[Question] Program terminated when throwing a customized exception in validation layer callback

[Stehsaer]

I'm currently rebuilding my vulkan utility library with vulkan-hpp, and I intend to throw an customized error class in the callback of validation layer. VULKAN_HPP_NO_EXCEPTIONS was defined.

struct Validation_error : public std::runtime_error
{
	std::string msg;
	Message_severity_t severity;
	...
};

// callback.cpp
VkBool32 validation_callback(
	VkDebugUtilsMessageSeverityFlagBitsEXT      message_severity,
	VkDebugUtilsMessageTypeFlagsEXT             message_types,
	const VkDebugUtilsMessengerCallbackDataEXT* callback_data,
	void*                                       user_data [[maybe_unused]]
)
{
	// std::cerr << callback_data->pMessage << std::endl;
	throw Validation_error(message_severity, message_types, callback_data->pMessage);
}

// main.cpp
int main()
{
	...
	try
	{
		// actual work...
	}
	catch(Validation_error e)
	{
		std::cout << e.msg << std::endl;

		return EXIT_FAILURE;
	}
	catch(std::exception e)
	{
		// other error handling code...
	}
	...
}

What's wrong here?

Debugger Output

Exception 0x80000003 encountered at address 0x7ffb5c342fb5

Note: I intentionally trigger the validation layer by assigning a queue priority of 10000.0f in the vk::DeviceQueueCreateInfo.

[asuessenbach]

Well, I can't interpret what happens here or what should... The only thing that might be an issue here: you should catch by const-reference, not by value.

[Stehsaer]

Well, I can't interpret what happens here or what should... The only thing that might be an issue here: you should catch by const-reference, not by value.

Thanks for your comment! I changed to use const-ref in my catch statement and re-enabled exceptions in vulkan-hpp, but the issue isn't solved. The program terminates before the exception thrown from the validation callback is caught by the catch statement in main.cpp, confirmed by setting a breakpoint.

[asuessenbach]

Have you actually created the DebugUtilsMessenger?

    vk::DebugUtilsMessengerEXT        debugUtilsMessenger =
      instance.createDebugUtilsMessengerEXT( vk::DebugUtilsMessengerCreateInfoEXT( {}, severityFlags, messageTypeFlags, &debugMessageFunc ) );

[Stehsaer]

Have you actually created the DebugUtilsMessenger?

    vk::DebugUtilsMessengerEXT        debugUtilsMessenger =
      instance.createDebugUtilsMessengerEXT( vk::DebugUtilsMessengerCreateInfoEXT( {}, severityFlags, messageTypeFlags, &debugMessageFunc ) );

Yes I do. It works perfectly as intended if I'm using a callback function of

VkBool32 good_validation_callback(
	VkDebugUtilsMessageSeverityFlagBitsEXT      message_severity,
	VkDebugUtilsMessageTypeFlagsEXT             message_types,
	const VkDebugUtilsMessengerCallbackDataEXT* callback_data,
	void*                                       user_data [[maybe_unused]]
)
{
	std::cerr << callback_data->pMessage << std::endl;
	// throw Validation_error(message_severity, message_types, callback_data->pMessage);
}

Issue appears only when I switch to this callback function

VkBool32 bad_validation_callback(
	VkDebugUtilsMessageSeverityFlagBitsEXT      message_severity,
	VkDebugUtilsMessageTypeFlagsEXT             message_types,
	const VkDebugUtilsMessengerCallbackDataEXT* callback_data,
	void*                                       user_data [[maybe_unused]]
)
{
	// std::cerr << callback_data->pMessage << std::endl;
	throw Validation_error(message_severity, message_types, callback_data->pMessage);
}

[asuessenbach]

I assume, you don't provoke that error from within a destructor? A destructor should not throw.
Besides that, I can't repro your issue. Could you provide more sources for inspection?

[Stehsaer]

I assume, you don't provoke that error from within a destructor? A destructor should not throw. Besides that, I can't repro your issue. Could you provide more sources for inspection?

Here's how I structure my code:
class Debug_utility:

// Vulkan Debug Utility
class Debug_utility : public Child_resource<vk::DebugUtilsMessengerEXT, Instance>
{
	using Child_resource<vk::DebugUtilsMessengerEXT, Instance>::Child_resource;

  public:

	/* ===== Type Definitions =====  */

	using Message_severity_t   = vk::DebugUtilsMessageSeverityFlagsEXT;
	using Message_severity_bit = vk::DebugUtilsMessageSeverityFlagBitsEXT;
	using Message_type_t       = vk::DebugUtilsMessageTypeFlagsEXT;
	using Callback_data_t      = vk::DebugUtilsMessengerCallbackDataEXT;

	using callback_t = VkBool32(
		VkDebugUtilsMessageSeverityFlagBitsEXT      message_severity,
		VkDebugUtilsMessageTypeFlagsEXT             message_types,
		const VkDebugUtilsMessengerCallbackDataEXT* callback_data,
		void*                                       user_data
	);

	/* ===== Static Constants ===== */

	// Validation Layer Name, add to array of layers when creating Instance
	static constexpr const char* validation_layer_name = "VK_LAYER_KHRONOS_validation";

	// Debug Utility Extension Name, add to array of extensions when creating Instance
	static constexpr const char* debug_utils_ext_name = VK_EXT_DEBUG_UTILS_EXTENSION_NAME;

	// Query if extension is supported
	static bool is_supported();

	/* ===== Constructor & Destructor ===== */

	Debug_utility(
		const Instance&    instance,
		Message_severity_t severity,
		Message_type_t     msg_type,
		callback_t*        callback = validation_callback
	);

	void clean() override;
	~Debug_utility() override { clean(); }

	// Callback, generates a Validation_error when called (broken)
	static VkBool32 validation_callback(
		VkDebugUtilsMessageSeverityFlagBitsEXT      message_severity,
		VkDebugUtilsMessageTypeFlagsEXT             message_types,
		const VkDebugUtilsMessengerCallbackDataEXT* callback_data,
		void*                                       user_data
	);
};

The Child_resource<> base class is just a wrapper of resource management that provides assignment operator and protected constructors. It has nothing to do with actual vulkan functionality.
The implementation:

static PFN_vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT  pfn_vk_create_debug_utils_messenger_ext  = nullptr;
static PFN_vkDestroyDebugUtilsMessengerEXT pfn_vk_destroy_debug_utils_messenger_ext = nullptr;

VKAPI_ATTR VkResult VKAPI_CALL vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT(
	VkInstance                                instance,
	const VkDebugUtilsMessengerCreateInfoEXT* pCreateInfo,
	const VkAllocationCallbacks*              pAllocator,
	VkDebugUtilsMessengerEXT*                 pMessenger
)
{
	return pfn_vk_create_debug_utils_messenger_ext(instance, pCreateInfo, pAllocator, pMessenger);
}

VKAPI_ATTR void VKAPI_CALL vkDestroyDebugUtilsMessengerEXT(
	VkInstance                   instance,
	VkDebugUtilsMessengerEXT     messenger,
	VkAllocationCallbacks const* pAllocator
)
{
	return pfn_vk_destroy_debug_utils_messenger_ext(instance, messenger, pAllocator);
}

Debug_utility::Debug_utility(
	const Instance&    instance,
	Message_severity_t severity,
	Message_type_t     msg_type,
	callback_t*        callback
)
{
	vk::DebugUtilsMessengerCreateInfoEXT create_info;
	create_info.setMessageSeverity(severity);
	create_info.setMessageType(msg_type);
	create_info.setPfnUserCallback(callback);

    // Query the function handle
	pfn_vk_create_debug_utils_messenger_ext = reinterpret_cast<PFN_vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT>(
		instance->getProcAddr("vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT")
	);

    // Function handle not found
	if (pfn_vk_create_debug_utils_messenger_ext == nullptr)
		throw General_exception("Function: vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT not found ");

    // Create DebugUtils
	auto handle = instance->createDebugUtilsMessengerEXT(create_info);
	*this       = Debug_utility(handle, instance); // Assign raw objects and parents to current object
}

void Debug_utility::clean()
{
	if (is_unique())
	{
		pfn_vk_destroy_debug_utils_messenger_ext = reinterpret_cast<PFN_vkDestroyDebugUtilsMessengerEXT>(
			parent()->getProcAddr("vkDestroyDebugUtilsMessengerEXT")
		);

		if (pfn_vk_destroy_debug_utils_messenger_ext == nullptr) return;

		parent()->destroyDebugUtilsMessengerEXT(*this);
	}
}

VkBool32 Debug_utility::validation_callback(
	VkDebugUtilsMessageSeverityFlagBitsEXT      message_severity [[maybe_unused]],
	VkDebugUtilsMessageTypeFlagsEXT             message_types [[maybe_unused]],
	const VkDebugUtilsMessengerCallbackDataEXT* callback_data [[maybe_unused]],
	void*                                       user_data [[maybe_unused]]
)
{
	// std::cerr << callback_data->pMessage << std::endl; // My current work-around for this issue
    throw Validation_error(message_severity, message_types, callback_data->pMessage); // the issue
	return true;
}

The class Instance is my own RAII wrapper for vk::Instance, which can be implicitly converted into vk::Instance. Calling instance->createDebugUtilsMessengerEXT is equivalent to calling vk::Instance(<some instance>).createDebugUtilsMessengerEXT.

It doesn't seem that I called the validation_callback(...) function in any destructor 🤔 , however the behavior of this issue perfectly match the phenomenon when you throw an error in a destructor.

[asuessenbach]

Hm... I don't know if that matters, but the callback should be VKAPI_ATTR VkBool32 VKAPI_CALL.

[Stehsaer]

Hm... I don't know if that matters, but the callback should be VKAPI_ATTR VkBool32 VKAPI_CALL.

Just made a quick test, it doesn't seem to help. On my platform, VKAPI_ATTR is defined as empty, and VKAPI_CALL is defined as __stdcall.

[asuessenbach]

It's been a while now... Did you have any luck resolving your issue?