[gutsy] kmail creates processes until out of memory

[Stefan Fleiter]

Binary package hint: kdepim

mail from kdepim 4:3.5.7enterprise20070828-0ubuntu1

When I start kmail it steadily creates kio_pop3 processes:

# ps x | egrep -c "kio_pop3"
471

If I wait too long there are so many processes that it gets difficult to stop them because
the system starts swapping heavily.

Maybe the following error messages printed on the console are relevant:

ASSERT: "!mMailCheckProgressItem" in /build/buildd/kdepim-3.5.7enterprise20070828/./kmail/popaccount.cpp (403)
QObject::connect: No such slot KMail::PopAccount::precommandExited(bool)
QObject::connect: (sender name: 'unnamed')
QObject::connect: (receiver name: 'unnamed')

Because of this and the other bugs already reported in launchpad I will go back to the last kdepim
packages.

[Jorge Suárez de Lis (ys)]

$ ps x | egrep -c "kio_pop3"
1009

:O!!!

[Stefan Fleiter (stefan-fleiter)]

Beeing back to kmail 4:3.5.7enterprise20070810-0ubuntu2 there are only a few kio_pop3 processes and
neither the ASSERTION nor the "No such slot" message are printed.

[Thomas Templin (coastgnu)]

Here kmail stops fetching local mails from /var/mail/username.
Don't know if it's related to this bug but I have a message close to yours while fetching local mail.

QObject::connect: No such slot KMAcctLocal::continueProcess()
QObject::connect: (sender name: 'unnamed')
QObject::connect: (receiver name: 'unnamed')
QObject::connect: No such slot KMAcctLocal::precommandExited(bool)
QObject::connect: (sender name: 'unnamed')
QObject::connect: (receiver name: 'unnamed')

[Ivan Čukić (ivan-cukic)]

Same here... gonna downgrade

[Christian Schürer-Waldheim (quincunx)]

Same problem here (with kmail 4:3.5.7enterprise20070828-0ubuntu1)

[Ivan Čukić (ivan-cukic)]

Weird thing that the importance is still "undecided". It renders one of the main KDE applications unusable... and freezes the system (fork bomb effect, only a bit slower) unless you set a process number limit on your user.

[Dax Solomon Umaming (knightlust)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Unfortunately, I can't reproduce this bug. I have a completely different issue since the last update that fixed the Basket bug. Please try to obtain a backtrace following the instructions at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingProgramCrash and upload the backtrace or a crash report found in /var/crash (as an attachment) to the bug report. This will greatly help us in tracking down your problem.

[Ivan Čukić (ivan-cukic)]

Well, the backtrace couldn't be made since the program itself did not crash - the system was frozen because of the increasing number of processes.

[Dax Solomon Umaming (knightlust)]

I've been thinking about that too. But the devs/maintainer need any kind of data that you have regarding this. What's triggering this bug, or something... anything that you have that would be useful to this issue.
I'm assigning this bug to myself for the mean time, or until the maintainer changes it. I'll be upgrading my other pc to Gutsy tonight and see if I can reproduce this bug.

[Ivan Čukić (ivan-cukic)]

The trigger is checking the accounts for new mail. The kio_pop3 processes start when kmail wants to get the messages - both when invoked automatically (specified period of time) and manually, both using regular pop3 and secured pop3. The problem is that the processes do not stop. (it can be a bug in kdebase-kio-plugins, and not kmail, IMHO)

You can do
# watch -n 5 'ps x | grep -c kio_pop3'
and click the "get mail", "get mail" ...

p.s. the kio_pop3 processes do not stop when kmail exits. (not zombified - but real running processes)

------

Just an advice for all that are affected by this problem (or trying to reproduce it), set the maximum process number per user first - this way your system will not hang:
Add the next two lines to /etc/security/limits.conf
* soft nproc 150
* hard nproc 200
(when you exit the kmail, you can killall kio_pop3 processes)

[Dax Solomon Umaming (knightlust)]

I was able to reproduce this bug on my other system using the update from 2 (or is it 3) days ago.
I'm changing the status to confirmed and importance to medium.
I failed to get any data regarding this bug. Like Ivan said, it doesn't crash.
Changing assignment to Jonathan Riddell.

[Ivan Čukić (ivan-cukic)]

Hmmm, don't want to jump to conclusions, but it seams that today's update of kmail and kdebase-kio-plugins fixed this... The process number doesn't hit the limit I had set, and kmail has been running since the update (> 1h)...

[Oliver Sherouse (oliver-sherouse)]

I was also having this issue and it was resolved by todays update as Ivan said above. Barring contrary reports, I think you can close it.

[Luka Renko (lure)]

Thanks for report. This bug should be fixed with latest update of kdepim (3.5.7enterprise20070904-0ubuntu1). Please try new version and feel free to open new bug (or re-open) if you experience any problem with latest version.

[Dax Solomon Umaming (knightlust)]

Confirming that today's update fixed this bug.