Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

Till Straumann <[email protected]> · Mon, 13 Feb 2006 11:47:31 -0800

Note that Steph is using Matlab  7.1 (aka 14.3) which doesn't seem
to suffer from the problem (14 pre-releases, 14, 14.1 and 14.2 do!).
The problem I've seen is really a matlab/installation rather
than a labca problem. I can reproduce it with the simple mex file
#include <mex.h>
void mexFunction(int nlhs, mxArray *plhs[], int nrhs, const mxArray *prhs[])
{
        mexErrMsgTxt("BLAH");
}
The workaround is (see ReleaseNotes)
setenv LD_PRELOAD /lib/libgcc_s.so.1
prior to launching matlab. Depending on your linux distro and
exact matlab version YMMV.
HTH
-- Till
PS: For folks using labca on win32: there is a problem with the newest
version of matlab (only first 'lcaGet' works, subsequent ones will
"immediately timeout", i.e., indicate a timeout without even waiting).
The problem has been solved but I didn't have the time time to package
up a release yet. Contact me for a patch or disable Ctrl-C handling
and rebuild labca_2_0 (win32 affected only).
Allison, Stephanie wrote:

Hi Dennis,
> lcaGet ('garbage')
hangs for a minute or two, then takes down matlab.
Hitting control-c during the timeout also crashes matlab.

Hmm. I do the same test on a linux box (2.4.21-37.0.1.ELsmp #1 SMP i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux) running epics 3.14.8.1+strtod patch with no problem (see below). Can you provide more information like what version of epics are you using?
BTW, I like labCA since it lets me set retry count and CA timeout. The older version of MCA that we have here doesn't allow it. Plus Till sits next door.
matlab -nojvm 
                              < M A T L A B >
                  Copyright 1984-2005 The MathWorks, Inc.
                   Version 7.1.0.183 (R14) Service Pack 3
                              August 02, 2005

To get started, type one of these: helpwin, helpdesk, or demo.

For product information, visit www.mathworks.com.

lcaGet('garbage')

Initializing labCA Release '$Name:  $'...
Author: Till Straumann <[email protected]>
Ctrl-C handling is disabled (compile-time option)
       ==> Initializing max. timeout to 5. seconds
multi_ezca_get_nelem -  ezcaGetNelem(): could not find process variable : garbageError: Errors encountered...
??? (see above error messages)

Stephanie Allison

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System