[FWTools] FWTools 1.0.0a7 Problems on Linux

[Bryan Keith]

Here's an update on the gdal tools and Red Hat.

Before trying to upgrade the system I'm having problem with, I decided 
to install FWTools on another machine with a newer version of Linux 
(Fedora).  Gdal tools worked fine on that system:

Linux version 2.6.11-1.1369_FC4 (bhcompile at decompose.build.redhat.com) 
(gcc version 4.0.0 20050525 (Red Hat 4.0.0-9)) #1 Thu Jun 2 22:55:56 EDT 
2005

What I'll probably do is upgrade the non-functioning system from RedHat 
9 to Fedora, but a colleague here thought that might mean starting from 
scratch.  It's good I'm not in a hurry.

Bryan

Ed McNierney wrote:

>Bryan -
>
>Yes, those sound very similar to my symptoms.  I am running on SMP
>servers, as it appears your (from the SMP kernel) so the usage in
>gdal_translate was 100% of a single CPU, which (when viewed with top)
>appeared to be 25% CPU usage as 1 of 4 virtual CPUs were busy.
>
>Here's the ID for the system that now works:
>Linux version 2.6.9-22.0.1.ELsmp (bhcompile at hs20-bc1-1.build.redhat.com)
>(gcc version 3.4.4 20050721 (Red Hat 3.4.4-2)) #1 SMP Tue Oct 18
>18:39:27 EDT 2005
>
>And here's what it is on an older system that does not work:
>Linux version 2.4.21-4.ELsmp (bhcompile at daffy.perf.redhat.com) (gcc
>version 3.2.3 20030502 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.3-20)) #1 SMP Fri Oct 3
>17:52:56 EDT 2003 
>
>As I said, I really do not know where the problem lies, and an upgrade
>changes lots of things, of course.  As a result, while I think a system
>upgrade is likely to fix your problem, there is probably a less
>intrusive upgrade that will also work; I just can't tell you what it is.
>
>	- Ed
>
>Ed McNierney
>President and Chief Mapmaker
>TopoZone.com / Maps a la carte, Inc.
>73 Princeton Street, Suite 305
>North Chelmsford, MA  01863
>Phone: +1 (978) 251-4242
>Fax: +1 (978) 251-1396
>ed at topozone.com
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Bryan Keith [mailto:bryan at geomega.com] 
>Sent: Friday, December 09, 2005 4:32 PM
>To: Ed McNierney
>Cc: Frank Warmerdam; fwtools at lists.maptools.org
>Subject: Re: [FWTools] FWTools 1.0.0a7 Problems on Linux
>
>Ed et al,
>
>Hmmm.  This could be my problem as well.  I sent a couple e-mails to
>this list (12/1/05 and 12/6/05), and I didn't get any replies.
>
>When I try to copy a dataset with gdal_translate, the tool hangs but not
>(when I've checked) with 100% CPU usage.  Sometimes the tool will finish
>with Segmentation fault.
>
>I updated from FWTools-linux-1.0.0a1 to FWTools-linux-1.0.0a7, but that
>didn't change the problem.
>
>Here's my RH info:
>
>$ cat /proc/version
>Linux version 2.4.20-8smp (bhcompile at porky.devel.redhat.com) (gcc
>version 3.2.2 20030222 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.2-5)) #1 SMP Thu Mar 13
>17:45:54 EST 2003
>$
>
>Ed, it sounds like I should upgrade to RH ES 4, Update 2, right?  Do the
>symptoms I've having sound like the same problem that you fixed with the
>upgrade?
>
>Bryan
>
>Bryan Keith
>GIS Specialist
>Geomega, Inc.
>Boulder, CO, USA
>
>Ed McNierney wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Frank et al. -
>>
>>A few weeks ago I reported some problems with FWTools 1.0.0a7 running 
>>on my Red Hat ES 3 systems.  Frank generously spent some time looking 
>>into it, and I've been working on the problems on and off ever since.  
>>I don't know much, but here's what I do know (or think I know):
>>
>>1. The problems seem to be GDAL-based, popping up in tools using GDAL.
>>I particularly ran into trouble working with GeoTIFF data sets, but 
>>that's really all I was testing on so I can't say whether these seemed 
>>to be GeoTIFF-specific.  Tools would hang with 100% CPU use, or crash.
>>
>>2. Various debug tools gave me reason to suspect libtiff and/or the 
>>compiler runtime libraries.  RH ES 3 ships with libtiff 3.5 which might
>>    
>>
>
>  
>
>>have been a problem.  However, I upgraded various TIFF and related 
>>libraries, then selected compiler libraries, then finally upgraded the 
>>whole compiler suite to 3.4.5.  Nothing fixed the problem.
>>
>>3. I then put FWTools on a back burner and did a refresh and rebuild of
>>    
>>
>
>  
>
>>my MapServer source tree, including GDAL and its utilities.  I 
>>continued to have exactly the same problems.
>>
>>4. Since I was going to do it anyway, and since Frank suspected 
>>problems with "older Red Hat" systems, I upgraded to RH EL 4, Update 2.
>>    
>>
>
>  
>
>>This made the problems go away, and all the tools work fine.
>>
>>Unfortunately, I don't know what the problem really was and I can't 
>>continue to investigate now that it's "fixed".  But I'd add this data 
>>to the belief that RH ES 3 (and perhaps other releases) may be 
>>troublesome, while RH ES 4, Update 2, seems to work fine.
>>
>>At the same time I also reported that the link to the FWTools 
>>distribution had a typo and linked to a file ending in ".tar.tar"
>>instead of ".tar.gz"  When I tried later that day (on a different
>>system) the problem had already been "fixed".  I have since discovered 
>>that there is something wrong with my browser on one particular 
>>machine, and it was that browser that was mangling the filename (it 
>>does it to anything ending in ".tar.gz".  There actually wasn't (and 
>>isn't) any problem on the FWTools site at all.
>>
>>Thanks to Frank for the help!
>>
>>	- Ed
>>
>>Ed McNierney
>>President and Chief Mapmaker
>>TopoZone.com / Maps a la carte, Inc.
>>73 Princeton Street, Suite 305
>>North Chelmsford, MA  01863
>>Phone: +1 (978) 251-4242
>>Fax: +1 (978) 251-1396
>>ed at topozone.com
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>FWTools mailing list
>>FWTools at lists.maptools.org
>>http://lists.maptools.org/mailman/listinfo/fwtools
>>http://fwtools.maptools.org/
>>
>>
>> 
>>
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