[soundnua]: gnome-control-center crashed with SIGSEGV in gvc_mixer_control_lookup_device_from_stream()

[DancemasterGlenn]

This only happens when I have my audio interface (my sound card) plugged in through usb. I get sound when it is plugged in, I simply cannot access the sound menu anymore. Began happening all of a sudden a week or two ago, only just diagnosed the problem after I tried a fresh install from quantal to the nightly builds of raring. Any help would be very, very much appreciated. Thank you!

ProblemType: Crash
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: gnome-control-center 1:3.6.3-0ubuntu13
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-6.13-generic 3.8.0-rc7
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-6-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.8-0ubuntu4
Architecture: i386
CrashCounter: 1
Date: Thu Feb 21 09:08:45 2013
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/gnome-control-center
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-02-18 (3 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Alpha i386 (20130217)
MarkForUpload: True
ProcCmdline: gnome-control-center sound-nua
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SegvAnalysis:
 Segfault happened at: 0xb6ba2a1a: call 0xb6c585e3
 PC (0xb6ba2a1a) ok
 source "0xb6c585e3" (0xb6c585e3) ok
 destination "(%esp)" (0xbf66afb0) not located in a known VMA region (needed writable region)!
SegvReason: writing unknown VMA
Signal: 11
SourcePackage: gnome-control-center
StacktraceTop:
 ?? () from /usr/lib/control-center-1/panels/libsoundnua.so
 ?? () from /usr/lib/control-center-1/panels/libsoundnua.so
 ?? () from /usr/lib/control-center-1/panels/libsoundnua.so
 ?? () from /usr/lib/control-center-1/panels/libsoundnua.so
 g_cclosure_marshal_VOID__VOIDv () from /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libgobject-2.0.so.0
Title: [soundnua]: gnome-control-center crashed with SIGSEGV in g_cclosure_marshal_VOID__VOIDv()
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo
usr_lib_gnome-control-center:
 activity-log-manager-control-center 0.9.4-0ubuntu6.1
 deja-dup 25.5-0ubuntu1
 gnome-control-center-signon 0.1.2bzr12.12.05-0ubuntu1
 gnome-control-center-unity 1.2daily13.02.15-0ubuntu1
 indicator-datetime 12.10.3daily13.02.06-0ubuntu1

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

Audio interface is an M-audio Fast Track, now (I guess) known as an Avid Recording Studio. If it is relevant!

[Apport retracing service (apport)]

StacktraceTop:
 gvc_mixer_control_lookup_device_from_stream (control=control@entry=0xb977fb10, stream=stream@entry=0xb97aa0e0) at gvc-mixer-control.c:272
 gvc_mixer_control_set_default_source (control=control@entry=0xb977fb10, stream=stream@entry=0xb97aa0e0) at gvc-mixer-control.c:356
 gvc_mixer_control_change_input (control=0xb977fb10, input=0xb9ab96a0) at gvc-mixer-control.c:681
 on_input_selection_changed (selection=0xb971f000, dialog=0xb9a6e030) at gvc-mixer-dialog.c:1505
 g_cclosure_marshal_VOID__VOIDv (closure=closure@entry=0xb99b75a8, return_value=return_value@entry=0x0, instance=instance@entry=0xb971f000, args=args@entry=0xbf66bc3c "\034\252K\267", marshal_data=marshal_data@entry=0x0, n_params=n_params@entry=0, param_types=param_types@entry=0x0) at /build/buildd/glib2.0-2.35.7/./gobject/gmarshal.c:115

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

I should mention that I'm not exactly sure when this began to crop up... I actually noticed indirectly while running a different DE on top of ubuntu (cinnamon), and found that it was crashing my sound settings there. It turns out that whatever the issue is, it affects both cinnamon sound settings and ubuntu (vanilla) sound settings when the fast track is plugged in. Judging from when the crashes began, I made my estimate of it beginning about two weeks ago... could be more or less, though, as I didn't make a note of it (and I don't always need to access my settings).

And to reiterate, this is reported under Raring, but did initially show itself while I was running Quantal. I'm under the impression some package update broke the compatibility with my interface, but that's very much speculation on my part. I can provide any extra info if it's needed... I hope I can help figure out what's going on with this.

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

Got a notification that this has been made public today... not sure if that means I'll be getting any assistance, but for what it's worth I'm definitely still experiencing this error. Haven't been able to access the sound menu for months. :( I hope someone will see the info I provided and help me squash this one, even if I am the only person on linux who seems to be using this audio interface,

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Davic, is that something you would be interested looking at resolving? It doesn't seem to be a frequent issue but it has a responsive reporter...

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

I'd really appreciate it! I'd sort of given up hope that I'd see my sound menu on this system again. :( Because it used to work fine there's a chance we could look at the related packages from the weeks around/before my first post and see if any relevant changes stand out... I'd like to do whatever I can to help.

The interface has multiple inputs, if that has any relevance? It can take a quarter inch instrument cable as well as an XLR mic cable. Possibly not related, but it does set it apart from some other cards/interfaces.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

We seem to get stuck in an infinite loop of:

gvc_mixer_control_set_default_source at gvc-mixer-control.c:357
active_input_update at gvc-mixer-dialog.c:746
on_input_selection_changed at gvc-mixer-dialog.c:1505
gvc_mixer_control_change_input at gvc-mixer-control.c:681
gvc_mixer_control_set_default_source at gvc-mixer-control.c:357
...and repeat until stack overflow.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Here's a patch that I think will fix it, but it's completely untested.

Can you apply patches and recompile yourself, or do you want me to set up a ppa for you? And if so, what distro version should the ppa target?

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

If you wouldn't mind letting me know how to apply patches, I think I should be able to do it. I'll be applying it to gvc-mixer-control, or...?

I'd also certainly use a ppa, really whichever approach takes up less time for you. I'm headed out the door to go to work, but I'll be back this afternoon and will get right on testing this. I really appreciate the help!

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Do you still running 13.04? If you don't know about packaging it would be easier to just have somebody uploaded to a ppa for you? (the patch basically needs to be copied in debian/patches and added to the serie, then the changelog needs to be updated (used the dch command))

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

I am still using 13.04 currently, yes. I certainly wouldn't mind a ppa, but I'm able to use the command line and all if I were given the proper steps to take. The above steps don't look too daunting, but I think I would need a bit more direction if I'm to go the non-ppa route. Would a ppa be much trouble?

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

I will try to be by my computer today if a ppa is able to be made. You guys may be off for the weekend... I tried googling about applying patches but I'm not sure I found the right information for this specific case.

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

Having done some research on applying patches, and not being exactly sure where to get the source to apply this patch to (and not being totally sure what program I'd be getting the source for, precisely), I think that it would be really super if one of you are able to provide me with a 13.04 ppa for testing. I hope that that's still an option, and I hope you won't be too bummed that I wasn't able to make proper use of the patch myself. :( I would really like to test this fix, so if anyone gets a chance I would appreciate further assistance. Thanks again for commenting in the first place, I appreciate it.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Ok, now pushed to https://launchpad.net/~diwic/+archive/temp - once it has finished building, please test it and let me know how it goes.
Thanks!

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

David, thank you!! I have added the ppa, and while it's not showing up yet in my updates, I figure it should be ready to go when I get out of work today. I will speed home and test this baby out!

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

David, the patch has altered the nature of the crash, but I am still not able to get into sound settings. Previously the window would open, hang, and then crash, prompting me to file a report (which is what I did when this started happening). Now trying to open the page opens and immediately closes in a seg fault. It's probably for the best that we were getting the old behavior, as this crash doesn't provide as much bug report info off the bat...

running "gnome-control-center sound" simply prints out "Segmentation fault (core dumped)". How can I get you more information? Something about a backtrace, right? Can you walk me through this?

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Sorry for not getting back to you - I'm currently quite busy with some other urgent issues that might take a few days - feel free to ping me next week if I have not responded before then. Thanks for your patience.

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

No worries, I've waited almost a year and have no qualms with waiting a bit longer. :)

I did my best to get a backtrace for you? I think I ran it okay. I've posted my attempts in a pastebin file, here:

http://pastebin.com/tWe7zH6z

The backtrace just kept going and going, so I manually quit out a bit after the 500th line. Let me know when you can if I did it right, and if there's anything useful in there. Thank you David, good luck with the other stuff you're working on as well.

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

David, just pinging you as you asked. :) Hope your other work is going well.

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

Perhaps bad form, but sending another message to make sure I'm not completely forgotten. Hope we can figure out this issue soon. Hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving, if they celebrate!

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

Adding the output of "pactl list", in case anyone wants to take a look at it. Happy holidays!

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

I had a quick look at the pactl list output and noticed the following things:

1) You seem to be running the cinnamon desktop. This usually shouldn't matter; but in this case actually it can. So I'm wondering if this is also reproducible from a clean Live-CD of, well, saucy/trusty at this point, and Ubuntu with unity desktop?

2) Only the Maudio card is present; is your onboard card disabled? If so, is it related to you actually plugging it in while the sound settings dialog is open?

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

1) Yes, I have the same issue when running a clean install of ubuntu. It was the first thing I tried when I installed quantal a year ago, in the hopes that it was a cinnamon and/or raring issue. No dice. If it would help at all information-wise I could run pactl through the unity desktop? I have an image of Saucy I can boot from to try it if you think it'll tell you more.

2) I don't specifically remember disabling my onboard audio card, but perhaps I did? Anyway, I always have my Maudio card plugged in when I boot up. Possible old news: If I boot up with it unplugged I can get into the menu, but obviously that doesn't do me much good.

What can I try next?

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

Sorry, got my words mixed up: I tried a fresh install of Raring a year ago, in the hopes that this was a cinnamon and/or Quantal issue. When it made no difference I reinstalled cinnamon and continued on.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

So, I installed the stuff from my own ppa, in the hope that it would also crash and so I could track the problem down. Unfortunately, it didn't, it ran as good as always.

In addition, the pactl list command does not show anything really out of the ordinary. I was expecting it to show a multi-source profile or something else exotic.

So this leaves me confused as well about what the problem could be. For you to create a backtrace for my version of gnome-control-center, you would have to install debug symbols, and unfortunately, ppa builds don't build debug symbols by default... :-(

So I'm not sure what the next step is here :-/

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

Well... bah. I guess we have a couple of options?

- you could walk me through installing debug symbols, whenever you have the time. I'm sure it wouldn't be easy, but I'm game if you are.
- if there is some sort of changelog for gnome-control-center, we could still look back through it to the time around when I filed my bug initially... the sound menu definitely used to work with this card, so something roughly a year ago must have broken compatibility for me. I just never really knew where to look, or if it was specifically gnome-control-center I should be looking into.
- as a last-ditch option, i might be able to send you my interface... it would suck to be without it, but if you thought having it would help diagnose the problem and you cared enough to take a look, maybe it would be a good option? Not sure where you live, so I don't know about shipping costs... I'm in eastern massachusetts at the moment.

Anyway. Any of those things sound like a good plan?

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

 > Anyway. Any of those things sound like a good plan?

Answered in private

[DancemasterGlenn (himynameiszachandiamapirate)]

Well, I'm embarrassed to say that updating to 13.10 just now fixed my sound menu issue completely. I'm not sure why it persisted through my last upgrade (to 13.04) and not this one, as both were clean installs. The only thing I can think of is that last time I kept my Fast Track plugged in during my ubuntu install, and this time I kept it unplugged and plugged it in after I had installed and restarted. Perhaps the card was autodetected in a strange way, or the OS install installed a driver for it in a strange manner?

My only other explanation is that some package was changed in 13.10 and not backported to 13.04... but that seems odd.

Anyway, I guess the matter is closed! Thank you David for your help on trying to figure out my issue, and I apologize for wasting your time. I appreciate what you did for me!