Huge number of 'Disk Utility' notification windows

[zasran]

Binary package hint: notify-osd

I have a disk that is about to fail (Disk Utility says so) in the computer and there are two warning windows opened every 20-30 min or so.

So if I leave computer unattended there is a HUGE number of the windows opened...

This used to work fine before Natty because instead of many new windows there was only one icon in the notification area. The icon is gone now but the warning windows keep popping up.

I also tried to find a way to stop the Disk Utility warnings (no luck yet) but one way or another there shouldn't be unlimited number of warning windows open for repeated warnings.

The reason I am reporting this a notify-osd bug is because the warning windows belong to /usr/lib/notify-osd/notify-osd (as indicated by xprop _NET_WM_PID):

steffl@hangplace:~$ xprop _NET_WM_PID
_NET_WM_PID(CARDINAL) = 1998
steffl@hangplace:~$ ps ax|grep 1998
 1998 ? Sl 0:00 /usr/lib/notify-osd/notify-osd
10808 pts/0 S+ 0:00 grep --color=auto 1998
steffl@hangplace:~$ xprop _NET_WM_PID
_NET_WM_PID(CARDINAL) = 1998
steffl@hangplace:~$ ubuntu-bug 1998

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: notify-osd 0.9.30-0ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Wed May 4 14:38:20 2011
ExecutablePath: /usr/lib/notify-osd/notify-osd
GtkTheme: New Wave
IconTheme: Humanity-Dark
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
MachineType: Hewlett-Packard HP Compaq dc5700 Microtower
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=fad4d800-d67c-4eb1-9590-8b58b476ba39 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
 libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu6
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7.1
 xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4
SourcePackage: notify-osd
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-29 (4 days ago)
WindowManager: metacity
XsessionErrors: (Do:1983): Wnck-CRITICAL **: wnck_set_client_type got called multiple times.
dmi.bios.date: 04/13/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.bios.version: 786E2 v02.04
dmi.board.name: 0A60h
dmi.board.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 187556
dmi.chassis.type: 6
dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvr786E2v02.04:bd04/13/2007:svnHewlett-Packard:pnHPCompaqdc5700Microtower:pvr:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn0A60h:rvr:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct6:cvr:
dmi.product.name: HP Compaq dc5700 Microtower
dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

zasran, did you get a screenshot of the notification window? It's not clear whether you're referring to notification bubbles or alert boxes.

Also, if you're still having the problem, attaching ~/.cache/notify-osd.log would be helpful, to tell whether the cause of the bug is Notify OSD or Disk Utility. (You may want to scrub any private stuff from that file first.)

[zasran (erik-zasran)]

It's an alert box, tons of them, two windows open every 20 min. Attaching the screenshot of the alert box.

[zasran (erik-zasran)]

~/.cache/notify-osd.log has nothing bit pidgin notifications, quoting end of the file here (during that time lots of alert boxes showed). The contact names replaced by string '<removed>'.

----------------- cut here -----------------
[2011-05-25T20:14:04-00:00, Pidgin ] <removed>
is online

[2011-05-25T20:15:34-00:00, Pidgin ] <removed>
is online

[2011-05-25T20:18:43-00:00, Pidgin ] <removed>
is online

[2011-05-25T20:21:51-00:00, Pidgin ] <removed>
is online

[2011-05-25T20:24:49-00:00, Pidgin ] <removed>
is online

[2011-05-26T10:04:46-00:00, Pidgin ] <removed>
cool

[2011-05-26T10:05:14-00:00, Pidgin ] <removed>
is online

[2011-05-26T10:05:32-00:00, Pidgin ] <removed>
is online

[2011-05-26T10:10:23-00:00, Pidgin ] <removed>
is online

[2011-05-26T10:11:02-00:00, Pidgin ] <removed>
is online

[2011-05-26T10:12:30-00:00, Pidgin ] <removed>
is online

----------------- cut here -----------------

[zasran (erik-zasran)]

Dropbox mystery:

The disk alert box has three buttons - Examine, Cancel, OK. If I click OK button two Nautilus windows open with the location of my latest addition to Dropbox (i.e. directory that contains latest added file). I don't even know how that could be related. BTW Dropbox directory is not on the failing disk.

Ubuntu classic:

In the meantime I switched to Ubuntu classic (because of https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/763422) and the behavior is the same, there's no icon in notification area, just new alert boxes appearing every 20 min or so. Before Natty there used to be an icon in the top panel.

Note that the alert box belongs to /usr/lib/notify-osd/notify-osd (xprop shows that, see Bug Description), if not for that I would think it's problem with Disk Utility (well, it's still might be Disk Utility incorrectly using notify-osd).

[Vish (vish)]

Its not a notify-osd bug.
Try turning off the "Disk Notifications" from Startup Applications.

[zasran (erik-zasran)]

Turning off the notifications - is that supposed to be a solution or workaround? Cause I want the notification, just not infinite number of alert boxes.

The alert boxes are the notifications, they belong to /usr/lib/notify-osd/notify-osd. So how is this not a notify-isd bug? I mean even if not used correctly the notifications (in the form of alert boxes) should not kill X server (which is what happens if it runs unattended for few days). A service that is so central to the usage of system (lot of programs use notifications) should be rock solid. Not kill X server at slightest misuse (more DOS attack than literally kill).

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gnome-disk-utility (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[zasran (erik-zasran)]

No fix planned?

[Roshan George (roshan-george)]

I'm changing this to "Confirmed" because I can reproduce it easily.

1. Get a disk with SMART reporting imminent failure

2. Start Ubuntu and login

3. You get a huge number of alert boxes complaining about this.

Expected Behaviour:

We get one alert box warning us of this on each boot similar to the battery warning (when you are told that your battery is known to fail and needs to be replaced).

[Robert Roth (evfool)]

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 #795313, 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.