[petsc-users] nondeterministic behavior with ./program -help | head

[Ed Bueler]

Dear Petsc --

Copied at the bottom is the behavior I get for ex5.c in snes
examples/tutorials.  When I do

$./ex5 -help |head

I get a "Caught signal number 13 Broken Pipe" or just a version string.
Randomly, one or the other.

I know this has come up on petsc-users before:
    http://lists.mcs.anl.gov/pipermail/petsc-users/2014-May/021848.html
The claim was that the SIGPIPE error is standard behavior.

My real issue (feature request?) is that when writing a petsc application I
want a rational help system.  Suppose "program.c" has options with prefix
"prg_".  The user doesn't know the prefix yet (I could have used "prog_" as
the prefix ...)  The petsc-canonical help system is (I believe)

./program -help |grep prg_

for program.c-specific options.  Works great if you know to look for
"prg_".  My plan for my applications is to put the prefix in the first line
or two of my help string, the user can discover the prefix by

./program -help |head

and then use "-help |grep -prg_" and etc.

So my question is:  Can petsc be set up to not generate an error message
when the help system is used in a correct way?  (I.e. catching return codes
when writing, or handling SIGPIPE differently?)  Or, on the other hand, can
someone suggest a better help system that irritates less?

Thanks!

Ed

~/petsc/src/snes/examples/tutorials[master*]$ ./ex5 -help |head
Bratu nonlinear PDE in 2d.
We solve the  Bratu (SFI - solid fuel ignition) problem in a 2D rectangular
domain, using distributed arrays (DMDAs) to partition the parallel grid.
The command line options include:
  -par <parameter>, where <parameter> indicates the problem's nonlinearity
     problem SFI:  <parameter> = Bratu parameter (0 <= par <= 6.81)

  -m_par/n_par <parameter>, where <parameter> indicates an integer
       that MMS3 will be evaluated with 2^m_par,
2^n_par--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Petsc Development GIT revision: v3.7.6-3453-ge45481d470  GIT Date:
2017-04-26 13:00:15 -0500
[0]PETSC ERROR:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]PETSC ERROR: Caught signal number 13 Broken Pipe: Likely while reading
or writing to a socket
[0]PETSC ERROR: Try option -start_in_debugger or -on_error_attach_debugger
[0]PETSC ERROR: or see
http://www.mcs.anl.gov/petsc/documentation/faq.html#valgrind
[0]PETSC ERROR: or try http://valgrind.org on GNU/linux and Apple Mac OS X
to find memory corruption errors
[0]PETSC ERROR: likely location of problem given in stack below
[0]PETSC ERROR: ---------------------  Stack Frames
------------------------------------
[0]PETSC ERROR: Note: The EXACT line numbers in the stack are not available,
[0]PETSC ERROR:       INSTEAD the line number of the start of the function
[0]PETSC ERROR:       is given.
[0]PETSC ERROR: [0] PetscVFPrintfDefault line 240
/home/ed/petsc/src/sys/fileio/mprint.c
[0]PETSC ERROR: [0] PetscHelpPrintfDefault line 622
/home/ed/petsc/src/sys/fileio/mprint.c
[0]PETSC ERROR: [0] PetscOptionsBegin_Private line 29
/home/ed/petsc/src/sys/objects/aoptions.c
[0]PETSC ERROR: [0] PetscObjectOptionsBegin_Private line 61
/home/ed/petsc/src/sys/objects/aoptions.c
[0]PETSC ERROR: [0] PetscDSSetFromOptions line 218
/home/ed/petsc/src/dm/dt/interface/dtds.c
[0]PETSC ERROR: [0] DMSetFromOptions line 747
/home/ed/petsc/src/dm/interface/dm.c
[0]PETSC ERROR: --------------------- Error Message
--------------------------------------------------------------
[0]PETSC ERROR: Signal received
[0]PETSC ERROR: See http://www.mcs.anl.gov/petsc/documentation/faq.html for
trouble shooting.
[0]PETSC ERROR: Petsc Development GIT revision: v3.7.6-3453-ge45481d470
 GIT Date: 2017-04-26 13:00:15 -0500
[0]PETSC ERROR: ./ex5 on a linux-c-dbg named bueler-leopard by ed Wed Apr
26 11:22:07 2017
[0]PETSC ERROR: Configure options --download-mpich --with-debugging=1
[0]PETSC ERROR: #1 User provided function() line 0 in  unknown file
application called MPI_Abort(MPI_COMM_WORLD, 59) - process 0
[unset]: aborting job:
application called MPI_Abort(MPI_COMM_WORLD, 59) - process 0
~/petsc/src/snes/examples/tutorials[master*]$ ./ex5 -help |head
Bratu nonlinear PDE in 2d.
We solve the  Bratu (SFI - solid fuel ignition) problem in a 2D rectangular
domain, using distributed arrays (DMDAs) to partition the parallel grid.
The command line options include:
  -par <parameter>, where <parameter> indicates the problem's nonlinearity
     problem SFI:  <parameter> = Bratu parameter (0 <= par <= 6.81)

  -m_par/n_par <parameter>, where <parameter> indicates an integer
       that MMS3 will be evaluated with 2^m_par,
2^n_par--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Petsc Development GIT revision: v3.7.6-3453-ge45481d470  GIT Date:
2017-04-26 13:00:15 -0500
~/petsc/src/snes/examples/tutorials[master*]$


-- 
Ed Bueler
Dept of Math and Stat and Geophysical Institute
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6660
301C Chapman
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