Send dynamic array with dynamic size using MPI_Bcast

If qFile.read(...) is not enclosed in a if(rank==0){} test, all processes will read the file. And queryDescriptors = new Descriptor[querySize]; should be called after the first MPI_Bcast() for all processes except 0 : before, querySize is meaningless on these processes.

Process 0 must :

• read the number of items
• allocate
• read the array
• broadcast the number of items
• broadcast the array

Other processes must :

• receive the number of items
• allocate
• receive the array

Here is a example of how to read an array of float and use dynamic allocation :

#include <stdio.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>

#include <mpi.h>
using namespace std;

int main (int argc,  char *argv[])
{
    int rank;
    int size;

    MPI_Init(&argc, &argv);

    MPI_Comm_size(MPI_COMM_WORLD, &size);
    MPI_Comm_rank(MPI_COMM_WORLD, &rank);

    if(rank == 0)
    {
        //creating the file
        ofstream myfile;
        myfile.open ("example.txt", ios::out |ios::binary);
        int nbitem=42;
        myfile.write((char*)&nbitem,sizeof(int));

        float a=0;
        for(int i=0;i<nbitem;i++){
            myfile.write((char*)&a,sizeof(float));
            a+=2;
        }
        myfile.close();    
    }


    //now reading the file
    int nbitemread=0;
    float* buffer;
    if(rank==0){
        ifstream file ("example.txt",  ios::in |ios::binary);
        file.read ((char*)&nbitemread, sizeof(int));
        buffer=new float[nbitemread];
        file.read ((char*)buffer,nbitemread* sizeof(float));
        file.close();
        //communication
        MPI_Bcast(&nbitemread, 1, MPI_INT, 0, MPI_COMM_WORLD);
        MPI_Bcast(buffer, nbitemread, MPI_FLOAT, 0, MPI_COMM_WORLD);
    }else{

        MPI_Bcast(&nbitemread, 1, MPI_INT, 0, MPI_COMM_WORLD);
        //nbitemread is meaningfull now
        buffer=new float[nbitemread];
        MPI_Bcast(buffer, nbitemread, MPI_FLOAT, 0, MPI_COMM_WORLD);

    }

    //printing...
    cout<<"on rank "<<rank<<" rode "<<buffer[nbitemread/2]<<" on position "<<nbitemread/2<<endl;

    delete[] buffer;
    MPI_Finalize();

    return 0;
}

Compile it with mpiCC main.cpp -o main and run by mpirun -np 2 main

Another issue in your code is MPI_Type_contiguous(sizeof(Descriptor), MPI_SHORT, &descriptorType);. It should be MPI_Type_contiguous(sizeof(Descriptor), MPI_CHAR, &descriptorType); Here is a piece of code based on yours that should do the trick :

#include <stdio.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <unistd.h>

#include <mpi.h>
using namespace std;

int main (int argc,  char *argv[])
{
    int world_rank;
    int size;

    MPI_Init(&argc, &argv);

    MPI_Comm_size(MPI_COMM_WORLD, &size);
    MPI_Comm_rank(MPI_COMM_WORLD, &world_rank);

    int querySize;


    typedef short Descriptor[128];
    MPI_Datatype descriptorType;
    MPI_Type_contiguous(sizeof(Descriptor), MPI_CHAR, &descriptorType);
    MPI_Type_commit(&descriptorType);


    Descriptor* queryDescriptors;


    if(world_rank == 0)   {
        struct stat finfo;

        if(stat(argv[1], &finfo) == 0) {
            cout<<"st_size "<<finfo.st_size<<" descriptor "<<sizeof(Descriptor)<< endl;
            querySize = finfo.st_size/sizeof(Descriptor);
            cout<<"querySize "<<querySize<<endl;
        }else{
            cout<<"stat error"<<endl;
        }

        {
            //read binary query
            queryDescriptors = new Descriptor[querySize];
            fstream qFile(argv[1], ios::in | ios::binary);
            qFile.read((char*)queryDescriptors, querySize*sizeof(Descriptor));
            qFile.close();

        }
    }

    MPI_Bcast((void*)&querySize, 1, MPI_INT, 0, MPI_COMM_WORLD);
    if (world_rank != 0)
    {
        queryDescriptors = new Descriptor[querySize];
    }
    MPI_Bcast((void*)queryDescriptors, querySize, descriptorType, 0, MPI_COMM_WORLD);

    cout<<"on rank "<<world_rank<<" rode "<<queryDescriptors[querySize/2][12]<<" on position "<<querySize/2<<endl;

    delete[] queryDescriptors;

    MPI_Finalize();

    return 0;
}