Re: SLATEC error: Chebyshev series too short for specified accuracy

[Ben Abbott]

On Feb 24, 2011, at 7:57 PM, Camillo wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> I am working on a Mac build of Octave 3.4.0. It's almost complete: it passes 
> 6908 tests, has 2 known failures, and 5 unexpected ones. Four of these five 
> are due to the same issue, an exception inside SLATEC: "Chebyshev series too 
> short for specified accuracy". I don't know Fortran and I'm not sure how to 
> best debug the issue. The compilers I am using are gcc and gfortran 4.2.1.
> 
> I first posted this question on the general mailing list, where Ben Abbot 
> asked for more information, so here it is:
> 
>> Where did you get your gfortran?
> 
> http://r.research.att.com/gfortran-42-5664.pkg
> 
>> What dependencies did you install?
> 
> All, except for gnuplot and ghostscript.
> 
>> What was the result of running ./configure? (it gives a summary at the end)
>> 
>> Finally, please copy-n-paste the actual error.
> 
> I'll attach the configure summary, and here are the insteresting parts of the 
> output of "make check":
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>   src/DLD-FUNCTIONS/besselj.cc ........................... PASS  180/180 
>   src/DLD-FUNCTIONS/betainc.cc ........................... ***MESSAGE FROM 
> ROUTINE INITS IN LIBRARY SLATEC.
>  ***POTENTIALLY RECOVERABLE ERROR, PROG ABORTED, TRACEBACK REQUESTED
>  *  Chebyshev series too short for specified accuracy
>  *  ERROR NUMBER = 1
>  *   
>  ***END OF MESSAGE
>  
>  ***JOB ABORT DUE TO UNRECOVERED ERROR.
> 0          ERROR MESSAGE SUMMARY
>  LIBRARY    SUBROUTINE MESSAGE START             NERR     LEVEL     COUNT
>  SLATEC     INITS      Chebyshev series too         1         1         1
> 
>  ***MESSAGE FROM ROUTINE INITS IN LIBRARY SLATEC.
>  ***POTENTIALLY RECOVERABLE ERROR, PROG ABORTED, TRACEBACK REQUESTED
>  *  Chebyshev series too short for specified accuracy
>  *  ERROR NUMBER = 1
>  *   
>  ***END OF MESSAGE
>  
>  ***JOB ABORT DUE TO UNRECOVERED ERROR.
> 0          ERROR MESSAGE SUMMARY
>  LIBRARY    SUBROUTINE MESSAGE START             NERR     LEVEL     COUNT
>  SLATEC     INITS      Chebyshev series too         1         1         2
> 
>  PASS    4/6    FAIL 2
> 
> ...
> 
>   src/DLD-FUNCTIONS/gammainc.cc .......................... ***MESSAGE FROM 
> ROUTINE INITS IN LIBRARY SLATEC.
>  ***POTENTIALLY RECOVERABLE ERROR, PROG ABORTED, TRACEBACK REQUESTED
>  *  Chebyshev series too short for specified accuracy
>  *  ERROR NUMBER = 1
>  *   
>  ***END OF MESSAGE
>  
>  ***JOB ABORT DUE TO UNRECOVERED ERROR.
> 0          ERROR MESSAGE SUMMARY
>  LIBRARY    SUBROUTINE MESSAGE START             NERR     LEVEL     COUNT
>  SLATEC     INITS      Chebyshev series too         1         1         3
> 
>  ***MESSAGE FROM ROUTINE INITS IN LIBRARY SLATEC.
>  ***POTENTIALLY RECOVERABLE ERROR, PROG ABORTED, TRACEBACK REQUESTED
>  *  Chebyshev series too short for specified accuracy
>  *  ERROR NUMBER = 1
>  *   
>  ***END OF MESSAGE
>  
>  ***JOB ABORT DUE TO UNRECOVERED ERROR.
> 0          ERROR MESSAGE SUMMARY
>  LIBRARY    SUBROUTINE MESSAGE START             NERR     LEVEL     COUNT
>  SLATEC     INITS      Chebyshev series too         1         1         4
> 
>  PASS    2/4    FAIL 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> This is the information about the fifth error from fntests.log:
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>> processing 
> >>>>> /private/tmp/homebrew-octave-3.4.0-kEbx/octave-3.4.0/src/mappers.cc
>   ***** assert(arg (single(-1)), single(pi));
> !!!!! test failed
> assert (arg (single (-1)),single (pi)) expected
>  3.1416
> but got
>  3.1416
> values do not match
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I know about the problem with Apple's BLAS and gfortran, and I am using a 
> small wrapper library for the affected routines (as suggested in 
> <http://developer.apple.com/hardwaredrivers/ve/errata.html#fortran_conventions>);
>  this is the "dotwrp" library you can see in the configure summary. I was 
> told that a different wrapper has been proposed on this list, replacing some 
> functions from LAPACK as well; I was wondering if anybody has a simple test 
> case for some of those functions, so I could quickly check if the library I'm 
> using is sufficient.
> 
> Best regards,
> Camillo Lugaresi
> 
> <configure summary>

I am also using 4.2.1 and the gfortran from AT&T.

Iv'e compiled for 32bit and do not see the SLATEC problem.

Jarno / Richard, might this be related to the 64bit vecLib problem?

Ben