nspluginviewer hangs up whole X server

[Timothy Miller]

Binary package hint: konqueror

This web page causes all sorts of havoc with Konqueror:

http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/002950.html

Right-clicking on one of the embedded flash viewers hangs up the X server. First, a context menu appears, but it's inoperable. Then nspluginviewer eats 100% of the CPU. Something has grabbed the X server, because although I can alt-f1 my way to a console, all mouse input in X11 is ignored. After killing nspluginviewer, I managed to get X11 unstuck by pressing alt-tab.

Naturally, we should suspect the flash plugin as being the culprit, but the same web page works just fine in Firefox (and they're using the same exact plugin).

[Yuriy Kozlov (yuriy-kozlov)]

I can't reproduce this on Feisty or Edgy. What version of (k)ubuntu and kde were you running and can you reproduce this on edgy final?

[Timothy Miller (theosib)]

I'm using Dapper, and KDE 3.5.2.

You can't reproduce this on a cleanly-booted system. I've tried to discover exactly what sequence of steps will reliably cause this to happen, but I haven't been able to. A few hunches I have include:

- Already have been using flash, in Firefox
- Multiple flash widgets active at once
- Flash taking and not releasing an X server grab.

I'll try Edgy as soon as they make upgrades work for software RAID.

[Kieran Hogg (xerosis)]

Can you still reproduce this? What graphic card drivers were you using?

[Timothy Miller (theosib)]

It has happened a number of times since I reported the bug. Unfortunately, it's always after using the browser with other flash things for some time before it hangs up.

I'm using a Radeon 9250 with the open source drivers.

[Timothy Miller (theosib)]

BTW, I haven't upgraded yet to Edgy or Feisty. It'll be a while before I'll be prepared to do that.

[Jonathan Anderson (jonathan-anderson)]

I am now getting something similar... I don't think it was ever a problem on Dapper, Edgy or Feisty, but now when I open a Flash-y page on Gutsy, nspluginviewer goes to 100% CPU usage. Huge pain.

[Timothy Miller (theosib)]

The important aspect of my original report was that not only did it grab 100% CPU, but it appears that the plugin grabbed all keyboard/mouse input. In other cases where something eats 100% CPU, the OS scheduler allows other processes to work anyhow, so if I click on some other app's windows, that app will take focus. In this case, it appears that although the cursor moves, all input is being lost. This is classic behavior of an app that does a full X server grab and doesn't release the grab. My suggestion would be to put limits on the kinds of grabs that plugins are allowed to make. Never trust the plugin to do the right thing, especially a proprietary one from a relatively disinterested vendor.

[René Fritz (ubuntu-colorcube)]

> but now when I open a Flash-y page on Gutsy, nspluginviewer goes to 100% CPU usage

I can confirm this with gutsy. Konqueror loads a page and freeze until nspluginviewer will be killed. Then konqueror goes on and load the page. This is with the latest flash plugin - have no other pluguin installed.

[Frode M. Døving (frode)]

This is the output to ~/.xsession-errors when opening a webpage with flash in konqueror.

process:24029): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: /build/buildd/glib2.0-2.13.7/gobject/gtype.c:2 242: initialization assertion failed, use IA__g_type_init() prior to this function

(process:24029): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed

(process:24029): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_clipboard_get_for_display: assertion `GDK_IS_DISPLA Y (display)' failed
Adobe FlashPlayer: gtk_clipboard_get(GDK_SELECTION_PRIMARY); failed. Trying to call gtk_i nit(0,0);

[Romain Despland (romaindespland)]

I can also confirm this on Gutsy with all the latest updates,nspluginviewer has to be killed every time (100% usage) and it's almost impossible to use konqueror for web surfing.

[Jahshan Bhatti (jabhatti91)]

Same here, using Gutsy and nspluginviewer uses 100% CPU forcing me to kill it. Strangely enough, Konqueror does not crash and once nspluginviewer is gone continues loading the rest of the page. Here is what ~/.xsession-errors says:

(process:32276): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: /build/buildd/glib2.0-2.13.7/gobject/gtype.c:2242: initialization assertion failed, use IA__g_type_init() prior to this function

(process:32276): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed

(process:32276): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_clipboard_get_for_display: assertion `GDK_IS_DISPLAY (display)' failed
Adobe FlashPlayer: gtk_clipboard_get(GDK_SELECTION_PRIMARY); failed. Trying to call gtk_init(0,0);
setParam(pad.cpp:303) --- setParam
setParam(pad.cpp:304) --- NOT YET THREAD SAFE!
intVerToStrVer(pad.cpp:96) --- intVerToStrVer
intVerToStrVer(pad.cpp:96) --- intVerToStrVer
intVerToStrVer(pad.cpp:96) --- intVerToStrVer
intVerToStrVer(pad.cpp:96) --- intVerToStrVer
DCOP aborting call from 'konqueror-26917' to 'nspluginviewer-26917'
kio (KMimeType): WARNING: KServiceType::offers : servicetype application/x-director not found
kio (KMimeType): WARNING: KServiceType::offers : servicetype application/x-activex-handler not found

[Maor (maor-gm)]

I can confirm it also, with the same log in xsession-errors

[Rob Hughes (rob-robhughes)]

Installing libgtk2.0-0_2.10.11-0ubuntu3_i386.deb will resolve this issue. I can reproduce whether I've run firefox or not, and on a freshly booted system if I have libgtk2.0-0_2.11.6-1ubuntu3_i386.deb installed. I'm running gutsy. Never had the problem before upgrading. This is also probably a duplicate of other bugs that are open involving high CPU and nspluginviewer/Xorg.

[Jahshan Bhatti (jabhatti91)]

Is this bug related to Adobe Reader Linux Version crashing on start because that's what happened when I upgraded.

(acroread:9170): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_rc_get_style: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

Adobe seems to be a common theme here...

[Jonathan Anderson (jonathan-anderson)]

I can confirm that libgtk2.0-0_2.10.11-0ubuntu3_i386.deb (from Feisty) fixes the problem:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/cgi-bin/download.pl?arch=i386&file=pool%2Fmain%2Fg%2Fgtk%2B2.0%2Flibgtk2.0-0_2.10.11-0ubuntu3_i386.deb&md5sum=a2ddb5a26e3b5122772fde8a85b24339&arch=i386&type=main

Before installing that .deb, opening youtube in Konqueror caused 100% CPU usage. Post-install, I can use youtube (as well as *every* site that uses Flash... a lot) again.

[Jonathan Anderson (jonathan-anderson)]

As a workaround, one could place this script in a startup location (I use ~/.kde/Autostart/).

[Rob Hughes (rob-robhughes)]

Still broken in gutsy. 2.11.6-1ubuntu

[Frode M. Døving (frode)]

If you want a workaround I'd rather suggest adblocking *.swf, than killing nspluginviewer every few seconds.

[Rashad Tatum (rmtatum)]

I too can confirm that libgtk2.0-0_2.10.11-0ubuntu3_i386.deb (from Feisty) fixes the problem. The issue seems to be in libgtk.

[Anthony Mercatante (tonio)]

kdebase (4:3.5.7-1ubuntu16) gutsy; urgency=low

  * Added kubuntu_9902_nspluginviewer_hangs_cpu.diff. Fixes LP: #66573
  * Added libgtk2.0-dev build-dep according to the patch.

 -- Anthony Mercatante <email address hidden> Tue, 28 Aug 2007 12:09:02 +0200

[Jorge Suárez de Lis (ys)]

That solved the problem for me! Thanks!

[Jonathan Anderson (jonathan-anderson)]

I can also confirm the fix. Thank you!

[Jahshan Bhatti (jabhatti91)]

The fix works, I can view flash animations now! Thanks!

[vlk (palo-bielyvlk)]

great, thanks! :)

[Jonathan Riddell (jr)]

We have added a workaround to nspluginviewer. Unfortunately the actual bug in GTK remains.

[Rob Hughes (rob-robhughes)]

Again, when, or is, this going to be fixed in Gutsy? The problem is still occurring there.