I have the following function in my code that checks numbers for having allowed values (in log space):
template<class T>
static void check_if_normal(T t)
{
T additive_neutral_element = make_additive_neutral_element<T>();
// probability is allowed to be 0 in logspace
// probability also is allowed to be -inf in logspace
if (!std::isnormal(t) && t != 0 && t != additive_neutral_element)
throw std::underflow_error(
"Probability of " + std::to_string(t) +
" is abnormal --- possible cause underflow.");
}
In the context in which this function is used I exlusively use long doubles. When I run my program without valgrind everything works fine, however when I do run it with valgrind the function actually raises the exception. I suspected valgrind does something that alters the format of long doubles or something along those lines. I found this in Valgrind manual at https://valgrind.org/docs/manual/manual-core.html#manual-core.limits :
Valgrind has the following limitations in its implementation of x86/AMD64 floating point relative to IEEE754.
Precision: There is no support for 80 bit arithmetic. Internally, Valgrind represents all such "long double" numbers in 64 bits, and so there may be some differences in results. Whether or not this is critical remains to be seen. Note, the x86/amd64 fldt/fstpt instructions (read/write 80-bit numbers) are correctly simulated, using conversions to/from 64 bits, so that in-memory images of 80-bit numbers look correct if anyone wants to see.
The impression observed from many FP regression tests is that the accuracy differences aren't significant. Generally speaking, if a program relies on 80-bit precision, there may be difficulties porting it to non x86/amd64 platforms which only support 64-bit FP precision. Even on x86/amd64, the program may get different results depending on whether it is compiled to use SSE2 instructions (64-bits only), or x87 instructions (80-bit). The net effect is to make FP programs behave as if they had been run on a machine with 64-bit IEEE floats, for example PowerPC. On amd64 FP arithmetic is done by default on SSE2, so amd64 looks more like PowerPC than x86 from an FP perspective, and there are far fewer noticeable accuracy differences than with x86.
Rounding: Valgrind does observe the 4 IEEE-mandated rounding modes (to nearest, to +infinity, to -infinity, to zero) for the following conversions: float to integer, integer to float where there is a possibility of loss of precision, and float-to-float rounding. For all other FP operations, only the IEEE default mode (round to nearest) is supported.
Numeric exceptions in FP code: IEEE754 defines five types of numeric exception that can happen: invalid operation (sqrt of negative number, etc), division by zero, overflow, underflow, inexact (loss of precision).
For each exception, two courses of action are defined by IEEE754: either (1) a user-defined exception handler may be called, or (2) a default action is defined, which "fixes things up" and allows the computation to proceed without throwing an exception.
Currently Valgrind only supports the default fixup actions. Again, feedback on the importance of exception support would be appreciated.
When Valgrind detects that the program is trying to exceed any of these limitations (setting exception handlers, rounding mode, or precision control), it can print a message giving a traceback of where this has happened, and continue execution. This behaviour used to be the default, but the messages are annoying and so showing them is now disabled by default. Use --show-emwarns=yes to see them.
The above limitations define precisely the IEEE754 'default' behaviour: default fixup on all exceptions, round-to-nearest operations, and 64-bit precision.
But I am not sure if this applies. Valgrind did not print a message giving a traceback as it says in the quote. It printed this:
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::underflow_error'
what(): Probability of -nan is abnormal --- possible cause underflow.
==4899==
==4899== Process terminating with default action of signal 6 (SIGABRT)
==4899== at 0x5710428: raise (raise.c:54)
==4899== by 0x5712029: abort (abort.c:89)
==4899== by 0x4EC984C: __gnu_cxx::__verbose_terminate_handler() (in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6.0.21)
==4899== by 0x4EC76B5: ??? (in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6.0.21)
==4899== by 0x4EC7700: std::terminate() (in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6.0.21)
==4899== by 0x4EC7918: __cxa_throw (in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6.0.21)
btw. I am using g++ (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4) 5.4.0 20160609
on a 64-bit system if this is relevant to what causes this behaviour.
Is the above quote probably the reason why I am observing this and if not what else could be the cause?
-nan
(which is what appears to have been passed in) should not be triggering the exception, or that the valgrinded-code is causing-nan
to be passed in (whereas the "normal" code only passes in "nice" numbers)? If the later, have you / can you (by tracing back from the exception-generating call) determine whether valgrind has caused the value to be wrong (as per your "hunch") or could it just be that the use of valgrind has triggered a subtle bug in your code? – Propylene