File viewers crash when trying to read property data for PDFs

[N. Svoboda]

This is in regards to the current Kubuntu "Gibbon" system. Feisty does NOT do this, as far as I have experimented. This MAY be related to bug #120256.

Both Konqueror and Dolphin filesystem viewers will crash consistently when trying to read file property information from PDFs. This happens when hovering the mouse over the file to get the properties or right-clicking and selecting 'properties.' Opening the file will actaully work just fine (click fast or open from a terminal). This can be worked around in Konqueror by either turning off file tips or by de-selecting the "File" protocol under "Preview & Metadata". The factor that causes a crash is a blank declaration of the "/CreationDate" property in a PDF file. For instance, the below object in a PDF will crash Konqueror:

1 0 obj
<<
/Creator (HP Digital Sending Device)
/CreationDate ()
/Author ()
/Producer (HP Digital Sending Device)
/Title ()
/Subject()
>>
endobj
(This is a format created from several HP MFP printers)

This is easy to test. Just open a normal PDF file in a binary editor, look for the creation date property, and set it to blank as above. After this, try to hover the mouse over the file in one of the file system viewers or try to open the properties Window.

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

Is this still an issue in a newer Kubuntu? (It would be great if you could test in Intrepid.)

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!

[N. Svoboda (nsvoboda)]

   I thought I had entered a response to this, sorry. The bug has
apparently been fixed. Every Kubuntu install for some time exhibited
this error. One of the updates in the last several months seems to have
fixed it. A blank 'Creation Date' no longer crashes any file viewer.

-Nikkos Svoboda
LSU Department of Mathematics

Jonathan Thomas wrote:
> We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need
> to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments.
> Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't
> hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report
> you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change
> the Status back to "New". Thanks again!
>
> ** Changed in: kdebase (Ubuntu)
> Status: Incomplete => Invalid
>
>

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

Thanks. :)