[svn-r9262] Purpose:

   Update release_docs/RELEASE.txt to describe options for dealing
   with installations which insert extra text in output, thereby
   breaking tests which function by comparing output with an exemplar.

   Also update bug fix list for parallel I/O mode confusion bug.


Description:

   See above.


Solution:

   Added discussion of this possible problem, and listed two possible
   solutions:

   1) "setenv HDF5_Make_Ignore yes" and then score "failed" tests
      by hand.

   2) Use the RUNSERIAL environment variable to use a filter script
      to filter out the extra text.


Platforms tested:

   None needed.


Misc. update:

1 files changed, 61 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/release_docs/RELEASE.txt b/release_docs/RELEASE.txt
index ebe3529..c50e198 100644
--- a/release_docs/RELEASE.txt
+++ b/release_docs/RELEASE.txt
@@ -183,6 +183,9 @@ Bug Fixes since HDF5-1.6.2 release
           file for the raw data for the dataset.  QAK - 2004/06/01
 	- Fixed dtypes "sw long double -> double" failure in QSC class
 	  machines.  AKC - 2004/4/16
+	- Fixed parallel bug in which some processes attempted collective
+	  I/O while others did independent I/O.  Bug appeared when some
+	  processes used point selections, and others didn't.  JRM - 2004/9/15
 
     Configuration
     -------------
@@ -503,3 +506,61 @@ Known Problems
   If -ieee is not used, the converted double values are mostly 0.0 but
   occassionaly as 1**-308.  This has been reported to the system staff.
   All other tests have passed.
+
+* On at least one system, (SDSC DataStar), the scheduler (in this case
+  LoadLeveler) sends job status updates to standard error when you run
+  any executable that was compiled with the parallel compilers.
+
+  This causes problems when running "make check" on parallel builds, as
+  many of the tool tests function by saving the output from test runs,
+  and comparing it to an exemplar.
+
+  The best solution is to reconfigure the target system so it no longer
+  inserts the extra text.  However, this may not be practical.
+
+  In such cases, one solution is to "setenv HDF5_Make_Ignore yes" prior to
+  the configure and build.  This will cause "make check" to continue after
+  detecting errors in the tool tests.  However, in the case of SDSC DataStar,
+  it also leaves you with some 150 "failed" tests to examine by hand.
+
+  A second solution is to write a script to run serial tests and filter
+  out the text added by the scheduler.  A sample script used on SDSC
+  DataStar is given below, but you will probably have to customize it
+  for your installation.
+
+  Observe that the basic idea is to insert the script as the first item
+  on the command line which executes the test.  The script then
+  executes the test and filters out the offending text before passing
+  it on.
+
+        #!/bin/csh
+
+        set STDOUT_FILE=~/bin/serial_filter.stdout
+        set STDERR_FILE=~/bin/serial_filter.stderr
+
+        rm -f $STDOUT_FILE $STDERR_FILE
+
+        ($* > $STDOUT_FILE) >& $STDERR_FILE
+
+        set RETURN_VALUE=$status
+
+        cat $STDOUT_FILE
+
+        tail +3 $STDERR_FILE
+
+        exit $RETURN_VALUE
+
+  You get the HDF make files and test scipts to execute your filter script
+  by setting the environment variable "RUNSERIAL" to the full path of the
+  script prior to running configure for parallel builds.  Remember to
+  "unsetenv RUNSERIAL" before running configure for a serial build.
+
+  Note that the RUNSERIAL environment variable exists so that we can
+  can prefix serial runs as necessary on the target system.  On DataStar,
+  no prefix is necessary.  However on an MPICH system, the prefix might
+  have to be set to something like "/usr/local/mpi/bin/mpirun -np 1" to
+  get the serial tests to run at all.
+
+  In such cases, you will have to include the regular prefix in your
+  filter script.
+