MGSE media player extension seems to break Shell after a period of time in use

[karashata]

I've been using the MGSE media player extension for a while now and I've noticed that since I've been using it, I've been running into issues where the GNOME Shell stops working correctly. After an indeterminate amount of time (it seems to vary) with Banshee running while using the extension, I've noticed that the window switcher dialog (Alt+Tab) will not leave the screen after it appears, the Shell overlay will no longer appear, I cannot switch windows or launch new programs, and basically the only thing I can feasibly do is force kill the session and log into a new one. I'm fairly certain its the media player extension that's causing this to happen, since this problem occurs on both Linux Mint 12 and Linux Mint Debian Edition with this extension installed and enabled, and disabling the extension causes the problem to cease.

Some further info that may or may not be useful:
- Both my Mint 12 and LMDE installations are similarly configured, running on the same physical hardware.
- Both OSes have the following list of extensions enabled (aside from the media player extension, which I've disabled until further notice; all extensions are MGSE packages except the weather indicator extension):
    - noa11y
    - User Themes
    - Alt Tab
    - Weather indicator
    - Shutdown Menu

I can provide more info if people need it and let me know what it is they need.

[karashata (karashata)]

Since I'm apparently not the only one to encounter this issue, I think I can safely add some possible steps to reproduce it:

Step 1: Make sure the media player extension is enabled.
Step 2: Start up a media player that the extension supports (eg. Banshee) and start playing music.
Step 3: Go about your business as usual.
Step 4: Eventually the Shell should pretty much break completely (while not dropping the session entirely), ceasing to clear the Alt-Tab window/application switcher box, ceasing to open the overlay, ceasing to switch window focus correctly, ceasing to launch new applications, etc.

[Victor Bjelkholm Lövgren (victorbjelkholm)]

I have the exact same problem but it still occurs after I disable the media player extension.

[Patrik B. (inoki-deactivatedaccount)]

I'm using Quod Libet and this also affects me. It happened to me either when hovering over the left corner, or simply clicking the Menu or launching an app or sometimes even when doing nothing.

[CaptainMark (imark-skinner)]

I can confirm this freeze is happening for me and it is certainly caused by the mgse media player extension, i was getting the freeze after a maximum of 20 minutes activity, i disabled the media player extension and had no crashes for 2 days of regular activity, and to confirm I re-enabled the extension and suffered 2 further crashes within half an hour

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

Did anyone notice this issue using another media player than Banshee ?

[Dzmitry Kharevich (kharevichdi)]

>>Did anyone notice this issue using another media player than Banshee ?
Yes, I use Rhythmbox and have the same problem.

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

I'm able to reproduce this bug (exclusively with Banhsee so far). That's a first step...

[Gill (gill-town)]

I had the freeze with both Banshee and Rhythmbox

[karashata (karashata)]

I'm not sure how useful this tidbit might be, but it's something I just thought of...

This extension uses the MPRIS DBus Interface to control various media players which support control through it, correct? If someone could track down a list of media player applications that have MPRIS support, we could test them all out to see if they all exhibit the same problem after running for a period of time. I'm not sure whether or not it would really help fix the problem but it should at least provide more information about it...

[francesco filippone (francesco-filippone)]

same problem here. The deactivation of media player extension solved the problem (till now.....)

[karashata (karashata)]

Is this the extension Linux Mint is using..? https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/55/media-player-indicator/

If so, it might be worthwhile to inform the extension's creator of the issues many of us have been having with the extension... Perhaps he (or she) might have some useful insight into the problem, being the extension's creator and all...

[karashata (karashata)]

Then again... that actually appears to be the extension that's available from the WebUpd8 repos, though some of the screenshots seem to also resemble the Linux Mint provided extension...

Is it possible they're the same extension, and the Mint provided one is older (which could perhaps explain why it's buggy while the WebUpd8 extension is not... the bug might have been fixed in the newer version...)

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

Here is a list of players supported by the extension :
clementine, mpd, banshee, rhythmbox, rhythmbox3, pragha, quodlibet, guayadeque, amarok, googlemusicframe, xbmc

The mint extension and the one from the WebUpd8 repos are indeed based on the same original extension.
Are you sure the bug does not happen with the one from WebUpd8 ?

[karashata (karashata)]

I'm positive. I've been using the WebUpd8 extension since it was first mentioned on one of the threads related to this bug, and not once have I seen the issues the MGSE extension causes.

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

OK thanks for the confirmation. I'll look a little deeper into the differences between the 2 extensions in order to see what can be causing this.

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

Can anybody confirm whether the attached patch fixes this issue ?

To apply the patch :

sudo patch /<email address hidden>/extension.js mgse-mediaplayer.diff

[karashata (karashata)]

Testing it now on Lisa, will also apply on LMDE and test there when I get a chance. Everything seems good so far but I only just started using the patched extension and the problem doesn't usually manifest itself for some time.

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

I'll be waiting for your feedback.
Thanks a lot btw for your very useful comments on this.

[karashata (karashata)]

Glad to be of assistance. After all, I'm fairly certain I was the first one to have encountered this bug, and I dug up the other instances and got the word out about it. I feel it's my duty to see this through.

By the way: It's been almost half an hour since I started using the patched extension on Lisa, and no issues so far. I'm not sure if there's a specific trigger to it or not but I used to encounter the issue just going about my daily activities, so I've been just doing that. I'll keep testing here on Lisa for another half hour and let you know how that goes, then I'll swap over to LMDE and test there for a while.

I'm feeling pretty optimistic about this patch.

[karashata (karashata)]

...Aaaand just like that, the issue manifests itself once more. I'm sorry to inform you that the patch did not fix the issue.

[karashata (karashata)]

An interesting thing to note, the Shell seems to be the only thing that acts up, everything else continued to respond as normal, at least until I triggered the Shell overlay (which failed to actually appear on screen, but somehow still reacted to keyboard input...), after which I couldn't do anything and had to force-kill the session with Ctrl+Alt+Backspace.

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

I think I may have identified the issue, but haven't found a solution yet.
Can you confirm that the extension from the WebUpd8 repo does not show the seek position ? I think that may be the reason but for some reason I'm unable to load the extension from WebUpd8 to confirm.

[karashata (karashata)]

The WebUpd8 extension does not show the seek position. It only displays the album art, track title, track artist, and album name, similar to the information displayed on Banshee's pop-up notification, plus the media player controls.

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

OK So that's probably it.
I'll try to provide a new patch tomorrow. I hope to be able to keep the seek position though.

[karashata (karashata)]

For what it's worth, I'm running the patched extension on LMDE currently without issues (yet). It hasn't quite been as long as I had been on Lisa before the problem manifested itself there, so it's possible I may yet encounter problems. Either way, I'll keep you posted.

Also to note, when I patched the extension on Lisa I didn't log out or reboot, I just restarted the Shell with the 'r' command from the Run dialog. I don't know if maybe the Shell didn't reload the patched version or not, so I may have to do further testing later after a full reboot. I applied the patch to LMDE before I even booted into it so that may or may not have an impact.

[karashata (karashata)]

After testing on LMDE I can confirm without a doubt that your patch did not fix the issue. The fresh boot and log on did not make a difference, suggesting that the Shell restart I did on Lisa after applying the patch was sufficient to reload the patched extension.

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

Here's an additional patch (meaning both the previous one and this one have to be applied).
Let me know if it fixes it this time.

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

Btw, yes restarting the shell is enough to reload extensions.

[karashata (karashata)]

I've applied the new patch and I'm testing it now, I'll probably have to let you know tomorrow how it goes, unless I see issues arise sooner rather than later.

[karashata (karashata)]

Well, I'm testing the newest patch now on LMDE and so far there haven't been any Shell breaks, but Banshee occasionally seems to have a problem beginning playback of the next track once the previous track finishes, skipping back then forward gets it playing properly again. Not sure if this is related to the patched extension or if it's something else, but this issue wasn't present before applying the patch... Will have to do further testing on LMDE as well as over on Lisa before I can confirm anything. I'll keep you posted.

[karashata (karashata)]

After a few hours or so testing on LMDE, no Shell breaks to report, though that issue with tracks occasionally not playing (requiring a skip back/skip forward or a stop/play to trigger them to actually play again) persisted throughout the testing period. I've switched to Lisa to test here for a while, so far everything seems fine though I have only just started the testing period. If those same issues should arise on Lisa, it may be related to the latest patch, if they do not it's probably some other quirk on my LMDE setup. Either way, I'll let you know how this goes.

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

OK, great. Thanks again for your help on this.
I'll be waiting for you rfeedback on how it goes on Lisa.

[karashata (karashata)]

I think you might just have fixed the problem, I haven't run into any Shell breaks during the last couple hours running the patched extension on Lisa, and the issues I was seeing on LMDE (tracks occasionally not playing) haven't emerged on Lisa so I suspect it's some other quirk on LMDE causing them.

Glad to be of assistance!

[karashata (karashata)]

Something I'm just noticing now, and I'm not sure whether this is related to your patches or if it's something the extension already used to do, but when I pause audio playback, the time elapsed (seek position, or whatever you wish to refer to it as...) changes to a different value that almost seems to be a timer for how long the extension's been active, or something like that... Stopping then restarting playback apparently resets it... Any idea what that actually is, and whether or not it's done on purpose or if it's an unintentional effect of one of your patches..?

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

Hmm, not sure. I don't seem to have that behavior here.
Does it happen with any media player ?

[karashata (karashata)]

It happens with Banshee, and if you give me a little while I can install Rhythmbox and Clementine and see if it happens with either of those as well. I'll get back to you in a little while.

[karashata (karashata)]

I can confirm that the same thing happens with Rhythmbox and Clementine. It would seem that pausing playback switches the time elapsed to a total playback time, which resets if playback is restarted by stopping and restarting or by skipping tracks. It's somewhat unexpected, but I don't think it's too serious an issue. I honestly don't recall the extension doing it before the patches, but then again I never really did pay that close attention to it until recently.

It would definitely seem the issues I'm experiencing with tracks occasionally not playing properly and requiring playback to be restarted is related to something else on my LMDE installation, since Lisa did not show the same issues. Clementine also does not seem to be experiencing this problem, while Banshee (my normal media player) and Rhythmbox both do. I will have to run some tests with Banshee and Rhythmbox with the extension disabled to confirm for certain whether or not the extension may be causing the issues.

In any case, the specific bug this report was about seems to have been fixed. I'll keep you posted if anything else unusual related to this extension should arise.

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

It may actually be better to open a new bug report for the issues you're facing now.
I'll mark this bug as Fix commited. The patch should be released very soon.

[karashata (karashata)]

Understood. I have confirmed the issue is not related to the extension as it still occurs with the extension disabled.

[Géraud KAMENI (geraudk2000)]

 please how to apply the patch ??

[Pitermann, Michel (michel-pitermann)]

See posts #16 and #27.

[bernardoct (bernardoct)]

I bet this is not much of a question, but I'm not being able to apply the
second patch with the same command I used for the first one. How do I apply
the second patch?
Bernardo

2011/12/21 Pitermann, Michel <email address hidden>

> See posts #16 and #27.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to a
> duplicate bug report (898762).
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/892316
>
> Title:
> MGSE media player extension seems to break Shell after a period of
> time in use
>
> Status in The Linux Mint Distribution:
> Fix Committed
>
> Bug description:
> I've been using the MGSE media player extension for a while now and
> I've noticed that since I've been using it, I've been running into
> issues where the GNOME Shell stops working correctly. After an
> indeterminate amount of time (it seems to vary) with Banshee running
> while using the extension, I've noticed that the window switcher
> dialog (Alt+Tab) will not leave the screen after it appears, the Shell
> overlay will no longer appear, I cannot switch windows or launch new
> programs, and basically the only thing I can feasibly do is force kill
> the session and log into a new one. I'm fairly certain its the media
> player extension that's causing this to happen, since this problem
> occurs on both Linux Mint 12 and Linux Mint Debian Edition with this
> extension installed and enabled, and disabling the extension causes
> the problem to cease.
>
> Some further info that may or may not be useful:
> - Both my Mint 12 and LMDE installations are similarly configured,
> running on the same physical hardware.
> - Both OSes have the following list of extensions enabled (aside from the
> media player extension, which I've disabled until further notice; all
> extensions are MGSE packages except the weather indicator extension):
> - noa11y
> - User Themes
> - Alt Tab
> - Weather indicator
> - Shutdown Menu
>
> I can provide more info if people need it and let me know what it is
> they need.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/892316/+subscriptions
>

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

@berdnardoct : the second should be applied the same way as the first. What happens when you try ?

[bernardoct (bernardoct)]

I tried again to apply the patch to post here what happened and then I
realized that I didn't overwrote the previous patch file in my computer, so
when I downloaded the new one it worked. It was trying to reapply the same
patch. Sorry, I don't really understand how those things work.
Bernardo

2011/12/21 Gwendal LE BIHAN <email address hidden>

> @berdnardoct : the second should be applied the same way as the first.
> What happens when you try ?
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to a
> duplicate bug report (898762).
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/892316
>
> Title:
> MGSE media player extension seems to break Shell after a period of
> time in use
>
> Status in The Linux Mint Distribution:
> Fix Committed
>
> Bug description:
> I've been using the MGSE media player extension for a while now and
> I've noticed that since I've been using it, I've been running into
> issues where the GNOME Shell stops working correctly. After an
> indeterminate amount of time (it seems to vary) with Banshee running
> while using the extension, I've noticed that the window switcher
> dialog (Alt+Tab) will not leave the screen after it appears, the Shell
> overlay will no longer appear, I cannot switch windows or launch new
> programs, and basically the only thing I can feasibly do is force kill
> the session and log into a new one. I'm fairly certain its the media
> player extension that's causing this to happen, since this problem
> occurs on both Linux Mint 12 and Linux Mint Debian Edition with this
> extension installed and enabled, and disabling the extension causes
> the problem to cease.
>
> Some further info that may or may not be useful:
> - Both my Mint 12 and LMDE installations are similarly configured,
> running on the same physical hardware.
> - Both OSes have the following list of extensions enabled (aside from the
> media player extension, which I've disabled until further notice; all
> extensions are MGSE packages except the weather indicator extension):
> - noa11y
> - User Themes
> - Alt Tab
> - Weather indicator
> - Shutdown Menu
>
> I can provide more info if people need it and let me know what it is
> they need.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/892316/+subscriptions
>

[Pitermann, Michel (michel-pitermann)]

I do not know whether I should open a new bug report or whether my problem is related to this bug. When I connect a Western Digital external hard disk to my computer, I can unmount it if the MGSE media player extension is off OR Banshee is not running. If I unmount the hard disk when Banshee is running WITH the media player extension, the computer freezes and I have to hold the power button during 4 seconds to switch the computer off.

The 300-GB external hard disk is formatted in one NTFS partition after an unmovable Western Digital one invisible to fdisk (end of fdisk -l):

     Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 2048 623769599 311883776 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

I do not have any problems with non-NTFS partitions on other USB devices (FAT32, ext3, ext4 or several partitions of those types). I am running Linux Mint 12 (uname -a):

  Linux lilas 3.0.0-12-generic #20-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 7 14:56:25 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

on a 8-thread Dell M4500 (part of cat /proc/cpuinfo):

processor : 7
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 30
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 840 @ 1.87GHz

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

@michel-pitermann : your issue is definitely not the one mentioned in this bug, so you should probably submit a new report

[Pitermann, Michel (michel-pitermann)]

Did it (Bug #908364). Thanks for your 2 patches. I installed them and it also solved on my configuration the bug reported here. Best regards.

[Diomas (dmitriy-skopa)]

I got my Mint 12 default desktop frezes (no mouse or keyboard works) right after login. Nvidia driver and all updates are installed. No additional software was installed yet. Gnome Classic works fine. Is it the same problem - MGSE media player extension?

[Toby Murray (toby-murray)]

Diomas: no, this is a different problem. As the description says, this happens after the media player extension has been running for a while and the keyboard and mouse still work. Gnome-shell just doesn't perform the correct actions in response to input.

[ilkal (whatever-90k)]

Haven't tried the patches yet, but are you certain that it is caused by the MGSE media player extension? I'm still having the same problem when I disable it.

[karashata (karashata)]

The problem I reported and several others have also encountered was indeed caused by the MGSE media player control/indicator extension, and the patches submitted here fixed this specific problem. If you're still experiencing similar symptoms to those described here, and disabling the extension does not cause those symptoms to disappear, it's likely that your symptoms, though similar, are caused by something different from this issue.

Just to note, if you're experiencing similar symptoms to these but they happen even when no audio is being played from a media player supported by the MGSE extension, it's definitely not related to this issue, as this issue only happens while audio is being played by a supported music player and the extension is actively running (the extension is idle while there are no supported music players running and does not seem to cause problems while it is idle).

[ilkal (whatever-90k)]

@ karashata : Well, it did only happen when banshee was actively running. It happened once after I turned the media player extension off, but it hasn't happened since and it's been over three hours (during which banshee has been running). Thanks anyway, I'm looking forward to this being fixed, I actually found the extension pretty useful.

[karashata (karashata)]

Something else to note: Just disabling the extension isn't usually enough to stop the problem, either restarting GNOME Shell via the 'r' command from the run dialog (Alt+F2), or logging out and logging back in again will force the extension to be unloaded properly and it should no longer cause problems.

If you download both patches and apply them both (make sure you apply the first submitted patch first, then the second one...) you should no longer experience any problems with the extension.

I'm somewhat surprised the extension hasn't yet been updated with the patches applied, it's been a while now since we determined that they fixed the problem...

[ilkal (whatever-90k)]

That explains a lot, thanks again.

I was surprised too when I saw the date of the last comment, yet Ι switched from ubuntu two days ago, installed all available updates and the problem was still there.

[CB32 (christian32)]

Applying the two patches seems to work for me, running with Banshee+MGSE Mediaplayer for about two hours now, before the shell froze every 20 minutes or so...

[Diego (diegomestizo)]

I've applied the two patches, and still freezes... after 30 minutes playing Banshee

[Diego (diegomestizo)]

Sorry... after restarting Shell, the patches work (it seems)

Thanks for the job!

[thebestofall007 (lou1)]

will this be an update that applies the patches, or will we still have to manually apply the 2 patches?

[Jo' (johan-malta)]

Am I the only one to get error messages ?

patching file /<email address hidden>/extension.js
Hunk #1 FAILED at 639.
Hunk #2 FAILED at 655.
2 out of 2 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file /<email address hidden>/extension.js.rej

and

patching file /<email address hidden>/extension.js
Hunk #1 FAILED at 430.
Hunk #2 FAILED at 452.
Hunk #3 FAILED at 460.
Hunk #4 FAILED at 580.
4 out of 4 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file /<email address hidden>/extension.js.rej

[Søren Jacobsen (sej)]

I had this issue with Banshee (Linux Mint 12, 64 bit). The patches seem to do the trick. Thanks!

[powermacj7 (cjmannino)]

How do you apply these patches ?

[Diego (diegomestizo)]

To apply the patches:

sudo patch /<email address hidden>/extension.js mgse-mediaplayer.diff

But, care you are using the file "mgse-mediaplayer.diff" in the context you have saved it. I mean, if you have the file in "home", you should write:

sudo patch /<email address hidden>/extension.js /home/mgse-mediaplayer.diff

[R_volkmann (r-volkmann)]

funny, no one seemed to notice that this "/<email address hidden>/extension.js" is changed to "/<email adress hidden>/extension.js" for unregistered Readers :-) That's maybe why so many people ask how to path it.

I had to create an Launchpad-Account and login to see how it should be:

sudo patch /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/mediaplayer[ät]linuxmint.com/extension.js mgse-mediaplayer.diff
(change [ät] to @)

I hope I could help.
Now I'm trying. Also have/had that annoying issue. (Mint12_64).

[IllegalCharacter (rob-s-brit)]

I guess these patches haven't been committed yet, I still have this bug! Fortunately after applying both of them it works.

[Bill Duetschler (bikergeek)]

Applied both patches and restarted the WM, seems to WFM so far. Thanks!

[Franco Ramirez (caboramer)]

Hello, I think I may have accidentally erased the 2nd patch by accident. sorry would you be able to re-upload it?
Noob sorry again.

[Geert Wirken (geertw)]

This is the patch accidentally removed by Franco Ramirez, it still resided in my download directory.

[Gwendal LE BIHAN (gwendal-lebihan-dev)]

I don't have the patch file here anymore, and I'm not running MGSE anymore, so I won't be able to re-write or re-upload it.
Maybe someone else has kept the file after downloading it ?

[Kleckas (kleckas-g)]

Thank you for patches.