[Rd] R unstable and crashes after executing .C

[Prof Brian Ripley]

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On Wed, 21 Feb 2007, Sole Acha, Xavi wrote:

> Dear R listers,
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> I have developed a C function to be executed from R through the ".C" interface. After doing dyn.load, the function executes properly and I get the results. However, after executing my function, R seems to get unstable and crashes (giving a segmentation fault and exiting) whenever I try to do ANYTHING with a relatively large object (creating a new one or even just writing the name of an existing one).
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> I use R 2.4.0 under a Linux machine with 1 GB RAM. Below there is an example of execution, so you can get an idea of what is happening:
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> --------------------
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> dyn.load("my_C_module.so");
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> res <- .C("my_C_function",.....); #The function executes fine and res is ok
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> dyn.unload("my_C_module.so") #I know this isn't strictly necessary
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> #Here R is still running, but when I execute:
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> m <- matrix(0,1000,100); #I try to create a new object and R crashes
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> *** caught segfault ***
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> address 0x10, cause 'memory not mapped'
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> Traceback:
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> 1: matrix(0, 1000, 100)
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> Possible actions:
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> 1: abort (with core dump)
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> 2: normal R exit
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> 3: exit R without saving workspace
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> 4: exit R saving workspace
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> --------------------
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> Although I tell R to abort and give me the core dump, it doesn't succeed in doing so.
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> I would be grateful if anyone could tell me what could be the problem with my C function that makes R behave this way?
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> Thank you very much in advance, and apologies for this long email.
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> Xavier Solé.
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> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
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-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
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