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Improve error message for initialization failures with troubleshootin… #2637

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Improve error message for initialization failures with troubleshootin… #2637

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67efd02
Improve error message for initialization failures with troubleshootin…
Jul 29, 2025
9c33116
Refactor error message for initialization failures to remove redundan…
Aug 6, 2025
85c7f74
fc
Aug 6, 2025
fa97490
Merge branch 'main' into ah-dists
AoifeHughes Aug 6, 2025
a0fe160
simplier
Aug 6, 2025
a178d70
Update test/mcmc/hmc.jl
AoifeHughes Aug 8, 2025
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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion src/mcmc/hmc.jl
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ function find_initial_params(

# if we failed to find valid initial parameters, error
return error(
"failed to find valid initial parameters in $(max_attempts) tries. This may indicate an error with the model or AD backend; please open an issue at https://github.com/TuringLang/Turing.jl/issues",
"failed to find valid initial parameters in $(max_attempts) tries. See https://turinglang.org/docs/usage/troubleshooting/#initial-parameters for common causes and solutions. If the issue persists, please open an issue at https://github.com/TuringLang/Turing.jl/issues",
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Can we set up a more robust URI for this link, e.g. via https://turinglang.org/docs/uri/initial-parameters? This URI redirects to the corresponding docs link, and would never change if we restructure the docs.

Quarto supports this via redirects: https://quarto.org/docs/websites/website-navigation.html#redirects

Cc @shravanngoswamii

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@shravanngoswamii shravanngoswamii Aug 7, 2025 •
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Sure, let me add a redirects template in docs repo so we can easily create permanent redirects for docs.

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TuringLang/docs#632

)
end

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14 changes: 14 additions & 0 deletions test/mcmc/hmc.jl
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Expand Up @@ -276,6 +276,20 @@ using Turing
@test Turing.Inference.getstepsize(spl, hmc_state) isa Float64
end
end

@testset "improved error message for initialization failures" begin
# Model that always fails to initialize
@model function failing_model()
x ~ Normal()
@addlogprob! -Inf
end

# Test that error message includes troubleshooting link
@test_throws ErrorException sample(failing_model(), NUTS(), 10; progress=false)
@test_throws "https://turinglang.org/docs/usage/troubleshooting/#initial-parameters" sample(
failing_model(), NUTS(), 10; progress=false
)
end
end

end
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