'ptxas' died

Accelerated Computing CUDA CUDA Programming and Performance
1

Is there a limit on the number of function calls in the kernel code?

I have a device function that I’m calling couple of times in my kernel code and it works fine.
BUt, when I try to add another function call same as previous ones, I get the following error message:

nvcc error : ‘ptxas’ died due to signal 11 (Invalid memory reference)

I’m not using any more shared memory than the previous step, I’m just reusing the previous ones.

Does someone have any clue what is this about?

Thanks.

2

death of ptxas is a known issue! Probably you should file a bug report giving the most minimal code that reproduces the problem!

3

Sarnath, please stop saying “death of ptxas is a known issue.” No, an “issue” is a specific bug. Unless you know what gpugpu’s specific issue is, you can’t say he’s talking about a ‘known issue.’

Anyway, your words really confuse people because if it’s a known issue, they don’t need to file a bug report. I think what you mean to say is that you know ptxas is a buggy piece of crap, and a bug report should be filed (although there’s a good chance that after someone examines it in detail, they’ll reply, “it’s a known issue”).

gpugpu, make sure you don’t have functions calling eachother back and forth (kind of like recursion) and you’re not using function pointers. Any call that can’t be inlined will cause the compiler to crash in various ways. Try to manually inline all your function calls (to see if such a thing is possible with your program).

4

gpugpu,
Please provide a test app which reproduces this problem, along with explicit build instructions and the output from running “nvcc -V”.

thanks,
Lonni

5

Sorry about the confusion. I did not realize that the english usage could cause confusions.

Yes, this is what I mean – Although I would not go to the extent of calling it as crap!

“ptxas” does have problems and people have reported in the past about the same external symptom! – Thats why I am asking them to file a report (as the root cause could be different)!

I will use the term “external symptom” from next time! Thanks for pointing out.