Seemingly random crashes of all terminal windows

[Mark Vermette]

Typically this happens when I have 4 windows open. This seems to be a new issue for me, dating back perhaps a couple of weeks. I've used this particular 4 terminal setup for years without issues. When the issue occurs, all terminal windows vanish instantly, and I need to restart all of them. Other applications seem unaffected. Details are:

log 1005=> lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS
Release: 20.04
log 1006=> apt-cache policy gnome-terminal
gnome-terminal:
  Installed: 3.36.2-1ubuntu1~20.04
  Candidate: 3.36.2-1ubuntu1~20.04
  Version table:
 *** 3.36.2-1ubuntu1~20.04 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     3.36.1.1-1ubuntu1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages

And in /var/log/syslog I'm seeing the following - (Server ID removed from log):

Mar 15 10:16:19 gnome-terminal-server[96577]: VTE:ERROR:../src/ringview.cc:299:const vte::base::BidiRow* vte::base::RingView::get_bidirow(vte::grid::row_t) const: assertion failed (row >= m_start): (10011 >= 14401)
Mar 15 10:16:19 gnome-terminal-server[96577]: Bail out! VTE:ERROR:../src/ringview.cc:299:const vte::base::BidiRow* vte::base::RingView::get_bidirow(vte::grid::row_t) const: assertion failed (row >= m_start): (10011 >= 14401)
Mar 15 10:16:20 systemd[2497]: gnome-terminal-server.service: Main process exited, code=dumped, status=6/ABRT
Mar 15 10:16:20 systemd[2497]: gnome-terminal-server.service: Failed with result 'core-dump'.

[Egmont Koblinger (egmont-gmail)]

Most likely it's upstream bug https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/vte/-/issues/2577.

[Mark Vermette (mvermette)]

Ok, thanks for the update.

[Egmont Koblinger (egmont-gmail)]

I'm starting to wonder whether it's really https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/vte/-/issues/2577, or perhaps the change done there covers up this bug (prevents a crash) but might still result in slightly incorrect behavior (e.g. not recognizing whatever needs to be recognized as being under the mouse), since the root cause is probably not yet fixed.

I've filed https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/vte/-/issues/2637 for this very issue.

Mark, the 4 terminal setup is most likely irrelevant; however, can you please describe what you did immediately before the crash? E.g. scrolled in the window (with mouse wheel or touchpad?), or maximized/unmaximized/resized the window, or clicked, or moved the mouse, or typed, etc.?

Also, does this crash still occur to you? How often?

We can't reproduce the crash, your input might help locate the bug.

Thanks!

[Mark Vermette (mvermette)]

Hi Egmont - While this issue occurred more often back in March, I haven't experienced this problem recently. I'm now running Ubuntu 20.04.6 instead of 20.04.5 - Perhaps something in this upgrade solved the issue?

[Egmont Koblinger (egmont-gmail)]

As far as I can see, VTE did not change. However, any external circumstance might have accidentally made it occur much less frequently.

Please get back to me if it crashes again, knowing what action triggered the crash might be a big clue for us.

[Mark Vermette (mvermette)]

I will, thank you.