[Einstein Toolkit] #1484: close file handles in CarpetHDF5 reader when VisIt closes files - Trac

19 Nov 2013


      #1484: close file handles in CarpetHDF5 reader when VisIt closes files
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 Reporter:  rhaas       |       Owner:                     
     Type:  defect      |      Status:  new                
 Priority:  major       |   Milestone:                     
Component:  Other       |     Version:  development version
 Keywords:  CarpetHDF5  |  
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 The VisIt plugin contains some caching logic for the HDF5 file metadata
 (namely which datasets exist in which file, can be disabled by setting the
 environment variable CARPETHDF5_CACHE_METADATA to "no"). There is a design
 flaw in this code that causes it to never close the HDF5 file handle which
 in turn causes libHDF5 to use up memory and (importantly) to not free the
 OS file handle. With large runs and many variables it is quite possible to
 run out of file descriptors.
The attached patch tries to correct this by freeing the HDF5 handle when
 VisIt closes a file (but keeps the cached metadata in memory).
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Ticket URL: https://trac.einsteintoolkit.org/ticket/1484
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