gnome-shell crashed with SIGABRT: mutter:ERROR:../src/core/window.c:4841:set_workspace_state: assertion failed: (workspace == NULL)

Bug #1849249 reported by Rocko
50
This bug affects 5 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
GNOME Shell
Fix Released
Unknown
gnome-shell (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

https://errors.ubuntu.com/problem/8317377ffa8b8148baa481d490fd876111eb3c4b

gnome-shell crashes with this bug every time that:

* I am editing a file in geany
* I open the Find window (CTRL-F) and it opens on another monitor
* I type in some un-findable text in the find window and press ENTER (or click the Next button)

The system beeps to indicate that the text isn't found, but then crashes.

Note especially that the find window must be on the other monitor - if it's on the same monitor as geany, gnome-shell doesn't crash.

(Note: I originally thought that if I moved the find window to the other window and then searched, gnome-shell crashed, but I think what happens is a) I open the window, b) I move it, search for something, and it works, c) I close it and re-open it - it then opens on the other monitor and searching will crash gnome-shell.)

gnome-shell restarts, but the crash causes data loss, as most of the running applications don't reappear when it restarts.

In case it's relevant, I have a laptop screen set at 2048x1152 and an external monitor configured to be above it at 2560x1440.

ProblemType: Crash
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 19.10
Package: gnome-shell 3.34.1-1ubuntu1
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-050400rc4-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Tue Oct 22 10:37:36 2019
DisplayManager: gdm3
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/gnome-shell
ExecutableTimestamp: 1570619894
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-07-01 (112 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Alpha amd64 (20190606)
ProcCmdline: /usr/bin/gnome-shell
ProcCwd: /home/rocko
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
 LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
RelatedPackageVersions: mutter-common 3.34.1-1ubuntu1
Signal: 6
SourcePackage: gnome-shell
StacktraceTop:
 () at /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0
 g_assertion_message_expr () at /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0
 () at /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmutter-5.so.0
 () at /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmutter-5.so.0
 () at /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmutter-5.so.0
Title: gnome-shell crashed with SIGABRT
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: sudo
separator:

Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Apport retracing service (apport) wrote :

StacktraceTop:
 __GI_raise (sig=sig@entry=6) at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/raise.c:50
 __GI_abort () at abort.c:79
 g_assertion_message.cold () from /tmp/apport_sandbox_6jnufst3/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0.6200.1
 g_assertion_message_expr () from /tmp/apport_sandbox_6jnufst3/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0.6200.1
 set_workspace_state (window=0x558dbf4d7210, on_all_workspaces=1, workspace=0x558dbc9b6b00) at ../src/core/window.c:4841

Revision history for this message
Apport retracing service (apport) wrote : Stacktrace.txt
Revision history for this message
Apport retracing service (apport) wrote : StacktraceSource.txt
Revision history for this message
Apport retracing service (apport) wrote : ThreadStacktrace.txt
Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
tags: removed: need-amd64-retrace
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :
summary: - gnome-shell crashed with SIGABRT
+ gnome-shell crashed with SIGABRT:
+ mutter:ERROR:../src/core/window.c:4841:set_workspace_state: assertion
+ failed: (workspace == NULL)
information type: Private → Public
Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
description: updated
Rocko (rockorequin)
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

Can I provide any other information to help speed this along? This is a pretty severe problem - it's annoying because gnome-shell freezes for a long time before restarting, and then it's extremely annoying because you lose any data in applications that don't survive the restart.

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

I can't find any other reports of this crash other than the above link for automatic crash reports. And even then we've only observed the crash 11 times globally, ever. 8 times in eoan and 3 times in bionic.

Sounds like there's something unusual about this machine so please start by uninstalling (don't just disable) these extensions:

'cpufreq@konkor'
'<email address hidden>'
'<email address hidden>'
'<email address hidden>'

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Maybe the usual thing is indeed your workspace/monitor layout.

Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

I removed all those extensions (and mate-optimus as well), so ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/ is completely empty, but the bug is still there.

Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

I also removed solaar, which had an indicator (but I think it's showing through app-indicators), with no luck.

I also tried changing the screen configuration to laptop on the left, monitor on the right, and the bug is still present.

Revision history for this message
John Agosta (jagosta) wrote :

Regarding comment #10 that this may be this user's specific issue. I have opened bug #1850833 that is classified as a duplicate of this bug. I have also provided in that bug a cleaner path to reproduce.

Revision history for this message
John Agosta (jagosta) wrote :

Additional thought on my scenario ... I was also working in a duel monitor mode when gnome crashed. In my case Thunderbird was on my primary monitor, and the thunderbird dialog came up on my secondary monitor. Interacting with this dialog is when gnome crashes.

Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

@jagosta: does it only crash if the dialogs are on different monitors? That's what I find.

FWIW, I tried the live USB, but ootb Ubuntu 19.10 doesn't recognise the HDMI monitor, so I can't do dual displays, and I also tried a VirtualBox guest, but even after installing Ubuntu 19.10 and guest drivers, Ubuntu 19.10 doesn't correctly recognise the second monitor, so I can't do dual displays.

Revision history for this message
John Agosta (jagosta) wrote :

I have confirmed that it will not crash if I have a single monitor.

In duel monitor mode, i can also reconfirm that after updating (strangely) Chrome browser that the window manager will crash, but will restart -- prior to the update it would crash and not restart.

Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

I just discovered that on my laptop this bug only applies to X11 sessions, not to Wayland sessions.

Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

I updated the description to note that the text being searched for is not found in the document (which is the case of course for an empty document).

description: updated
Revision history for this message
Jay Cornwall (jcornwall) wrote :

I also see this assertion with a slightly different line number:

[ 4892.053454] desktop gnome-shell[4423]: mutter:ERROR:../src/core/window.c:4849:set_workspace_state: assertion failed: (workspace == NULL)

I installed Pro Motion NG from cosmigo.com through Wine (Ubuntu repository). The crash occurs when opening the "Load Project" file requester.

I have three monitors. The application does not crash if the window is moved to the leftmost or rightmost monitor. It crashes on the center monitor only. This is irrespective of the primary monitor setting, and also of monitor numbering (I changed the physical connections). The resolutions are 1920x1200 (left), 1920x1200 (center), 1920x1080 (right), on an AMD RX 580.

A workaround for this application is to enable Wine's virtual desktop.

Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

This is still 100% reproducible with with an up-to-date Ubuntu 20.04.

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :
tags: added: focal
description: updated
description: updated
Changed in gnome-shell:
status: Unknown → New
Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

Still happens every time in gnome-shell 3.36.0-2ubuntu1 / geany 1.36-1build1.

Changed in gnome-shell:
status: New → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

This is fixed for me in gnome-shell 3.36.0-2ubuntu2, thanks!

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Weird. I can't find an exactly matching upstream bug. And the closest fix I can find was mutter!1029 which was released in 3.35.90 already. Regardless, the original reporter says it is fixed AND the ubuntu error tracker says the crash hasn't occurred since version 3.34.1.

If you experience any similar crashes in the near future then those might be bug 1864326 (fixed in 3.36.1 coming soon).

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

Oh, I spoke too soon. I tested it yesterday and it passed, but today it failed. I had geany on the primary monitor this time.

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Fix Released → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

I would like to verify *which* crash that is. Can you please attach a log:

  journalctl -b0 > journal.txt

and/or identify a crash report link?

Look at https://errors.ubuntu.com/user/ID where ID is the content of file /var/lib/whoopsie/whoopsie-id on the machine. Do you find any links to recent problems on that page? If so then please send the links to us.

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

Do you mean a link to the original crash? This one has the same date as the bug report: https://errors.ubuntu.com/oops/4bb4a564-f475-11e9-b5e5-fa163e102db1

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Thanks. The log in comment #27 doesn't seem to provide clarification other than it *doesn't* look like this bug at all, or any crash for that matter. And the link in comment #28 is not retraceable :(

So I think we were right to call this bug closed in comment #24. But also you seem to be experiencing some other bug so please continue reporting new bugs for new crashes you experience.

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

Do you mean I should recreate this exact same bug and then report it as another one?

Revision history for this message
Rocko (rockorequin) wrote :

Ok, I've reported it as bug #1871554.

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Thanks. That's bug 1864326 as I suspected in comment #24.

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