
From: adilger@enel.ucalgary.ca (Andreas Dilger)
Subject: Re: Help!!
Organization: ECE Department, U. of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Date: 20 Feb 1996 01:21:43 GMT
Message-ID: <4gb7n7$jl2@ds2.acs.ucalgary.ca>

In article <4g7s57$fk3@scapa.cs.ualberta.ca>,
David Stuart <stuart@cs.ualberta.ca> wrote:
>I am having troubles with pvm_initsend, and I have an assignment due,
>pronto.. I don't really understand what the problem is.. I have a
>function definition, like thus:

I really hate helping people with assignments on Usenet, but it seems
you ACTUALLY have a problem, rather than the "Can someone send me a
program that will do X for my assignment.  Make sure it is clearly
commented."

>
>I don't get it. Can anyone offer some helpful explanations?
>

Are you useing this in some sort of signal handler, or other re-entrant
application?  If so, then PVM may fail on a random basis, since it
is not re-entrant.  You didn't mention the platform you are running on.

In general, problems like this are usually due to bad memory usage
earlier on in the program (ie overwriting memory, or writing to
free'd memory).  Try using a memory debug program.  I use one called
"fortify", which is freely available on the net, and although written
for MS-DOS, is easily modified to work under unix.  It may seem like
more effort than it's worth, but since starting to use it, it has
shown me memory problems I didn't even know I had (yet).

Cheers, Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Dilger   University of Calgary  \"If a man ate a pound of pasta and
(403) 220-8792   Micronet Research Group \ a pound of antipasto, would they
Dept of Electrical & Computer Engineering \   cancel out, leaving him still
http://www-mddsp.enel.ucalgary.ca/People/adilger/       hungry?" -- Dogbert

