CUDA error on abs

Problem

This was CUDA code that compiled without errors on Windows. But, when compiled on Linux, it gave this error:

foobar.cu(36): error: calling a __host__ function("std::abs<short> ") from a __global__ function("kernelHelloWorld") is not allowed

The line in the kernelHelloWorld which caused the error was something like this:

short s = abs(getMeAFloat());

Solution

Finding no solution to this, I changed the abs to fabsf, which is supported in CUDA:

short s = fabsf(getMeAFloat());

Tried with: CUDA 5.5 and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS