[FWTools] FWTools 1.0.0a7 Problems on Linux

[Bryan Keith]

Ed and Frank,

Thanks for the help with this one.

I was also able to solve this problem using a newer OS.

Here's the system that's working for me:

Linux version 2.6.10-5-386 (buildd at terranova) (gcc version 3.3.5 (Debian 
1:3.3.5-8ubuntu2)) #1 Tue Apr 5 12:12:40 UTC 2005

And the older one that doesn't work:

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

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
>>
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>>
>>  
>>
>>     
>
>
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