Gnome-panel hangs and allocates all possible ram.

[Elizabeth Greene]

Binary package hint: gnome-panel

After a short but random interval, gnome-panel hangs on my system, and starts allocating ram to itself until the system runs out of memory.

The notification area applets seem to be ok, i.e. xeyes still follows the cursor, but the applications, places, and system menu all are non-responsive.

This is on 7.10 upgraded from 7.04 from 6.10

[Elizabeth Greene (nerdygirl-ellie)]

ellie@ellie-laptop:~$ ps -auxwww | grep gnome-panel
Warning: bad ps syntax, perhaps a bogus '-'? See http://procps.sf.net/faq.html
ellie 30217 54.7 17.0 376876 354540 ? R 12:33 3:13 gnome-panel --sm-client-id 117f000101000119280165100000059780001 --screen 0
ellie 30753 0.0 0.0 2976 756 pts/0 R+ 12:39 0:00 grep gnome-panel
ellie@ellie-laptop:~$ gdp -p 30217
bash: gdp: command not found
ellie@ellie-laptop:~$ gdb -p 30217
GNU gdb 6.6-debian
Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and you are
welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain conditions.
Type "show copying" to see the conditions.
There is absolutely no warranty for GDB. Type "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "i486-linux-gnu".
Attaching to process 30217
Reading symbols from /usr/bin/gnome-panel...Reading symbols from /usr/lib/debug/usr/bin/gnome-panel...done.
Using host libthread_db library "/lib/tls/i686/cmov/libthread_db.so.1".
done.
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libgnome-desktop-2.so.2...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libgnome-desktop-2.so.2
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libgnomeui-2.so.0...Reading symbols from /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/libgnomeui-2.so.0.2000.0...done.
done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libgnomeui-2.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libbonoboui-2.so.0...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libbonoboui-2.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libgnomecanvas-2.so.0...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libgnomecanvas-2.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libgnome-2.so.0...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libgnome-2.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libbonobo-2.so.0...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libbonobo-2.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libbonobo-activation.so.4...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libbonobo-activation.so.4
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libart_lgpl_2.so.2...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libart_lgpl_2.so.2
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libgnomevfs-2.so.0...Reading symbols from /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/libgnomevfs-2.so.0.2000.0...done.
done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libgnomevfs-2.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libglade-2.0.so.0...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libglade-2.0.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0...Reading symbols from /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0.1200.0...done.
done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0...Reading symbols from /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0.1200.0...done.
done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libatk-1.0.so.0...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libatk-1.0.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libpango-1.0.so.0...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libpango-1.0.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libgconf-2.so.4...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libgconf-2.so.4
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libORBit-2.so.0...done.
Loaded ...

[Andrew Perry (ajperry)]

I also see this behavior in Gutsy (amd64), previously upgraded from Feisty. After a few hours, gnome-panel memory usage continues to grow until the system starts swapping. After killing / restarting gnome-panel the notification area losses it's icons and most (but not all) parts of the panels are non-responsive, as described in this Bug and Bug # 144502 and Bug # 148432 .

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thanks for your bug report. Please try to obtain a backtrace http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingProgramCrash and attach the file to the bug report. This will greatly help us in tracking down your problem.

[Elizabeth Greene (nerdygirl-ellie)]

HI Sebastian.. was there something wrong with the backtrace I submitted? If so, please let me know.

Thanks,
Ellie

[Elizabeth Greene (nerdygirl-ellie)]

Andrew,

Do you use dual monitors?

-ellie

[Andrew Perry (ajperry)]

Elizabeth,

No, this system is running on a single 1680x1050 LCD, with no other video devices or screens defined in the Xorg.conf (and desktop effects turned off).

[Elizabeth Greene (nerdygirl-ellie)]

For what it's worth, I've been up and stable since yesterday afternoon by turning the clock applet off. (Right-Click remove from panel)

-ellie

[Andrew Perry (ajperry)]

I tried removing the Deskbar applet and Workrave ... those didn't help. I'm running with the clock applet removed now too, I'll report how it goes. I've noticed that the memory-blowout & hang only seems to happen when I'm actually using the machine ... ie if I leave it logged in all day while I'm not using the desktop, I come back and gnome-panel is still responsive with sensible memory usage. I think its something I'm doing while actively using the UI which seems to trigger this bug.

[Andrew Perry (ajperry)]

Just a note to say I'm still seeing this bug with the clock applet removed.

[Elizabeth Greene (nerdygirl-ellie)]

Me too. I've re-added the clock and disabled evolution-alarm-notify to see if it might be the cause. Do you use evolution for your email?

-ellie

[Andrew Perry (ajperry)]

I do use evolution (although not exclusively), and evolution-alarm-notify is running in my standard gnome session.

[Elizabeth Greene (nerdygirl-ellie)]

I have everything turned back on except evolution-alarm-notify and it seems to be working. Do you want to try disabling e-a-n and see if that's it?

-ellie

[Andrew Perry (ajperry)]

Okay, I've turned evolution-alarm-notify off, will report how it goes !

[Elizabeth Greene (nerdygirl-ellie)]

Hi. Is this still an issue for you? Something seems to have cleared it up... and I'm running evolution-alarm-notify just fine now. I have the proposed repository turned on and switched my gtk theme from crux to human.

Good Luck,
Ellie

[Andrew Perry (ajperry)]

evolution-alarm-notify kept sneaking it's way back on, so I hadn't had a chance for a proper test over a couple of days. I uninstalled evolution (and evolution-alarm-notify) just to ensure it was off, and I haven't seen the bug since. I'll give it a few more days, then reinstall evolution and see how I go.

Thanks for the tip, looks like it's worked !

[Andrew Perry (ajperry)]

I still haven't isolated what's causing this bug, but it tends to occur much more frequently when there are more windows in the standard Window List applet (eg > 7 or 8). Things can be stable for 24+ hours with less than ~ 7 windows listed ... once there are ~7 or more windows the (possible) memory leak in gnome-panel manifests itself within a few hours.

I've tried using versions recompiled from the Ubuntu source packages gnome-panel_2.20.1, gnome-panel-data_2.20.1 and gnome-applets_2.20.0 but this didn't help.

[Kansei (clauretano)]

This sounds like exactly the trouble I'm having, but on my 8.04 test machine, not my 7.10 machines.

gnome-panel locks up, only notification area icons work (except for the exit/quit button, it doesn't respond). I have to ctrl+alt+backspace, at which point the panel doesn't come back. Next time it crashes I'll see if alt+f2 works, but from what I recall it doesn't. I can always just leave a terminal window open on the desktop so I can kill the process that way.

After restarting x, when I sign in of course gnome-panel doesn't come back.

Some system variables:
- ATI 9800 Pro running open source ATI drivers and compiz fusion
- single 1600x1200 display
- gnome-panel 1:2.21.5-0ubuntu1

[Andrew Perry (ajperry)]

These are slightly different symptoms (but similar) to what I see. When the panel locks up, window switching with alt-Tab works fine, and when gnome-panel is killed in a terminal (eg $ killall gnome-panel ) it mostly restarts okay (although sometimes it hangs again immediately, sometimes not). Switching to a virtual console with alt-F1, alt-F2 etc works fine (but can be slow if the machine is thrashing due to lack of RAM).

After restarting X gnome-panel starts fine, as normal (but still hangs eventually).

If it's the same problem as Elizibeth and I have experienced, the memory allocated to gnome-panel will grow until your machine starts swapping with lots of hard disk thrashing ... do you see this ?

[Mr_C (coolinsky)]

I've got the same problem. The 8th running window causes that gnome-panel (2.20.1 on U7.10) doesn't respond. I've never been using evolution-alarm-notify.
This bug occurs only when panel with standard Window List applet is placed on the left or right vertical edge of the screen.
Left panel is long for whole height of the screen. More than 70% of it is only a free space for Window List. Unfortunately buttons corresponding to open windows behave as there is only about 30% of space. Only seven buttons can fit. After opening the 8th window, next button doesn't appear, gnome-panel doesn't work and memory leak is fast (about 1,5MB per second).
After being killed gnome-panel starts again working or leaking (of course it depends how many (<= or >7) windows are open).

http://mrc.yebood.com/img/screen.png

[Andrew Perry (ajperry)]

Yes, I can confirm this behavior exactly. The bug only occurs when there are >8 windows in the window list and it is positioned on a left of right vertical panel. Thanks for spotting this Mr_C .... the workaround is to put the window list applet on a bottom or top panel.

I thought it was an U7.10 x64 specific bug, however I've now reinstalled with U7.10 i386, and gnome-panel also hangs when the Window list has >8 and is in a left or right panel.

[doobydave (dooby-dave)]

Does this need any more info or confirmation?

It happens to me too. I notice the icons are smaller than they were in Feisty.

It is as though the button sizing function thinks there is only half the height in the (vertical) panel than there actually is. Each time a new window is opened, the icons shrink yet more until the 8th is opened at which point gnome-panel starts eating cpu usage and ram. (xorg cpu usage also up a bit too).

Nvidia driver and desktop effects enabled.

[Andrew Perry (ajperry)]

It's certainly confirmed ... I've linked to the upstream bug(s) on the GNOME Bugzilla. Hopefully the GNOME devs responsible will ask for any extra info they need there ?

(The stack traces here don't seem very informative to me ... I may get a chance to run gnome-panel under Valgrind [ https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Valgrind ] later today).

For reference, it's this bug [ http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=511994 ], and this one [ http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=487080 ] which looks to be the same problem, but has been incorrectly marked as a duplicate of an unrelated bug. There are probably a few other reports I've missed.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the issue is similar to bug #187540?

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

closing as duplicate, feel free to reopen if you disagree though