gnome-shell crashes with SIGSEGV in meta_window_actor_is_destroyed() when changing workspace after several minutes of work in one workspace

[Michael Grivas]

After some recent update, I face the following issue:
Working on a workspace for some time (cannot say how much time), with or without lots of windows open, the workspace takes 2-3 minutes to recover, shows a crash dialog and restarts gnome.

In fewer cases, after days of not rebooting, the gnome-shell dies instead of restarting, killing the session.

I normally click to submit the bug reports, which should be in:
https://errors.ubuntu.com/user/b56fc2894b10f99f5b9629befd4030528cf0fe943fd6d376f53b724791abcc83b582e15ae82346f04a637b2c7be643f2749a1bdec23b9bc4b9d8cd4c4aa1070e

There are both created the /var/lib/whoopsie/whoopsie-id and /var/crash/_usr_bin_gnome-shell.1000.crash .
The ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_usr_bin_gnome-shell.1000.crash does not work. Seems like apport-gtk is frozen.

The next updates did not fix it.

[Michael Grivas (mgrivas)]

I will try the solution proposed in https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/677918
and report here.

[Michael Grivas (mgrivas)]

It seems that this page shows older or irrelevant crashes !!
https://errors.ubuntu.com/user/b56fc2894b10f99f5b9629befd4030528cf0fe943fd6d376f53b724791abcc83b582e15ae82346f04a637b2c7be643f2749a1bdec23b9bc4b9d8cd4c4aa1070e

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 1812527, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.

[Michael Grivas (mgrivas)]

1. I agree, at the deep end it's the same issue. However, the other bug was about Andoid Emulator, which is not the case. Actually, the bug #1812527 is a case of that one.

2. I tried the solution mentioned (disable the animation with dconf-editor) and it solved the problem.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Android emulator is only a common trigger. I fully expect bug 1812527 could also happen with other apps.

[Diego (ddddiegolima)]

Michael Grivas (mgrivas), could you please elaborate on how you solved your problem? I am facing the same issue.

I tried changing the following entris with dconf:

/org/gnome/mines/use-animations
/org/gnome/desktop/interface/enable-animations
/org/gnome/shell/extensions/dash-to-dock/animation-time
/org/gnome/shell/extensions/dash-to-dock/animate-show-apps

Fiddling with the above entries did not solve the issue.

[Michael Grivas (mgrivas)]

Diego, the problem is mostly relaxed, not 100% solved. However, from few crashes per day to once every two weeks or so ... I can put up with !

The only thing I did was to disable the animation. That alleviates the problem in both Ubuntu and Fedora (same machine), to the extent that it does not much affect anymore.
I have few extensions running, like dash-to-panel, openweather, syncthing and volume mixer, without an issue. Also, I work (most times) with 1-2 external monitors and the LCD, again without issue.

The animation can be disabled in two ways:
1. From the "Tweaks" tool, tab "Appearance".
2. With gconf-editor, to the org.gnome.desktop.interface.enable-animations

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Tomas (tommyalvarez)]

Happens to me also when using Skype or Slack video calls and switching workspaces. I turned off animations and see how it goes, but it's definitely a bug. It crashes your Gnome session in worst case or freezes for a few seconds and start flickering the screen.