[Bug-gsl] difficulty using gsl_blas_dgemm

[Shervin Fatehi]

Hello,

I've been having some trouble using gsl_blas_dgemm in my program. This is the first time I've ever 
had a problem with the GSL that I can't pin down as having been my fault! All the same, I'm not 
sure that this is a bug, for reasons that should become clear -- it may be a problem with my 
system or some very subtle problem with my code. As far as my setup goes, my computer here in the 
lab is running SuSE and the 2.4.20-4GB-athlon kernel. The gcc version is 3.3, and I just installed 
version 1.7 of the GSL in (vain) hopes of fixing this (the previous version was 1.4).

All right. When I use the sample program given on pp. 119-120 of the GSL Reference Manual, which 
happens to use gsl_blas_dgemm, it works just fine. I obtain the appropriate results, and gcc 
doesn't scream at me about anything. I compile it using the command

gcc -ansi -I(my include directory, since gsl is not installed in the standard spots) -L(my lib 
directory) -o test test.c -lgsl -lgslcblas


Now, I have a piece of code in which I am manipulating some GSL-constructed matrices. It works 
perfectly until I insert the lines

#include <gsl/gsl_blas.h>

and

gsl_blas_dgemm(CblasTrans,CblasNoTrans,1,evecs,x,0,x);

at the beginning and in the body of my code, respectively. I'm not sure if using x as both B and C 
in

C = alpha * op(A)op(B) + beta * C

will work, but that doesn't appear to be the problem (I've tried changing it, as I've tried 
changing a number of other parts of my program). Anyway, when I try to compile this using the 
command

gcc -ansi -I(m.i.d.) -L(m.l.d.) -o myprogram file1.c file2.c file3.c -lgsl 
-lgslcblas

I get this horrendous set of errors:

In file included from /home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_blas_types.h:28,
                 from /home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_blas.h:29,
                 from eval_pot.c:8:
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:180: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:185: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:213: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:218: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:246: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:251: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:279: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:284: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:327: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:356: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:389: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:392: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:420: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:423: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:449: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:454: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:469: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:474: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:479: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:484: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:499: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:504: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:509: error: parse error before 
numeric constant
/home/group1/shervin/include/gsl/gsl_cblas.h:514: error: parse error before 
numeric constant

In every case, the "offending" piece of the header file is one of the lines of a prototype that 
looks like this (in this case, it's the second line):

void cblas_dgemm(const enum CBLAS_ORDER Order, const enum CBLAS_TRANSPOSE 
TransA,
                 const enum CBLAS_TRANSPOSE TransB, const int M, const int N,
                 const int K, const double alpha, const double *A,
                 const int lda, const double *B, const int ldb,
                 const double beta, double *C, const int ldc);

At first I thought it might be the formatting (although that shouldn't matter to a compiler), but 
I quickly eliminated that hypothesis when I realized that there were other functions that were 
formatted similarly and seemed to contain essentially the same kinds of information yet didn't 
trigger the error, like this one:

void cblas_dsyrk(const enum CBLAS_ORDER Order, const enum CBLAS_UPLO Uplo,
                 const enum CBLAS_TRANSPOSE Trans, const int N, const int K,
                 const double alpha, const double *A, const int lda,
                 const double beta, double *C, const int ldc);

One thing that appears to be a common distinction between the error-triggering and 
non-error-triggering prototypes is the presence of TransA and TransB as opposed to just Trans, but 
I don't think that should make a difference.

It seems very strange to me that this problem, which is ostensibly in the header, should rear its 
head when compiling my program but not the test code. Is there any obvious mistake that I'm 
making, or is this some kind of weird conflict with my system / version of gcc?

Thank you!!
Shervin Fatehi