/usr/lib/evolution/evolution-addressbook-factory regularly takes 100% CPU and 100% RAM for a while, making all the system unresponsive

[Xavier Bestel]

/usr/lib/evolution/evolution-addressbook-factory regularly takes 100% CPU and 100% RAM for a while, making all the system unresponsive; the GUI doesn't respond (gnome-shell's clock is stopped, the mouse pointer is stopped) and it lasts for a few minutes, then goes back to normal.
If I wait long enough, the addressbook crashes (not enough memory ?).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.10
Package: evolution-data-server 3.30.1-1build1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.18.0-13.14-generic 4.18.17
Uname: Linux 4.18.0-13-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.10-0ubuntu13.1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Sat Jan 19 09:59:18 2019
ExecutablePath: /usr/lib/evolution/evolution-data-server/evolution-alarm-notify
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-01-09 (740 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-GNOME 16.10 "Yakkety Yak" - Release amd64 (20161012.1)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: evolution-data-server
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to cosmic on 2018-10-19 (92 days ago)

[Xavier Bestel (xavier-bestel)]

FWIW my system has 8GB RAM.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug report, could report the problem upstream as well on https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution-data-server/issues ? they probably have a better idea how to debug it

[Xavier Bestel (xavier-bestel)]

Done: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution-data-server/issues/78

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thanks!

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Upstream requested some informations

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Could you provide the debug informations?

[Xavier Bestel (xavier-bestel)]

Sure. How do I do that ?

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Did you read the upstream comment on https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution-data-server/issues/78 ? what do you need help with/is not clear in their instructions?

[Xavier Bestel (xavier-bestel)]

Oh I wasn't notified about Milan's answer.
Sure I'll reinstall the addressbook (I've deleted it for now) and get a
backtrace - in my copious spare time.

Cheers,

 Xav

[Xavier Bestel (xavier-bestel)]

The bug was apparently a dupe of https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution-ews/issues/18 and should be fixed in "3.30.2+".
However if I understood correctly if I already have a crashing addressbook, even with the bugfix it will keep on crashing unless I manually delete the cache file buried somewhere in $HOME/.cache/evolution/ - which is not very user-friendly ...

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Deleting seems only required if the migration fail. We are going to update ews, maybe you can keep your system is the buggy state and test if that update resolves the problem for you?

[Xavier Bestel (xavier-bestel)]

Will do.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

The new version has been uploaded as a SRU but it's going to take a bit before it's review/accepted, meanwhile you get get the deb from that ppa for testing if you want, https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-desktop/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Would you be able to test if the update from https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution-ews/3.30.5-0ubuntu0.18.10.1 resolves your issue?

[Xavier Bestel (xavier-bestel)]

I'm sorry I have been unable to install the package. evolution-ews depends on some other unavailable packages, and I didn't find them in https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-desktop/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

[Xavier Bestel (xavier-bestel)]

Packages depend on 0.30.5 but 3.30.1-1build1 is installed.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

The debs are not in the ppa but in an official SRU
 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution-ews/3.30.5-0ubuntu0.18.10.1
Closing as it's supposed to be fixed in the Disco version at least (and probably in the SRU mentioned before)