nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

damo · 2015-12-21 22:35:59

I don't usually use nitrogen to set the background, but on trying it just now, from the menu and terminal I get a segfault

[damo@debian]$ nitrogen

(nitrogen:2858): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_scale_simple: assertion 'dest_width > 0' failed
Segmentation fault

(I'm assuming the GdkPixbuf error is one of the usual gtk theme errors: trying different themes is the same, anyway.)

The command works with all the switches I've tried (`--restore, --set-` etc, except for `--set-color=`), but not the command on its own, which implies to me that it is a gui/graphics issue. Re-installing nitrogen hasn't helped, and searches haven't found any clues either.

I don't recall installing anything which might mess with libs, especially as this is pretty much a default BL Stable install. Suggestions for trouble-shooting are most welcome

[See last post for "solution". Solved by purge and reinstall]

Last edited by damo (2015-12-22 15:18:05)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-12-21 22:39:03

damo wrote:

Suggestions for trouble-shooting are most welcome

https://wiki.debian.org/HowToGetABacktrace

damo · 2015-12-21 23:16:40

^

Well, the HowTo was relatively easy to follow, but the backtrace output was largely meaningless to me!

#0  0x00007ffff4e96104 in Gdk::Pixbuf::get_option(Glib::ustring const&) const () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgdkmm-2.4.so.1
#1  0x000000000041cd61 in get_fdo_thumbnail_mtime (pixbuf=...) at Thumbview.cc:51
#2  0x0000000000421dd6 in Thumbview::load_cache_images (this=0x717b40) at Thumbview.cc:490
#3  0x000000000041583e in sigc::bound_mem_functor0<void, Thumbview>::operator() (this=0x9aafa8) at /usr/include/sigc++-2.0/sigc++/functors/mem_fun.h:1787
#4  0x00000000004154ea in sigc::adaptor_functor<sigc::bound_mem_functor0<void, Thumbview> >::operator() (this=0x9aafa0) at /usr/include/sigc++-2.0/sigc++/adaptors/adaptor_trait.h:256
#5  0x0000000000414ebe in sigc::internal::slot_call0<sigc::bound_mem_functor0<void, Thumbview>, void>::call_it (rep=0x9aaf70) at /usr/include/sigc++-2.0/sigc++/functors/slot.h:103
#6  0x00007ffff466b36d in ?? () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglibmm-2.4.so.1
#7  0x00007ffff7b3d935 in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0
#8  0x00007ffff30780a4 in start_thread (arg=0x7fffe7fff700) at pthread_create.c:309
#9  0x00007ffff2dad04d in clone () at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/x86_64/clone.S:111

If it is something I have caused I'm not going to spend much time on it, unless I find something else is broken 8o

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-12-21 23:20:33

damo wrote:

the backtrace output was largely meaningless to me!

Me too

Hopefully Unia or nobody or another programmer can glean something from the output.

I'm sure the package maintainer will know what it means, try using reportbug:
https://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting

pingu · 2015-12-21 23:46:34

This will sound weird, but have you tried changing to one of those default ugly themes, like adwita?
I've had gimp crashing a while back because it didn't like a gtk theme I was using...

damo · 2015-12-22 00:01:24

pingu wrote:

This will sound weird, but have you tried changing to one of those default ugly themes, like adwita?
I've had gimp crashing a while back because it didn't like a gtk theme I was using...

Yes I tried Adwaita, and several others as well

If no-one else finds a problem, then it must be something I have done, so a bug-report wouldn't help 8o

tknomanzr · 2015-12-22 04:12:39

It looks to me like nitrogen is having trouble with cached files somewhere. As to where it stores that stuff, I don't really know. I am pretty certain that it caches stuff, however, because if you set wallpapers from a remote host via sshfs and reboot without the remote host mounted, Nitrogen is still able to restore the wallpaper. Finding where it is cacheing images and/or thumbnails and cleaning it out might help.

johnraff · 2015-12-22 04:49:31

FWIW 'nitrogen' runs without error on this i386 VM install.

damo · 2015-12-22 11:40:47

Also FWIW it runs fine on my laptop install, and in a VM, so it is probably something I've caused.

pingu · 2015-12-22 15:04:20

uhm... So I've just found this about GdkPixbuf overflows https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201512-05
I don't know if whatever version present in debian is affected, but if it's easily upgradable (without causing much dependency conflicts and possible brakage) maybe you should try upgrading it and see if nitrogen still crashes with the same message.

edit:
and if it also fails, maybe strace will show more stuff.

Last edited by pingu (2015-12-22 15:11:33)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-12-22 15:11:32

pingu wrote:

uhm... So I've just found this about GdkPixbuf overflows https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201512-05

It's OK, Debian is on it:
https://security-tracker.debian.org/tra … -2015-4491
https://security-tracker.debian.org/tra … -2015-7673
https://security-tracker.debian.org/tra … -2015-7674

Marked as "fixed" in jessie (security)

EDIT: Update your systems everyone!

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2015-12-22 15:12:39)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-12-22 15:14:40

pingu wrote:

and if it also fails, maybe strace will show more stuff.

Yes, I should have suggested that first :8

damo · 2015-12-22 15:16:59

I purged ALL nitrogen from my system, removed `~/.config/nitrogen`, and reinstalled. Now it runs again, with no error messages

Maybe it was a cache/pixbuf issue? Anyway, it is [SOLVED] somehow

#1 2015-12-21 22:35:59

nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

#2 2015-12-21 22:39:03

Re: nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

#3 2015-12-21 23:16:40

Re: nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

#4 2015-12-21 23:20:33

Re: nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

#5 2015-12-21 23:46:34

Re: nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

#6 2015-12-22 00:01:24

Re: nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

#7 2015-12-22 04:12:39

Re: nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

#8 2015-12-22 04:49:31

Re: nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

#9 2015-12-22 11:40:47

Re: nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

#10 2015-12-22 15:04:20

Re: nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

#11 2015-12-22 15:11:32

Re: nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

#12 2015-12-22 15:14:40

Re: nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

#13 2015-12-22 15:16:59

Re: nitrogen segfault [SOLVED]

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