Immediate crash when starting vlc

[Hadrien]

I'm using Ubuntu 16.04 on x64. vlc crashes when I start it. I can run cvlc without problem.

Output when vlc is started from a terminal:
~$ vlc
VLC media player 2.2.2 Weatherwax (revision 2.2.2-0-g6259d80)
[0000000001400148] core libvlc: Lancement de vlc avec l'interface par défaut. Utilisez « cvlc » pour démarrer VLC sans interface.
WARNING: QApplication was not created in the main() thread.
Erreur de segmentation (core dumped)

With gdb, here is the callstack:
~$ gdb vlc
GNU gdb (Ubuntu 7.11.1-0ubuntu1~16.04) 7.11.1
Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Type "show copying"
and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "x86_64-linux-gnu".
Type "show configuration" for configuration details.
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/>.
Find the GDB manual and other documentation resources online at:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/documentation/>.
For help, type "help".
Type "apropos word" to search for commands related to "word"...
Reading symbols from vlc...(no debugging symbols found)...done.
(gdb) run
Starting program: /usr/bin/vlc
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libthread_db.so.1".
VLC media player 2.2.2 Weatherwax (revision 2.2.2-0-g6259d80)
[New Thread 0x7fffecd41700 (LWP 18982)]
[New Thread 0x7ffff53c1700 (LWP 18983)]
[New Thread 0x7ffff4470700 (LWP 18984)]
[0000000000605148] core libvlc: Lancement de vlc avec l'interface par défaut. Utilisez « cvlc » pour démarrer VLC sans interface.
[New Thread 0x7ffff3dd1700 (LWP 18985)]
WARNING: QApplication was not created in the main() thread.

Thread 5 "vlc" received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
[Switching to Thread 0x7ffff3dd1700 (LWP 18985)]
0x00007fffe8e5d616 in QCoreApplication::init() () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Core.so.5
(gdb) bt
#0 0x00007fffe8e5d616 in QCoreApplication::init() () at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Core.so.5
#1 0x00007fffe8e5daf6 in QCoreApplication::QCoreApplication(QCoreApplicationPrivate&) ()
    at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Core.so.5
#2 0x00007fffe9197d09 in QGuiApplication::QGuiApplication(QGuiApplicationPrivate&) ()
    at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Gui.so.5
#3 0x00007fffe995ebcd in QApplication::QApplication(int&, char**, int) ()
    at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Widgets.so.5
#4 0x00007fffe9f09047 in () at /usr/lib/vlc/plugins/gui/libqt4_plugin.so
#5 0x00007ffff79a16fa in start_thread (arg=0x7ffff3dd1700) at pthread_create.c:333
#6 0x00007ffff74d3b5d in clone () at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/x86_64/clone.S:109
(gdb) quit

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: vlc 2.2.2-5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-28.47-generic 4.4.13
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-28-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Tue Jul 12 19:12:32 2016
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-20 (996 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131016.1)
SourcePackage: vlc
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2016-04-21 (81 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Michal Zubkowicz (michalzubkowicz)]

Same problem here on 16.04.
I'm wild-guessing that's Qt and Nvidia proprietary drivers related problem, because it's not hapenning on my laptop which has been cloned and have no Nvidia drivers.

Last line of my trace is:

0x00007fffde69225b in QFont::QFont(QFont const&) () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Gui.so.5

Do you have Nvidia drivers installed?

[Hadrien (psydk)]

Actually I have an AMD card, a RX 480 but I use a proprietary driver too (amdgpu-pro 16.30.3-315407) so maybe there is something that works fine with VLC and Mesa but not with other graphics implementations.

If I find some time I will try to compile VLC from git and see if the crash still occurs.

[Hadrien (psydk)]

I built VLC from git (3.0.0-git commit 8df6a21f8ac5707e77295b70fdddabab0e6ad729) and it works fine.

In 16.04 I have VLC media player 2.2.2 Weatherwax (revision 2.2.2-0-g6259d80).

[Hadrien (psydk)]

I just built revision 2.2.2-0-g6259d80 from apt source, and it works fine too. That's strange.

[Hadrien (psydk)]

I reinstalled Ubuntu 16.10 and the problem is gone.

[Sebastian Ramacher (s-ramacher)]

Not a vlc bug.