GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 9293
ReadPNG problem -> causes crash on index and other first pages.
Last modified: 2004-12-22 21:47:04 UTC
Package: gnome-core Severity: normal Version: 1.1.8.1 >Synopsis: Helpsystem crashes after I started it. >Class: sw-bug Distribution: Red Hat Linux release 6.2 (Zoot) System: Linux 2.2.14-7 i586 unknown C library: glibc-2.1.3-16 C compiler: egcs-2.91.66 glib: 1.2.6 GTK+: 1.2.6 ORBit: ORBit 0.5.1 gnome-libs: gnome-libs 1.0.58 gnome-core: gnome-core-1.1.8.1-1 >Description: Whenever I start the help-system from the systemmenu, it crashes. >How-To-Repeat: Just start the help-system Debugging information: 0x405b2e69 in __wait4 () from /lib/libc.so.6
+ Trace 857
------- Bug moved to this database by debbugs-export@bugzilla.gnome.org 2001-01-27 15:00 ------- This bug was previously known as bug 9293 at http://bugs.gnome.org/ http://bugs.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9293 Originally filed under the gnome-core product and general component. Unknown version 1.1.x in product gnome-core. Setting version to the default, "unspecified". The original reporter (vjulien@studenten.net) of this bug does not have an account here. Reassigning to the exporter, debbugs-export@bugzilla.gnome.org. Reassigning to the default owner of the component, gnome-core-maint@bugzilla.gnome.org.
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Has this been fixed in a later release?
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Since the help browser is being retired for GNOME 2, I'm batch-closing a bunch of its bugs as "WONTFIX".
WONTFIX for help-browser bugs? I thought we were meant to support the current platforms. ????? These are bugs on thousands of linux desktops out there now. Surely they are of interest to us.
I'm not sure I understand what you're asking us to do. The fix for the bugs on thousands of platforms to which you refer is the new help browser, Yelp, in GNOME 2. There's not going to be another gnome-help-browser release.
No that isn't right. There will be at least one other gnome-help-browser release because there is a gnome 1.4.1 release coming up with new releases of gnome-libs 1.4.x and gnome-core 1.4.x I'm sure if a bug was discovered that made gnome-session crash all the time, we would patch and release a new gnome-core to fix it. Isn't the help browsing on CURRENTLY USED GNOME DESKTOPS important? There are bound to be many more gnome-libs/core 1.4 releases because we are still fixing bugs and still supporting this platform. The solution I proposed in bug 66913 was to update the port to the now stable gtkhtml (1.0.0 is out) and make that the default. That would be a proper way to get a gnome 1.x working help browser. Either that or change the gnomecc default url-handler for help to be nautilus.
Wayne - If you care enough to fix this, you would have my undying love and a beverage of your choice, on me, the next time we're in the same bar. I closed it because it had been a de facto "WONTFIX" for the two years this and the related family of ghb bugs have been sitting here unattended. No one has cared in all that time - gnome-help-browser has been essentially unmaintained, in large part because Nautilus is the default GNOME 1.4 help browser. GHB was only kept around as a fallback for people who didn't want to use Nautilus for this task, but since nobody cared enough about it in this role, nobody bothered to fix it. Some of the distributions have made different choices about what is the default help browser, but that's their choice, not ours. I'll reopen - could you take assignment and coordinate with the gnome-core maintainers about getting the fix(es) in?
I'm happy to help if the maintainers think that gtkhtml based gnome-help-browser is the right solution. As far as I can see, the worst ghb bugs are xmhtml bugs. Is gtkhtml the silver bullet, or am I dreaming? I will post to a mailing list for comments.
*** Bug 60138 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
ok after thinking about it I have realised gtkhtml is not the solution. It is non-trivial to for me to update the gtkhtml port. I have looked through all the duplicates in this bug, they are very similar. In common they have: - crash on the index page (I'm guessing because of the big png) - backtraces show an error in png_read_start_row or png_read_update_info I wish I could reproduce this bug, then I could try and fix it. Maybe this bug is now fixed in recent versions of gnome? I think it is worth leaving this bug open, as other people might need to see if they want to help fix bugs. I'll take ownership... I wish I could reproduce this bug!!!!
ok I have been searching the net for more help with this bug. I have been deeply into the sources of the main xmhtml distribution, as well as libpng. Because I cannot reproduce, I am guessing that this crash is caused because of two reasons: 1. For some reason png_create_read_struct returns NULL and we weren't checking for that. Somehow the info_ptr is used as NULL for a long time until the code-path reaches png_read_update_info(). Then it explodes. This is fixed in Bug 66913. (there are many reasons why png_create_read_struct might return NULL - But I don't understand any of them because the source is #ifdef spaghetti) 2. The users libpng is newer than their imlib. eg: libpng is upgraded past a binary compatible point (eg: libpng 1.0.6) and imlib is compiled against the old version. Here is a comment by someone who had this problem and fixed it themselves: http://freshmeat.net/projects/libpng/#comment-5480 You might get this problem if you upgrade a libpng package and use --nodeps (or equivalent) In both cases if the user had compiled libpng with debugging warnins we might be able to work out exactly what is happening. But who has libpng with debug warnings? Nobody compiles their own libpng. I even found an instance where KDE had this crash: http://bugs.kde.org/db/73/7332.html So assuming I am not insane, I will close this bug as FIXED now. If we can ever find someone who can reproduce this bug, I will be able to work through the above possibilities with them. (eg: help them get a debug version of libpng and see what happens).
hmmm maybe I should think before I post. Looking at the code, I don't think the (1) above is an option. The code would cause the 66913 crash if png_create_read_struct returned NULL. 66913 and 9923 are different bugs. I'm hoping (2) is still valid.. eg: the problem is caused by the users system having mismatched libpng and gnome-libs.
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