Configuration for init estimation.

doc/parameter.rst

@@ -370,9 +370,11 @@ Specify the learning task and the corresponding learning objective. The objectiv
   - ``reg:gamma``: gamma regression with log-link. Output is a mean of gamma distribution. It might be useful, e.g., for modeling insurance claims severity, or for any outcome that might be `gamma-distributed <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_distribution#Occurrence_and_applications>`_.
   - ``reg:tweedie``: Tweedie regression with log-link. It might be useful, e.g., for modeling total loss in insurance, or for any outcome that might be `Tweedie-distributed <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tweedie_distribution#Occurrence_and_applications>`_.
 
-* ``base_score`` [default=0.5]
+* ``base_score``
 
   - The initial prediction score of all instances, global bias
+  - The parameter is automatically estimated for selected objectives before training. To
+    disable the estimation, specify a real number argument.
   - For sufficient number of iterations, changing this value will not have too much effect.
 
 * ``eval_metric`` [default according to objective]

include/xgboost/gbm.h

@@ -75,6 +75,11 @@ class GradientBooster : public Model, public Configurable {
   /*! \brief Return number of boosted rounds.
    */
   virtual int32_t BoostedRounds() const = 0;
+  /**
+   * \brief Whether the model has already been trained. When tree booster is chosen, then
+   *        returns true when there are existing trees.
+   */
+  virtual bool ModelFitted() const = 0;
   /*!
    * \brief perform update to the model(boosting)
    * \param p_fmat feature matrix that provide access to features

include/xgboost/learner.h

@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ struct LearnerModelParam {
   void Copy(LearnerModelParam const& that);
 
   /* \brief Whether this parameter is initialized with LearnerModelParamLegacy. */
-  bool Initialized() const { return num_feature != 0; }
+  bool Initialized() const { return num_feature != 0 && num_output_group != 0; }
 };
 
 }  // namespace xgboost

src/common/host_device_vector.cu

@@ -162,6 +162,10 @@ class HostDeviceVectorImpl {
     if (device_ >= 0) {
       LazySyncHost(GPUAccess::kNone);
     }
+
+    if (device_ >= 0 && device >= 0) {
+      CHECK_EQ(device_, device) << "New device ordinal is different from previous one.";
+    }
     device_ = device;
     if (device_ >= 0) {
       LazyResizeDevice(data_h_.size());

src/common/linalg_op.h

@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
  */
 #ifndef XGBOOST_COMMON_LINALG_OP_H_
 #define XGBOOST_COMMON_LINALG_OP_H_
-#include <type_traits>
 #include <cstdint>  // std::int32_t
+#include <type_traits>
 
 #include "common.h"
 #include "threading_utils.h"
@@ -43,12 +43,12 @@ void ElementWiseKernelHost(linalg::TensorView<T, D> t, int32_t n_threads, Fn&& f
 
 #if !defined(XGBOOST_USE_CUDA)
 template <typename T, int32_t D, typename Fn>
-void ElementWiseKernelDevice(linalg::TensorView<T, D> t, Fn&& fn, void* s = nullptr) {
+void ElementWiseKernelDevice(linalg::TensorView<T, D>, Fn&&, void* = nullptr) {
   common::AssertGPUSupport();
 }
 
 template <typename T, int32_t D, typename Fn>
-void ElementWiseTransformDevice(linalg::TensorView<T, D> t, Fn&& fn, void* s = nullptr) {
+void ElementWiseTransformDevice(linalg::TensorView<T, D>, Fn&&, void* = nullptr) {
   common::AssertGPUSupport();
 }
 

src/gbm/gblinear.cc

@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ class GBLinear : public GradientBooster {
     return model_.num_boosted_rounds;
   }
 
+  bool ModelFitted() const override { return BoostedRounds() != 0; }
+
   void Load(dmlc::Stream* fi) override {
     model_.Load(fi);
   }

src/gbm/gbtree.h

@@ -252,6 +252,10 @@ class GBTree : public GradientBooster {
     return model_.trees.size() / this->LayerTrees();
   }
 
+  bool ModelFitted() const override {
+    return !model_.trees.empty() || !model_.trees_to_update.empty();
+  }
+
   void PredictBatch(DMatrix *p_fmat, PredictionCacheEntry *out_preds,
                     bool training, unsigned layer_begin, unsigned layer_end) override;
 

src/learner.cc

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 #include <dmlc/thread_local.h>
 
 #include <algorithm>
+#include <array>
 #include <atomic>
 #include <iomanip>
 #include <limits>  // std::numeric_limits
@@ -27,7 +28,6 @@
 #include "common/charconv.h"
 #include "common/common.h"
 #include "common/io.h"
-#include "common/linalg_op.h"
 #include "common/observer.h"
 #include "common/random.h"
 #include "common/threading_utils.h"
@@ -64,6 +64,15 @@ DECLARE_FIELD_ENUM_CLASS(xgboost::DataSplitMode);
 
 namespace xgboost {
 Learner::~Learner() = default;
+namespace {
+StringView ModelNotFitted() { return "Model is not yet initialized (not fitted)."; }
+
+template <typename T>
+T& UsePtr(T& ptr) {  // NOLINT
+  CHECK(ptr);
+  return ptr;
+}
+}  // anonymous namespace
 
 /*! \brief training parameter for regression
  *
@@ -75,20 +84,28 @@ struct LearnerModelParamLegacy : public dmlc::Parameter<LearnerModelParamLegacy>
   /* \brief global bias */
   bst_float base_score;
   /* \brief number of features  */
-  uint32_t num_feature;
+  bst_feature_t num_feature;
   /* \brief number of classes, if it is multi-class classification  */
-  int32_t num_class;
+  std::int32_t num_class;
   /*! \brief Model contain additional properties */
   int32_t contain_extra_attrs;
   /*! \brief Model contain eval metrics */
   int32_t contain_eval_metrics;
   /*! \brief the version of XGBoost. */
-  uint32_t major_version;
-  uint32_t minor_version;
+  std::uint32_t major_version;
+  std::uint32_t minor_version;
 
   uint32_t num_target{1};
-
-  int32_t base_score_estimated{0};
+  /**
+   * \brief Whether we should calculate the base score from training data.
+   *
+   *   This is a private parameter as we can't expose it as boolean due to binary model
+   *   format. Exposing it as integer creates inconsistency with other parameters.
+   *
+   *   Automatically disabled when base_score is specifed by user. int32 is used instead
+   *   of bool for the ease of serialization.
+   */
+  std::int32_t boost_from_average{true};
   /*! \brief reserved field */
   int reserved[25];
   /*! \brief constructor */
@@ -98,14 +115,14 @@ struct LearnerModelParamLegacy : public dmlc::Parameter<LearnerModelParamLegacy>
     num_target = 1;
     major_version = std::get<0>(Version::Self());
     minor_version = std::get<1>(Version::Self());
-    base_score_estimated = 0;
+    boost_from_average = true;
     static_assert(sizeof(LearnerModelParamLegacy) == 136,
                   "Do not change the size of this struct, as it will break binary IO.");
   }
 
   // Skip other legacy fields.
   Json ToJson() const {
-    Object obj;
+    Json obj{Object{}};
     char floats[NumericLimits<float>::kToCharsSize];
     auto ret = to_chars(floats, floats + NumericLimits<float>::kToCharsSize, base_score);
     CHECK(ret.ec == std::errc{});
@@ -120,15 +137,19 @@ struct LearnerModelParamLegacy : public dmlc::Parameter<LearnerModelParamLegacy>
     ret = to_chars(integers, integers + NumericLimits<int64_t>::kToCharsSize,
                    static_cast<int64_t>(num_class));
     CHECK(ret.ec == std::errc());
-    obj["num_class"] =
-        std::string{integers, static_cast<size_t>(std::distance(integers, ret.ptr))};
+    obj["num_class"] = std::string{integers, static_cast<size_t>(std::distance(integers, ret.ptr))};
 
     ret = to_chars(integers, integers + NumericLimits<int64_t>::kToCharsSize,
                    static_cast<int64_t>(num_target));
     obj["num_target"] =
         std::string{integers, static_cast<size_t>(std::distance(integers, ret.ptr))};
 
-    return Json(std::move(obj));
+    ret = to_chars(integers, integers + NumericLimits<std::int64_t>::kToCharsSize,
+                   static_cast<std::int64_t>(boost_from_average));
+    obj["boost_from_average"] =
+        std::string{integers, static_cast<std::size_t>(std::distance(integers, ret.ptr))};
+
+    return obj;
   }
   void FromJson(Json const& obj) {
     auto const& j_param = get<Object const>(obj);
@@ -139,13 +160,15 @@ struct LearnerModelParamLegacy : public dmlc::Parameter<LearnerModelParamLegacy>
     if (n_targets_it != j_param.cend()) {
       m["num_target"] = get<String const>(n_targets_it->second);
     }
+    auto bse_it = j_param.find("boost_from_average");
+    if (bse_it != j_param.cend()) {
+      m["boost_from_average"] = get<String const>(bse_it->second);
+    }
 
     this->Init(m);
 
     std::string str = get<String const>(j_param.at("base_score"));
     from_chars(str.c_str(), str.c_str() + str.size(), base_score);
-    // It can only be estimated during the first training, we consider it estimated afterward
-    base_score_estimated = 1;
   }
 
   LearnerModelParamLegacy ByteSwap() const {
@@ -158,22 +181,21 @@ struct LearnerModelParamLegacy : public dmlc::Parameter<LearnerModelParamLegacy>
     dmlc::ByteSwap(&x.major_version, sizeof(x.major_version), 1);
     dmlc::ByteSwap(&x.minor_version, sizeof(x.minor_version), 1);
     dmlc::ByteSwap(&x.num_target, sizeof(x.num_target), 1);
-    dmlc::ByteSwap(&x.base_score_estimated, sizeof(x.base_score_estimated), 1);
+    dmlc::ByteSwap(&x.boost_from_average, sizeof(x.boost_from_average), 1);
     dmlc::ByteSwap(x.reserved, sizeof(x.reserved[0]), sizeof(x.reserved) / sizeof(x.reserved[0]));
     return x;
   }
 
   template <typename Container>
   Args UpdateAllowUnknown(Container const& kwargs) {
     // Detect whether user has made their own base score.
-    if (std::find_if(kwargs.cbegin(), kwargs.cend(),
-                     [](auto const& kv) { return kv.first == "base_score"; }) != kwargs.cend()) {
-      base_score_estimated = true;
-    }
-    if (std::find_if(kwargs.cbegin(), kwargs.cend(), [](auto const& kv) {
-          return kv.first == "base_score_estimated";
-        }) != kwargs.cend()) {
-      LOG(FATAL) << "`base_score_estimated` cannot be specified as hyper-parameter.";
+    auto find_key = [&kwargs](char const* key) {
+      return std::find_if(kwargs.cbegin(), kwargs.cend(),
+                          [key](auto const& kv) { return kv.first == key; });
+    };
+    auto it = find_key("base_score");
+    if (it != kwargs.cend()) {
+      boost_from_average = false;
     }
     return dmlc::Parameter<LearnerModelParamLegacy>::UpdateAllowUnknown(kwargs);
   }
@@ -195,7 +217,9 @@ struct LearnerModelParamLegacy : public dmlc::Parameter<LearnerModelParamLegacy>
         .set_default(1)
         .set_lower_bound(1)
         .describe("Number of target for multi-target regression.");
-    DMLC_DECLARE_FIELD(base_score_estimated).set_default(0);
+    DMLC_DECLARE_FIELD(boost_from_average)
+        .set_default(true)
+        .describe("Whether we should calculate the base score from training data.");
   }
 };
 
@@ -224,7 +248,7 @@ LearnerModelParam::LearnerModelParam(Context const* ctx, LearnerModelParamLegacy
 
 linalg::TensorView<float const, 1> LearnerModelParam::BaseScore(int32_t device) const {
   // multi-class is not yet supported.
-  CHECK_EQ(base_score_.Size(), 1);
+  CHECK_EQ(base_score_.Size(), 1) << ModelNotFitted();
   if (device == Context::kCpuId) {
     // Make sure that we won't run into race condition.
     CHECK(base_score_.Data()->HostCanRead());
@@ -385,6 +409,21 @@ class LearnerConfiguration : public Learner {
   // Initial prediction.
   std::vector<std::string> metric_names_;
 
+  void ConfigureModelParamWithoutBaseScore() {
+    // Convert mparam to learner_model_param
+    this->ConfigureTargets();
+
+    auto task = UsePtr(obj_)->Task();
+    linalg::Tensor<float, 1> base_score({1}, Ctx()->gpu_id);
+    auto h_base_score = base_score.HostView();
+
+    // transform to margin
+    h_base_score(0) = obj_->ProbToMargin(mparam_.base_score);
+    // move it to model param, which is shared with all other components.
+    learner_model_param_ = LearnerModelParam(Ctx(), mparam_, std::move(base_score), task);
+    CHECK(learner_model_param_.Initialized());
+    CHECK_NE(learner_model_param_.BaseScore(Ctx()).Size(), 0);
+  }
   /**
    * \brief Calculate the `base_score` based on input data.
    *
@@ -403,38 +442,24 @@ class LearnerConfiguration : public Learner {
     // - model loaded from new binary or JSON.
     // - model is created from scratch.
     // - model is configured second time due to change of parameter
-    CHECK(obj_);
-    if (!mparam_.base_score_estimated) {
+    if (!learner_model_param_.Initialized()) {
+      this->ConfigureModelParamWithoutBaseScore();
+    }
+    if (mparam_.boost_from_average && !UsePtr(gbm_)->ModelFitted()) {
       if (p_fmat) {
+        auto const& info = p_fmat->Info();
+        info.Validate(Ctx()->gpu_id);
         // We estimate it from input data.
         linalg::Tensor<float, 1> base_score;
-        obj_->InitEstimation(p_fmat->Info(), &base_score);
+        UsePtr(obj_)->InitEstimation(info, &base_score);
         mparam_.base_score = base_score(0);
         CHECK(!std::isnan(mparam_.base_score));
-      } else {
-        mparam_.base_score = ObjFunction::DefaultBaseScore();
       }
-      mparam_.base_score_estimated = true;
       // Update the shared model parameter
-      this->ConfigureModelParam();
+      this->ConfigureModelParamWithoutBaseScore();
     }
-  }
-
-  // Convert mparam to learner_model_param
-  void ConfigureModelParam() {
-    this->ConfigureTargets();
-
-    CHECK(obj_);
-    auto task = obj_->Task();
-    linalg::Tensor<float, 1> base_score({1}, Ctx()->gpu_id);
-    auto h_base_score = base_score.HostView();
-
-    // transform to margin
-    h_base_score(0) = obj_->ProbToMargin(mparam_.base_score);
-    // move it to model param, which is shared with all other components.
-    learner_model_param_ = LearnerModelParam(Ctx(), mparam_, std::move(base_score), task);
-    CHECK(learner_model_param_.Initialized());
-    CHECK_NE(learner_model_param_.BaseScore(Ctx()).Size(), 0);
+    CHECK(!std::isnan(mparam_.base_score));
+    CHECK(!std::isinf(mparam_.base_score));
   }
 
  public:
@@ -496,7 +521,8 @@ class LearnerConfiguration : public Learner {
     learner_model_param_.task = obj_->Task();  // required by gbm configuration.
     this->ConfigureGBM(old_tparam, args);
     ctx_.ConfigureGpuId(this->gbm_->UseGPU());
-    this->ConfigureModelParam();
+
+    this->ConfigureModelParamWithoutBaseScore();
 
     this->ConfigureMetrics(args);
 
@@ -510,8 +536,8 @@ class LearnerConfiguration : public Learner {
   }
 
   void CheckModelInitialized() const {
-    CHECK(learner_model_param_.Initialized()) << "Model not yet initialized.";
-    CHECK_NE(learner_model_param_.BaseScore(this->Ctx()).Size(), 0);
+    CHECK(learner_model_param_.Initialized()) << ModelNotFitted();
+    CHECK_NE(learner_model_param_.BaseScore(this->Ctx()).Size(), 0) << ModelNotFitted();
   }
 
   virtual PredictionContainer* GetPredictionCache() const {
@@ -1318,8 +1344,6 @@ class LearnerImpl : public LearnerIO {
                     HostDeviceVector<GradientPair>* in_gpair) override {
     monitor_.Start("BoostOneIter");
     this->Configure();
-    // Should have been set to default in the first prediction.
-    CHECK(mparam_.base_score_estimated);
 
     if (ctx_.seed_per_iteration) {
       common::GlobalRandom().seed(ctx_.seed * kRandSeedMagic + iter);
@@ -1380,7 +1404,9 @@ class LearnerImpl : public LearnerIO {
                                static_cast<int>(pred_interactions) +
                                static_cast<int>(pred_contribs);
     this->Configure();
-    this->InitBaseScore(nullptr);
+    if (training) {
+      this->InitBaseScore(nullptr);
+    }
     this->CheckModelInitialized();
 
     CHECK_LE(multiple_predictions, 1) << "Perform one kind of prediction at a time.";
@@ -1425,7 +1451,6 @@ class LearnerImpl : public LearnerIO {
                       HostDeviceVector<bst_float>** out_preds, uint32_t iteration_begin,
                       uint32_t iteration_end) override {
     this->Configure();
-    this->InitBaseScore(nullptr);
     this->CheckModelInitialized();
 
     auto& out_predictions = this->GetThreadLocal().prediction_entry;