Question:

A user is running IDL scripts on their system. Usually the scripts run properly but sometimes a crash occurs with the following error message:

*** glibc detected *** /opt/envi5.3.1/idl85/bin/bin.linux.x86_64/idl: malloc(): memory corruption: 0x00000000012dea60 ***

The backtrace has lines that say things such as the following:

==5d33231000-7f5d34c3d000 r-xp 00000000 /usr/lib64/libnvidia-glcore.so.310.40
7f5d35926000-7f5d359f4000 r-xp 00000000 /usr/lib64/libGL.so.310.40
7f5d3218d000-7f5d32196000 r-xp 00000000 /usr/lib64/libXcursor.so.1.0.2
7f5d32e11000-7f5d32e27000 r-xp 00000000 /lib64/libresolv-2.12.so

Possible Answer:

I've only seen a few cases for "glibc detected" errors in my years of supporting IDL. In those cases, it turned out to be a corruption in the OS/DISK that caused the issue. Based on the error and the information in the backtrace, I would recommend the following actions:

1) Try renaming the gl_driver.so files in the <IDL_DIR>/bin/bin.x86_64 directory. For example:

cd /usr/local/harris/envi54/idl86/bin/bin.linux.x86_64
mv gl_driver.so bak_gl_driver.so
mv gl_driver.so.8.6 bak_gl_driver.so.8.6

2) If renaming the gl_driver.so files does not help with the issue, try rebooting the system and seeing if that helps.
3) If rebooting doesn't help, try running a disk repair and seeing if that helps.
4) In the past, one user had to re-install the OS to fix this issue. If all the other options did not help, this might be something to consider.

David
Harris GS