Cannot use multiple monitors; xrandr causes segfault at 1a0 ip 00007f54021c9836 sp 00007fff 994f5b00 error 4 in libmutter-1.so.0.0.0[7f54020e5000+13f000]

[bp]

Attempting to use multiple monitors from the graphical interface results in nothing happening:

(gnome-control-center:8910): display-cc-panel-WARNING **: Error applying configuration: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: Method ApplyConfiguration is not implemented on interface org.gnome.Mutter.DisplayConfig

Attempting to set up the same from xrandr causes segmentation faults in libmutter:

$ sudo dmesg --console-on
$ xrandr --output eDP-1 --off --output DP-1-2 --mode 1920x1080 --rotate left --pos 2160x0 --output DP-1-1 --pos 0x0 --mode 1920x1080 --rotate left --output DP-1-3 --pos 1080x0 --mode 1920x1080 --rotate left --verbose --scale 1x1
screen 0: 3240x1920 858x508 mm 95.92dpi
crtc 0: 1920x1080 60.00 +1080+0 "DP-1-3"
crtc 1: 1920x1080 60.00 +2160+0 "DP-1-2"
crtc 2: 1920x1080 60.00 +0+0 "DP-1-1"
[Sep 4 11:07] gnome-shell[3603]: segfault at 8 ip 00007f79e651bda0 sp 00007ffd48c3d1b8 error 4 in libmutter-1.so.0.0.0[7f79e64c2000+13f000]

It should be noted that all monitors are working as expected during boot (e.g. while typing my HDD unlock password)

Regrettably the segfault information changes every time and apport doesn't seem able to capture reports for it.

xfce sessions from lightdm start regularly and can use external monitors regularly.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: libmutter-1-0 3.25.91+20170902~ce515c5-1ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.12.0-12.13-generic 4.12.8
Uname: Linux 4.12.0-12-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Mon Sep 4 11:02:06 2017
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-08-14 (20 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Alpha amd64 (20170814)
SourcePackage: mutter
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[bp (badpazzword)]

Of course, the Ubuntu repos removed the previous version of the relevant packages so I can't roll back the package upgrade to see if that helps anything.

[bp (badpazzword)]

Re-attaching redacted journal messages. My username wasn't fully scrubbed out.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[bp (badpazzword)]

Workaround:

apt install xubuntu-desktop
(choose lightdm over gdm)

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 17.10 (artful) reached end-of-life on July 19, 2018.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test. If you then find the bug is still present in the newer Ubuntu version, please add a comment here telling us which new version it is in and change the bug status to Confirmed.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for mutter (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]