KPPP blank/unresponsive "Create New Account" dialog

[zippy51]

Binary package hint: kppp-kde4

1) Brand new installation of Intrepid from "ubuntu-8.10-beta-desktop-i386.iso".

2) Installed KPPP (Version 4:4.1.2-0ubuntu1) from the Gnome desktop using "System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager" with all dependencies automatically resolved.

3) Launch KPPP. Main "kppp" window is correctly displayed.

4) Click "Configure..." icon on main window. "KPPP Configuration - KPPP" dialog box is displayed.

5) Able to move through the tabs for "Accounts", "Modems", "Graph", and "Misc" without any problem.

6) However, when I click the "New" icon under "Accounts", a totally *BLANK* (except for the title bar) "Create New Account - KPPP" window appears and the entire application freezes and becomes totally unresponsive.

I have rebooted the system and repeated the process 3 or more times with the same result. I would be happy to provide additional information for debugging, but not sure what would be useful.

Toshiba Tecra A4 Laptop
Model#: PTA40U-0VQ01D

lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 04)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 04)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 04)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 04)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 04)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 04)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d4)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 04)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
05:04.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection (rev 05)
05:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller
05:06.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
05:06.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx21 Integrated FlashMedia Controller
05:06.4 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCI6411/6421/6611/6621/7411/7421/7611/7621 Secure Digital Controller

[M-chattle (m-chattle)]

Version: kdenetwork-4.0.5-3.fc9.i386.rpm (using KDE 4.0.5)
Installed from: Fedora RPMs
Compiler: RedHat rpm Fedora 9 KPPP used via Gnome desktop
OS: Linux

Please note this was reported on Bugzilla RedHat (452083), and they asked for it to be reported also here. Thank you.

Description of problem:

Open KPPP to set-up a modem connection via Gnome desktop. KPPP window opens,
but freezes on manual set-up when the new account is selected. However, if you
select the modem tab first, you can enter modem settings and then the new
account settings can be entered, but this isn't the way it normally works. Even
when settings are eventually entered into KPPP as described above, the modem
won't connect with KPPP (I think the error code 16 comes up, but will need to
check).

Entering settings and connecting to the ISP do work with System-Config-Network
via Gnome, though.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

Didn't work with the original component when F9 came out, and doesn't work with
the current update (10 June 2008): kdenetwork-4.0.5-3.fc9.i386.rpm

How reproducible:

Every time, even when a reboot is tried.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open KPPP and try to enter modem account and set-up settings.
2. KPPP freezes when the new account manual set-up is selected.
3. Managed to enter settings if the modem settings are entered first, then the
new account settings, but modem won't connect.

Actual results:

Not able to connect with KPPP even when settings are eventually able to be entered.

Expected results:

Expect to be able to enter settings, and connect to ISP.

Additional info:

System-Config-Network works and the modem connects.

Comment #1 From Steven M. Parrish on 2008-06-20 17:11 EST [reply]

Checked upstream and could not find matching bug report. Please report upstream
at http://bugs.kde.org and add upstream info to this report. We will monitor
upstream for resolution. Thanks

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

In Intrepid most of the package names dropped the -kde4 and went pack to their original names. ;-)

[frapell (frapell)]

I can confirm this problem is still present:

KPPP
Version 2.4.0
Using KDE 4.1.85 (KDE 4.2 Beta2)

This happens only if i try to open kppp from the K menu, the system asks for root password.
If i open kppp from a konsole, no password is asked and this problem is not present.

[Graham Menhennitt (graham-menhennitt)]

I can confirm this on a fresh install of Kubuntu Jaunty. Only I don't even get the blank window - it just hangs immediately after I press the "New" button. I have to kill it using "kill -9" to get it to exit. Running from the command line gives:

gfm@chief% sudo kppp
Error: "/var/tmp/kdecache-gfm" is owned by uid 1001 instead of uid 0.
Error: "/tmp/kde-gfm" is owned by uid 1001 instead of uid 0.
kppp(10441) KToolInvocation::klauncher: klauncher not running... launching kdeinit
Error: "/tmp/kde-gfm" is owned by uid 1001 instead of uid 0.
Killed
gfm@chief%

The first two "Error" lines appear immediately on starting kppp. The last two lines "kppp(10441) and "Error" appear when I press "New". Again, I have to kill using "kill -9".

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

Thank you for your bug report. This bug has been reported to the developers of the software. You can track it and make comments at: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=164725

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman-f)]

We received a similar report downstream at Kubuntu at https://launchpad.net/bugs/278408

[Delphinus (jack-delphinus)]

If you edit the K Menu, go to the KPP shortcut under Internet, then on the Advanced tab uncheck "Run as a different user" that seems to resolve the issue.

[Jeff Trull (jetrull)]

I also observe this problem, now in KDE 4.4 (via Kubuntu Lucid). Basically creating new accounts fails (hangs), although it's possible to configure the modem. After a few tries I managed to get it to work manually, but 3 times out of four it simply hung on the "create new account" step.

Incorporating kppp's functionality into the network manager would be a perfectly good solution IMO.

[Bipolar (bipolar)]

This bug is still present in Lucid beta 2. Can we please clean this up for Lucid? It makes kppp completely useless for anyone who doesn't know how to work around the issue, which is just about everyone. Does kppp really need root access for something?

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

We certainly can. But for that I need to know ... if you launch kppp from a terminal, or without kdesudo ... can you still tune routing tables on connection/disconnection and update DNS resolver records?

[Bipolar (bipolar)]

I know that /etc/resolv.conf and the default route get updated fine when running as a user. What would you like me to do to test other conditions?

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

Sounds good enough for me.

Solution:
* ensure suid bit is set properly
* make kppp chown root:dialout
* remove sudo stuff from desktop file

[Bipolar (bipolar)]

Thanks! I I'll test it out as soon as my mirror has the updated version.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package kdenetwork - 4:4.4.2-0ubuntu2

---------------
kdenetwork (4:4.4.2-0ubuntu2) lucid; urgency=low

  * Drop kubuntu_01_suid_kpp.diff, startig kppp as root causes it to freeze
  * In debian/rules chown kppp to root:dialout instead of root:dip (LP: #278408)
  * kppp should now be working properly (granted the user is member of dialout)
 -- Harald Sitter <email address hidden> Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:46:42 +0200

[Paul Dufresne (paulduf)]

I see this bug too, on freshly installed Fedora 14.

But for me, the first time I click on "new account", it hangs... so I go to a root console, type ps aux|grep ppp, and kill -9 each process I find (I think there is 4).

After that, rerunning kppp works always works for me.

I had seen it on Fedora 14 Beta, so this time I had tried to apply the trick of not using root as it seems they have done on:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=452083

That is, with:
[paul@Arcturus ~]$ groups
paul dialout
[paul@Arcturus ~]$ ls -lh /usr/bin/kppp
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 13 Nov 2 18:27 /usr/bin/kppp -> consolehelper
[paul@Arcturus ~]$ ls -lh /usr/bin/consolehelper
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 bin dialout 6.0K Sep 14 11:34 /usr/bin/consolehelper
[paul@Arcturus ~]$
 My first execution of $kppp &
System asks for root password, so it execute as root anyway...
The following messages showed up:
[paul@Arcturus ~]$ kppp &
[1] 2770
[paul@Arcturus ~]$ Connecting to deprecated signal QDBusConnectionInterface::serviceOwnerChanged(QString,QString,QString)
QMetaObject::invokeMethod: No such method KUniqueApplication::loadCommandLineOptionsForNewInstance()
kbuildsycoca4 running...
"KConfigIni: In file /tmp/kde-root/kconf_updateCT2808.tmp, line 1: " Invalid entry (missing '=')
QMetaObject::invokeMethod: No such method KUniqueApplication::loadCommandLineOptionsForNewInstance()
klauncher(2796)/kio (KLauncher): SlavePool: No communication with slave.

And the second times (after the kill -9 of kppp process):
Second run:
[paul@Arcturus ~]$ kppp &
[1] 3122
[paul@Arcturus ~]$ QMetaObject::invokeMethod: No such method KUniqueApplication::loadCommandLineOptionsForNewInstance()

At this point, the dialog window "Create New Account" is there.

[Andrew-crouthamel (andrew-crouthamel)]

Dear Bug Submitter,

This bug has been stagnant for a long time. Could you help us out and re-test if the bug is valid in the latest version? I am setting the status to NEEDSINFO pending your response, please change the Status back to REPORTED when you respond.

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!

[Andrew-crouthamel (andrew-crouthamel)]

Email from Marc:

Hello Andrew, Thank you for this bolt from the blue. As I recall, the bug I referred to was fixed at the time, and I recall noting this, so am not sure why this has resurfaced. I stopped using Fedora some time ago as it was too buggy and had too many large quantity updates that drained my metered download capacity. I don't have my bugzilla login details any more, so am unable to disable this report. Best wishes, Marc.