Question

It compiles up and runs on my Linux box(Ubuntu) as well as other linux boxes both x86 and x64 but on a SunOS Generic_142900-02 sun4u sparc unix box, it crashes on the line

matrix->col_head[i] = col_h;

with a bus error, Also, when i compile it up with GCC -G, GDB fails to find any debuging symbols

Here is the Code:

typedef unsigned short short_u;
typedef struct node{
  short_u         row;
  short_u         col;
  int             value;
  struct node*    row_l;
  struct node*    col_l;
}node_t;

typedef struct matrix{
  short_u     N;
  node_t**    row_head;
  node_t**    col_head;
}matrix_t;

matrix_t* init_matrix(int N){
  matrix_t* matrix = malloc(sizeof(matrix_t*));
  matrix->row_head = malloc(sizeof(node_t*)*N);
  matrix->col_head = malloc(sizeof(node_t*)*N);
  matrix->N = N;
  for (int i = 0; i < N; i++){
      /* row */
      node_t* row_h = malloc(sizeof(node_t*));
      row_h->col = 0;
      row_h->row = i+1;
      row_h->value = 0;
      row_h->col_l = row_h;
      if (i != 0)
          matrix->row_head[i-1]->row_l = row_h;
      matrix->row_head[i] = row_h;
      /* col */
      node_t* col_h = malloc(sizeof(node_t*));
      col_h->col = i+1;
      col_h->row = 0;
      col_h->value = 0;
      col_h->row_l = col_h;
      if (i != 0)
          matrix->col_head[i-1]->col_l = col_h;
      matrix->col_head[i] = col_h;
  }
  matrix->row_head[N-1]->row_l = matrix->row_head[0];
  matrix->col_head[N-1]->col_l = matrix->col_head[0];

  return matrix;
}

Answer 1

When you do

matrix_t* matrix = malloc(sizeof(matrix_t*));

you allocate space of a pointer to a matrix_t, which is not enough for the entire matrix_t. Your bus error is probably the result of accessing unallocated memory at matrix->row_head and matrix->col_head.

You repeat this mistake in lines

  node_t* row_h = malloc(sizeof(node_t*));

and

  node_t* col_h = malloc(sizeof(node_t*));

The fact that you don’t get a segfault on the Linux machines is a happy accident.