input not possible in chat after amsn idle for some time

[Chris Jeffries]

Binary package hint: amsn

Since installing Lucid Lynx (previously on Hardy Heron) I have noticed that sometimes, when I open a chat window, I cannot type in it. No error messages or beeps etc, just, typing any character yields no response.

Stopping and restarting aMSN cures the problem for a while. It is not necessary to reboot.

The length of time before it happens is variable, so it is probably some other user action that upsets things (in ibus perhaps), but i have not yet identified it.

Any suggestion for tests that might pin it down gratefully received.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: amsn 0.98.3-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic i686
Architecture: i386
CheckboxSubmission: 7653b627515bdbdcf473e633c9aa1dad
CheckboxSystem: 2b6b6ee4c6a1f5f02fef2009466026d8
Date: Mon May 24 17:23:08 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100427.1)
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: amsn

[Gianfranco Costamagna (costamagnagianfranco)]

Strange... Could you try with
ctrl+d and ctrl+s when you use amsn to see if amsn provides relevant logs?

[Chris Jeffries (chris-candm)]

Attempted ctrl=d and ctrl-s. Unless the reports are sielntly hidden
somewhere that I do not know, these keys had no effect.

On Mon, 2010-05-24 at 11:19 +0000, LocutusOfBorg wrote:
> Strange... Could you try with
> ctrl+d and ctrl+s when you use amsn to see if amsn provides relevant logs?
>

[Chris Jeffries (chris-candm)]

On Fri, 2010-05-28 at 15:21 +0000, Chris Jeffries wrote:
> Attempted ctrl=d and ctrl-s. Unless the reports are sielntly hidden
> somewhere that I do not know, these keys had no effect.
>
> On Mon, 2010-05-24 at 11:19 +0000, LocutusOfBorg wrote:
> > Strange... Could you try with
> > ctrl+d and ctrl+s when you use amsn to see if amsn provides relevant logs?
> >
>
More information on this bug (which seems to be happening more and more
frequently)

I have tried turning iBus off, to no effect.

I can click on an aMSN emoticon and will insert the appropriate
characters in the input area. I can also place the text cursor between
those characters by clicking there with the mouse.

However any attempt to do anything from the keyboard yields no response
at all.

[Gianfranco Costamagna (costamagnagianfranco)]

Kakaroto could you please look at this issue?

[kakaroto (kakaroto)]

As far as I know, this is caused because you're using a buggy input method. SCIM if I remember correctly.. Try replacing it with UIM and it should work correctly.

[Chris Jeffries (chris-candm)]

I was using SCIM before (on Ubuntu 8.04) and never had a problem with
the program input locking up - although, I think it never actually
interacted with SCIM, since I could never input Chinese, an I could
never cut and paste chinese messages from other people into other
applications that used SCIM OK. When I needed that, I used Pidgin -
which worked fine for text in English or Chinese.

On 10.04, SCIM was replaced with iBus as the default. Suddenly, and
thankfully, I found I could type Chinese into MSN. I am pretty sure the
bug has manifested even when Chinese input has NOT been used in a
session.

On occasions when the bug has manifested, I have tried to clear it by
turning off iBus - to no effect, input is still not possible.

I am trying to keep a diary to assist in finding this bug - but I am a
bit of a forgetful soul and I am not certain what I have to date is 100%
reliable.

(Ctrl-S and Ctrl-D are also ignored - if the are mouse routes to the
same diagnostic tools, it may be possible to get the diags)

Chris.

Chris

Looking at installing UIM, but it looks not to be too simple on 10.04
from (limited) research so far.

On Fri, 2010-06-04 at 18:34 +0000, kakaroto wrote:
> As far as I know, this is caused because you're using a buggy input
> method. SCIM if I remember correctly.. Try replacing it with UIM and it
> should work correctly.
>

[kakaroto (kakaroto)]

Thanks for a nice report.
The issue is explained here http://www.amsn-project.net/forums/index.php/topic,414.0.html
Basically, even if you don`t use the program for inptuing chinese, as long as it`s running, it will cause that issue. This was reported with SCIM and XIM too iirc. Also, I think iBus is based on SCIM so it acts the same.
Anyways, it should work correctly with UIM. I don`t know how to use it or anything though.
Either way, this bug is not related to aMSN, it should either be sent to Tcl/Tk developpers or to SCIM developers.

[Chris Jeffries (chris-candm)]

Since aMSN is the only TCL application I have installed (as far as I can
tell by doing a name and description search in synaptic), I cannot shed
further light on whether or not it is a TCL problem. I have not yet
found other reports of aMSN locking up in this way. Even the suggested
thread, which is pretty comprehensive
(http://www.amsn-project.net/forums/index.php/topic,414.0.html) does not
refer to this locking-up problem.

On Sat, 2010-06-05 at 23:35 +0000, kakaroto wrote:
> Thanks for a nice report.
> The issue is explained here http://www.amsn-project.net/forums/index.php/topic,414.0.html
> Basically, even if you don`t use the program for inptuing chinese, as long as it`s running, it will cause that issue. This was reported with SCIM and XIM too iirc. Also, I think iBus is based on SCIM so it acts the same.
> Anyways, it should work correctly with UIM. I don`t know how to use it or anything though.
> Either way, this bug is not related to aMSN, it should either be sent to Tcl/Tk developpers or to SCIM developers.
>

[kakaroto (kakaroto)]

Humm, you can probably find other apps depending on tk8.5, but since it's a random bug that appears at a random time after using the application, it's not really easy to reproduce in order to know where it comes from...
You could even probably just type 'wish' in a terminal and type 'pack [text .t]' to get a text widget in the main application and see if you can reproduce it.
Either way, I thought this locking up would be discussed in that thread I sent you, maybe I'm wrong and it's discussed in other threads of the forum.. but I'm still pretty sure that this is a SCIM issue.. considering that I guessed that from the start without any input from your part....
I think there's a way to disable the input manager, I think something like 'export X_MODIFIERS=""' or something like that.. I'm not sure, since like I said, I never used any input manager... that would probably show that the locking issue disappears if SCIM is disabled for aMSN. Maybe search aMSN forums for SCIM and you might find an answer...

[Gianfranco Costamagna (costamagnagianfranco)]

@Chris Lucid lynx is not the latest ubuntu version...

Could you try the Maverick release with the new 0.98.4 amsn and tell us if the problem persists?

thanks

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for amsn (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]