DeinoMPI

The Great and Terrible implementation of MPI-2

function index

MPI_Add_error_class

Add an MPI error class to the known classes
int MPI_Add_error_class(
  int *errorclass
);

Parameters

errorclass
[out] New error class

Remarks

Creates a new error class and returns the value for it.

Rationale: To avoid conflicts with existing error codes and classes, the value is set by the implementation and not by the user.

Users may want to write a layered library on top of an existing MPI implementation, and this library may have its own set of error codes and classes. An example of such a library is an I/O library based on the I/O chapter in MPI-2. For this purpose, functions are needed to:

    1. add a new error class to the ones an MPI implementation already knows.
    2. associate error codes with this error class, so that MPI_ERROR_CLASS works.
    3. associate strings with these error codes, so that MPI_ERROR_STRING works.
    4. invoke the error handler associated with a communicator, window, or object.
Several new functions are provided to do this. They are all local. No functions are provided to free error handlers or error classes: it is not expected that an application will generate them in significant numbers.

Advice to users.

Since a call to MPI_ADD_ERROR_CLASS is local, the same errorclass may not be returned on all processes that make this call. Thus, it is not safe to assume that registering a new error on a set of processes at the same time will yield the same errorclass on all of the processes. However, if an implementation returns the new errorclass in a deterministic way, and they are always generated in the same order on the same set of processes (for example, all processes), then the value will be the same. However, even if a deterministic algorithm is used, the value can vary across processes. This can happen, for example, if different but overlapping groups of processes make a series of calls. As a result of these issues, getting the "same" error on multiple processes may not cause the same value of error code to be generated. ( End of advice to users.)
The value of MPI_ERR_LASTCODE is not affected by new user-defined error codes and classes. As in MPI-1, it is a constant value. Instead, a predefined attribute key MPI_LASTUSEDCODE is associated with MPI_COMM_WORLD. The attribute value corresponding to this key is the current maximum error class including the user-defined ones. This is a local value and may be different on different processes. The value returned by this key is always greater than or equal to MPI_ERR_LASTCODE.


Advice to users.

The value returned by the key MPI_LASTUSEDCODE will not change unless the user calls a function to explicitly add an error class/code. In a multi-threaded environment, the user must take extra care in assuming this value has not changed. Note that error codes and error classes are not necessarily dense. A user may not assume that each error class below MPI_LASTUSEDCODE is valid.

Thread and Interrupt Safety

This routine is thread-safe. This means that this routine may be safely used by multiple threads without the need for any user-provided thread locks. However, the routine is not interrupt safe. Typically, this is due to the use of memory allocation routines such as malloc or other non-MPICH runtime routines that are themselves not interrupt-safe.

Notes for Fortran

All MPI routines in Fortran (except for MPI_WTIME and MPI_WTICK) have an additional argument ierr at the end of the argument list. ierr is an integer and has the same meaning as the return value of the routine in C. In Fortran, MPI routines are subroutines, and are invoked with the call statement.

All MPI objects (e.g., MPI_Datatype, MPI_Comm) are of type INTEGER in Fortran.

Errors

All MPI routines (except MPI_Wtime and MPI_Wtick) return an error value; C routines as the value of the function and Fortran routines in the last argument. Before the value is returned, the current MPI error handler is called. By default, this error handler aborts the MPI job. The error handler may be changed with MPI_Comm_set_errhandler (for communicators), MPI_File_set_errhandler (for files), and MPI_Win_set_errhandler (for RMA windows). The MPI-1 routine MPI_Errhandler_set may be used but its use is deprecated. The predefined error handler MPI_ERRORS_RETURN may be used to cause error values to be returned. Note that MPI does not guarentee that an MPI program can continue past an error; however, MPI implementations will attempt to continue whenever possible.

MPI_SUCCESS
No error; MPI routine completed successfully.
MPI_ERR_OTHER
Other error; use MPI_Error_string to get more information about this error code.

Example Code

The following sample code illustrates MPI_Add_error_class.

#include "mpi.h"
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

/* Create NCLASSES new classes, each with 5 codes (160 total) */
#define NCLASSES 32
#define NCODES 5

int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
{
    int errs = 0;
   
char string[MPI_MAX_ERROR_STRING], outstring[MPI_MAX_ERROR_STRING];
   
int newclass[NCLASSES], newcode[NCLASSES][NCODES];
   
int i, j, slen, outclass;

    MPI_Init( &argc, &argv );
   
/* Initialize the new codes */
   
for (i=0; i<NCLASSES; i++) {
        MPI_Add_error_class( &newclass[i] );
       
for (j=0; j<NCODES; j++) {
            MPI_Add_error_code( newclass[i], &newcode[i][j] );
            sprintf( string, "code for class %d code %d\n", i, j );
            MPI_Add_error_string( newcode[i][j], string );
        }
    }
   
/* check the values */
   
for (i=0; i<NCLASSES; i++) {
        MPI_Error_class( newclass[i], &outclass );
       
if (outclass != newclass[i]) {
            errs++;
            printf( "Error class %d is not a valid error code %x %x\n", i,
                        outclass, newclass[i]);fflush(stdout);
        }
       
for (j=0; j<NCODES; j++) {
            MPI_Error_class( newcode[i][j], &outclass );
           
if (outclass != newclass[i]) {
                errs++;
                printf( "Class of code for %d is not correct %x %x\n", j,
                            outclass, newclass[i] );fflush(stdout);
            }
            MPI_Error_string( newcode[i][j], outstring, &slen );
            sprintf( string, "code for class %d code %d\n", i, j );
           
if (strcmp( outstring, string )) {
                errs++;
                printf( "Error string is :%s: but should be :%s:\n",
                            outstring, string );fflush(stdout);
            }
        }
    }
    MPI_Finalize();
   
return 0;
}