[ET Trac] #2927: gcc-version-dependent error: Range error setting parameter

[Jordan Nicoules]

#2927: gcc-version-dependent error: Range error setting parameter

 Reporter: Jordan Nicoules
   Status: new
Milestone: 
  Version: 
     Type: bug
 Priority: major
Component: Cactus

For reference, thread on the mailing list: https://lists.einsteintoolkit.org/pipermail/users/2026-March/009901.html

# TLDR #

With certain versions of gcc, having a (real) parameter defined with a range only consisting of ``*`` causes a range error at the start of the simulation.

# Description #

With certain versions of gcc (13.3.0, 14.3.0), having a real parameter defined with a range only consisting of ``*`` causes a range error at the start of the simulation, right after thorn activation:
```
WARNING[L2,P0] (Cactus): ParameterSetReal: Unable to set real 'Coordinates::h_radial_1' = '0.40000000000000002' not in any active range
WARNING[L1,P0] (Cactus): Major error in parameter file '/home/jnicoules/Work/ET_test/Simus/parfiles/Gallery/Kerr-Schild_Multipole_stretch.par' line 46: Range error setting parameter 'Coordinates::h_radial_1' to '0.40000000000000002'
WARNING level 0 from host cnx001.deucalion.macc.fccn.pt process 0
  in thorn Cactus, file /projects/F202407872CPCAA2/jnicoules/ET_test/Cactus/configs/ET_test__x86__GCC-13.3.0/build/Cactus/main/ProcessParameterDatabase.c:201:
  -> CCTKi_SetParameterSetMask: 1 major error in parameter file
```

The issue was encountered with a specific parameter, ``Coordinates::h_radial_1``, from the ``llama`` repo. I didn't experiment with other parameters from different thorns.

Most of the experimentation was performed on x86 nodes of the Deucalion cluster (https://docs.macc.fccn.pt/deucalion/). Three different versions of gcc and available related modules were tested: 12.3.0, 13.3.0, 14.3.0.

# Minimal (non)working example #

The issue can be seen with the attached parameter file, based on the Multipatch wave equation Gallery example, tweaked to include parameter ``Coordinates::h_radial_1``. The used ET version for the MWE is 2025-05 and the thornlist is a shaved off version of the one on the ET website (https://bitbucket.org/einsteintoolkit/manifest/raw/ET_2025_05/einsteintoolkit.th), to ease configuration and compilation.
The outputs are attached, for each of the three versions mentioned above. Additionally, it contains the output for a configuration using GCC-13.3.0, but changing, in ``Cactus/repos/llama/Coordinates/param.ccl``,

```
real h_radial_1 "Intended radial resolution of the first stretched domain"
{
  * :: "negative turns off stretching"
} -1
```
by
```
real h_radial_1 "Intended radial resolution of the first stretched domain"
{
  *:* :: "negative turns off stretching"
} -1
```
which is enough to have the simulation work properly.

# Other notes #

As mentioned in https://lists.einsteintoolkit.org/pipermail/users/2026-March/009901.html, gcc 15 might work just well.

Testing on my other setups (workstation and other clusters), where I have various older versions of gcc, the issue did not occur. I'm not attaching the respective files here, as the MWE shows both working and non-working situations.

# Attachments #
```
range_error_MWE/
|__ einstein_toolkit.th                    # Thornlist
|__ Kerr-Schild_Multipole_stretch.par      # Parameter file
|__ Kerr-Schild_Multipole_stretch/         # Contains the output for the various cases, without .h5 files for size reasons
    |__ README
    |__ output-*/
|__ GCC-*/                                 # contains compilation information in each case
    |__ *.cfg                              # option file
    |__ config_*.log                       # output of make config
    |__ make_*.log                         # output of make
    |__ make.config.defn                   # file found in Cactus/configs/*/config-data
```
attachment: range_error_MWE.zip (https://api.bitbucket.org/2.0/repositories/einsteintoolkit/tickets/issues/2927/attachments/range_error_MWE.zip)


--
Ticket URL: https://bitbucket.org/einsteintoolkit/tickets/issues/2927/gcc-version-dependent-error-range-error
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