Ubuntu
xfree86 package

Bug #10973
Comment #4

Comment 4 for bug 10973

Revision history for this message

Debian Bug Importer (debzilla) wrote on 2004-12-07:

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2004 17:06:46 -0500
From: Branden Robinson <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>, <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Bug#284448: xserver-xfree86: xserver (ATI or Radeon something 7500) crashes on
variouslaunches of programcs from within X.

--HFD/Dq8JdnjNvyuv
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severity 284448 important
tag 284448 + moreinfo upstream
retitle 284448 xserver-xfree86: [ati/radeon] server crashes while doing uns=
pecified activity on Radeon 'something' 7500
thanks

> Justification: unknown, X-windows crashes which is unacceptable for a pro=
duction system

If the justification is "unknown", it might as well not be present.

This bug is not a report of a Policy violation, nor does failure of the X
server to work on a particular piece of video hardware -- notably one which=
you
haven't actually identified -- constitute a bug which renders the package
"unsuitable" for release.

A crashing bug that affected all users of xserver-xfree86 would be a differ=
ent
story.

> The data below are not really applicable, because I've put in another
> video card. I've spent more than a day re/configuring. Problem is,
> that various launches (from gnome panel, from terminal) of various
> programs (rxvt, galeon, wmware) cause the Xserver to crash. (I
> sincerely hope) it is specific to the ati or radeon video card/driver
> `ati' or `radeon'.

Probably -- most crashing bugs are in hardware specific code, either in the=
2D
XFree86 driver, or the 3D DRI driver.

> I've used the ati video card happily without problems for over a year.
> I had to change from stable to sarge because xfree 4.1.0 didn't
> support the card. Since 3 dec 2004 somehow, X-server crashes. It
> might have been the upgrade to 4.3.0.dfsg.1-8 at some upgrade to
> `sarge' in the past, but I can't find any earlier problemless xserver
> anymore from the archives to test this hypothesis.

Are you aware of snapshot.debian.net? It would be *extremely* helpful to k=
now
at which package version this regression in functionality took place.

> The data below is not so accurate w.r.t the video card, since that has
> been replaced in this machine. Sorry about that.=20

We're simply going to have to have accurate information before we can proce=
ed.

[The following is a form letter.]

Can you reproduce the problem with xserver-xfree86-dbg? Install the
package and tell debconf you want to use that X server. Then restart the X
server and try to reproduce the bug (should be easy). If it doesn't crash,
let us know. If it does crash, become root, enable core dumps ("ulimit -c
unlimited" in bash), start the X server as root and reproduce the crash
again:

# startx $(which x-terminal-emulator) -- :1

(If no X server is running at DISPLAY=3D:0, you can leave off the "-- :1"
part).

This will launch the X server running a lone terminal client with no window
manager. Run the client that provokes the crash from the terminal prompt.
If the X server crashes, it should leave a core dump in /etc/X11.

We then run the GNU Debugger, GDB, on the core file and executable. We're
interested in a backtrace of execution. The X server has a signal handler
in it so it can do things like exit gracefully (restoring the text console,
and so forth), so we're not actually interested in all the stack frames --
just those "above" the signal handler.

Here's an example GDB session I logged after provoking an artificial server
crash (with "kill -SEGV").

  % gdb $(which XFree86-debug) core
  GNU gdb 6.1-debian
  Copyright 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and you =
are
  welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain conditi=
ons.
  Type "show copying" to see the conditions.
  There is absolutely no warranty for GDB. Type "show warranty" for detail=
s.
  This GDB was configured as "i386-linux"...Using host libthread_db library=
"/lib/libthread_db.so.1".

  Core was generated by `/usr/X11R6/bin/X :1'.
  Program terminated with signal 6, Aborted.
  Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6...done.
  Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6
  Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libz.so.1...done.
  Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libz.so.1
  Reading symbols from /lib/libm.so.6...done.
  Loaded symbols for /lib/libm.so.6
  Reading symbols from /lib/libc.so.6...done.
  Loaded symbols for /lib/libc.so.6
  Reading symbols from /lib/ld-linux.so.2...done.
  Loaded symbols for /lib/ld-linux.so.2
  #0 0x400f2721 in kill () from /lib/libc.so.6
  (gdb) bt
  #0 0x400f2721 in kill () from /lib/libc.so.6
  #1 0x400f24c5 in raise () from /lib/libc.so.6
  #2 0x400f39e8 in abort () from /lib/libc.so.6
  #3 0x08464b8c in ddxGiveUp () at xf86Init.c:1173
  #4 0x08464c6b in AbortDDX () at xf86Init.c:1224
  #5 0x08508bd7 in AbortServer () at utils.c:436
  #6 0x0850a563 in FatalError (f=3D0x8a26ea0 "Caught signal %d. Server ab=
orting\n") at utils.c:1421
  #7 0x0847fbf5 in xf86SigHandler (signo=3D11) at xf86Events.c:1198
  #8 <signal handler called>
  #9 0x40199dd2 in select () from /lib/libc.so.6
  #10 0x401f8550 in ?? () from /lib/libc.so.6
  #11 0x400164a0 in ?? () from /lib/ld-linux.so.2
  #12 0xbffff8f0 in ?? ()
  #13 0x08502520 in WaitForSomething (pClientsReady=3D0xbffff944) at WaitFo=
r.c:350
  #14 0x084cff54 in Dispatch () at dispatch.c:379
  #15 0x084e763c in main (argc=3D2, argv=3D0xbffffe04, envp=3D0xbffffe10) a=
t main.c:469
  (gdb) bt full -7
  #9 0x40199dd2 in select () from /lib/libc.so.6
  No symbol table info available.
  #10 0x401f8550 in ?? () from /lib/libc.so.6
  No symbol table info available.
  #11 0x400164a0 in ?? () from /lib/ld-linux.so.2
  No symbol table info available.
  #12 0xbffff8f0 in ?? ()
  No symbol table info available.
  #13 0x08502520 in WaitForSomething (pClientsReady=3D0xbffff944) at WaitFo=
r.c:350
          i =3D 2
          waittime =3D {tv_sec =3D 118, tv_usec =3D 580000}
          wt =3D (struct timeval *) 0xbffff910
          timeout =3D 599999
          standbyTimeout =3D 1199999
          suspendTimeout =3D 1799999
          offTimeout =3D 2399999
          clientsReadable =3D {fds_bits =3D {0 <repeats 32 times>}}
          clientsWritable =3D {fds_bits =3D {1, 146318192, -1073743800, 140=
704020, 147350456, 147350040, 2, 312, 1, 1075418973, -1073743800, 139461033=
, 147374816, 1, -1073743680, 9, 1073833120, -1073742332,=20
      -1073743784, 139526463, 9, -1073743680, 1, 139458611, 147350456, 1473=
50040, -1073743752, 139529154, 147339744, -1073743680, 1, 1074655182}}
          curclient =3D 147556952
          selecterr =3D 3
          nready =3D 0
          devicesReadable =3D {fds_bits =3D {1, 1, 6, 146327832, 147350508,=
0, 315, 302, 9, 3, 315, 302, 9, 3, 0, 0, 146318192, 1075807568, -107374388=
0, 137843170, 146125816, 3, 313, 147556952, 0, 15066597, 3,=20
      -1, 147350500, 1, 0, 146319268}}
          now =3D 16069
          someReady =3D 0
  #14 0x084cff54 in Dispatch () at dispatch.c:379
          clientReady =3D (int *) 0xbffff944
          result =3D 0
          client =3D 0x8c8c2e0
          nready =3D -1
          icheck =3D (HWEventQueuePtr *) 0x8b45c68
          start_tick =3D 940
  #15 0x084e763c in main (argc=3D2, argv=3D0xbffffe04, envp=3D0xbffffe10) a=
t main.c:469
          i =3D 1
          j =3D 2
          k =3D 2
          error =3D -1073742332
          xauthfile =3D 0xbfffffba "/root/.Xauthority"
          alwaysCheckForInput =3D {0, 1}
  (gdb) quit

In the example above, you can see I used "bt full -7" to get the
"outermost" seven stack frames, complete with local variable information,
where available.

If you could send us something smiliar, that would be very helpful.

--=20
G. Branden Robinson | It is the responsibility of
Debian GNU/Linux | intellectuals to tell the truth and
<email address hidden> | expose lies.
http://people.debian.org/~branden/ | -- Noam Chomsky

--HFD/Dq8JdnjNvyuv
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--HFD/Dq8JdnjNvyuv--

Message-ID: <20041207220646.GL29501@redwald.deadbeast.net>
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2004 17:06:46 -0500
From: Branden Robinson <branden@debian.org>
To: 284448-submitter@bugs.debian.org, control@bugs.debian.org
Subject: Re: Bug#284448: xserver-xfree86: xserver (ATI or Radeon something 7500) crashes on
	variouslaunches of programcs from within X.

--HFD/Dq8JdnjNvyuv
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

severity 284448 important
tag 284448 + moreinfo upstream
retitle 284448 xserver-xfree86: [ati/radeon] server crashes while doing uns=
pecified activity on Radeon 'something' 7500
thanks

> Justification: unknown, X-windows crashes which is unacceptable for a pro=
duction system

If the justification is "unknown", it might as well not be present.

This bug is not a report of a Policy violation, nor does failure of the X
server to work on a particular piece of video hardware -- notably one which=
 you
haven't actually identified -- constitute a bug which renders the package
"unsuitable" for release.

A crashing bug that affected all users of xserver-xfree86 would be a differ=
ent
story.

> The data below are not really applicable, because I've put in another
> video card.  I've spent more than a day re/configuring.  Problem is,
> that various launches (from gnome panel, from terminal) of various
> programs (rxvt, galeon, wmware) cause the Xserver to crash.  (I
> sincerely hope) it is specific to the ati or radeon video card/driver
> `ati' or `radeon'.

Probably -- most crashing bugs are in hardware specific code, either in the=
 2D
XFree86 driver, or the 3D DRI driver.

> I've used the ati video card happily without problems for over a year.
> I had to change from stable to sarge because xfree 4.1.0 didn't
> support the card.  Since 3 dec 2004 somehow, X-server crashes.  It
> might have been the upgrade to 4.3.0.dfsg.1-8 at some upgrade to
> `sarge' in the past, but I can't find any earlier problemless xserver
> anymore from the archives to test this hypothesis.

Are you aware of snapshot.debian.net?  It would be *extremely* helpful to k=
now
at which package version this regression in functionality took place.

> The data below is not so accurate w.r.t the video card, since that has
> been replaced in this machine.  Sorry about that.=20

We're simply going to have to have accurate information before we can proce=
ed.

[The following is a form letter.]

Can you reproduce the problem with xserver-xfree86-dbg?  Install the
package and tell debconf you want to use that X server.  Then restart the X
server and try to reproduce the bug (should be easy).  If it doesn't crash,
let us know.  If it does crash, become root, enable core dumps ("ulimit -c
unlimited" in bash), start the X server as root and reproduce the crash
again:

# startx $(which x-terminal-emulator) -- :1

(If no X server is running at DISPLAY=3D:0, you can leave off the "-- :1"
part).

This will launch the X server running a lone terminal client with no window
manager.  Run the client that provokes the crash from the terminal prompt.
If the X server crashes, it should leave a core dump in /etc/X11.

We then run the GNU Debugger, GDB, on the core file and executable.  We're
interested in a backtrace of execution.  The X server has a signal handler
in it so it can do things like exit gracefully (restoring the text console,
and so forth), so we're not actually interested in all the stack frames --
just those "above" the signal handler.

Here's an example GDB session I logged after provoking an artificial server
crash (with "kill -SEGV").

% gdb $(which XFree86-debug) core
  GNU gdb 6.1-debian
  Copyright 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and you =
are
  welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain conditi=
ons.
  Type "show copying" to see the conditions.
  There is absolutely no warranty for GDB.  Type "show warranty" for detail=
s.
  This GDB was configured as "i386-linux"...Using host libthread_db library=
 "/lib/libthread_db.so.1".

Core was generated by `/usr/X11R6/bin/X :1'.
  Program terminated with signal 6, Aborted.
  Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6...done.
  Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6
  Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libz.so.1...done.
  Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libz.so.1
  Reading symbols from /lib/libm.so.6...done.
  Loaded symbols for /lib/libm.so.6
  Reading symbols from /lib/libc.so.6...done.
  Loaded symbols for /lib/libc.so.6
  Reading symbols from /lib/ld-linux.so.2...done.
  Loaded symbols for /lib/ld-linux.so.2
  #0  0x400f2721 in kill () from /lib/libc.so.6
  (gdb) bt
  #0  0x400f2721 in kill () from /lib/libc.so.6
  #1  0x400f24c5 in raise () from /lib/libc.so.6
  #2  0x400f39e8 in abort () from /lib/libc.so.6
  #3  0x08464b8c in ddxGiveUp () at xf86Init.c:1173
  #4  0x08464c6b in AbortDDX () at xf86Init.c:1224
  #5  0x08508bd7 in AbortServer () at utils.c:436
  #6  0x0850a563 in FatalError (f=3D0x8a26ea0 "Caught signal %d.  Server ab=
orting\n") at utils.c:1421
  #7  0x0847fbf5 in xf86SigHandler (signo=3D11) at xf86Events.c:1198
  #8  <signal handler called>
  #9  0x40199dd2 in select () from /lib/libc.so.6
  #10 0x401f8550 in ?? () from /lib/libc.so.6
  #11 0x400164a0 in ?? () from /lib/ld-linux.so.2
  #12 0xbffff8f0 in ?? ()
  #13 0x08502520 in WaitForSomething (pClientsReady=3D0xbffff944) at WaitFo=
r.c:350
  #14 0x084cff54 in Dispatch () at dispatch.c:379
  #15 0x084e763c in main (argc=3D2, argv=3D0xbffffe04, envp=3D0xbffffe10) a=
t main.c:469
  (gdb) bt full -7
  #9  0x40199dd2 in select () from /lib/libc.so.6
  No symbol table info available.
  #10 0x401f8550 in ?? () from /lib/libc.so.6
  No symbol table info available.
  #11 0x400164a0 in ?? () from /lib/ld-linux.so.2
  No symbol table info available.
  #12 0xbffff8f0 in ?? ()
  No symbol table info available.
  #13 0x08502520 in WaitForSomething (pClientsReady=3D0xbffff944) at WaitFo=
r.c:350
          i =3D 2
          waittime =3D {tv_sec =3D 118, tv_usec =3D 580000}
          wt =3D (struct timeval *) 0xbffff910
          timeout =3D 599999
          standbyTimeout =3D 1199999
          suspendTimeout =3D 1799999
          offTimeout =3D 2399999
          clientsReadable =3D {fds_bits =3D {0 <repeats 32 times>}}
          clientsWritable =3D {fds_bits =3D {1, 146318192, -1073743800, 140=
704020, 147350456, 147350040, 2, 312, 1, 1075418973, -1073743800, 139461033=
, 147374816, 1, -1073743680, 9, 1073833120, -1073742332,=20
      -1073743784, 139526463, 9, -1073743680, 1, 139458611, 147350456, 1473=
50040, -1073743752, 139529154, 147339744, -1073743680, 1, 1074655182}}
          curclient =3D 147556952
          selecterr =3D 3
          nready =3D 0
          devicesReadable =3D {fds_bits =3D {1, 1, 6, 146327832, 147350508,=
 0, 315, 302, 9, 3, 315, 302, 9, 3, 0, 0, 146318192, 1075807568, -107374388=
0, 137843170, 146125816, 3, 313, 147556952, 0, 15066597, 3,=20
      -1, 147350500, 1, 0, 146319268}}
          now =3D 16069
          someReady =3D 0
  #14 0x084cff54 in Dispatch () at dispatch.c:379
          clientReady =3D (int *) 0xbffff944
          result =3D 0
          client =3D 0x8c8c2e0
          nready =3D -1
          icheck =3D (HWEventQueuePtr *) 0x8b45c68
          start_tick =3D 940
  #15 0x084e763c in main (argc=3D2, argv=3D0xbffffe04, envp=3D0xbffffe10) a=
t main.c:469
          i =3D 1
          j =3D 2
          k =3D 2
          error =3D -1073742332
          xauthfile =3D 0xbfffffba "/root/.Xauthority"
          alwaysCheckForInput =3D {0, 1}
  (gdb) quit

In the example above, you can see I used "bt full -7" to get the
"outermost" seven stack frames, complete with local variable information,
where available.

If you could send us something smiliar, that would be very helpful.

--=20
G. Branden Robinson                |    It is the responsibility of
Debian GNU/Linux                   |    intellectuals to tell the truth and
branden@debian.org                 |    expose lies.
http://people.debian.org/~branden/ |    -- Noam Chomsky

--HFD/Dq8JdnjNvyuv
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--HFD/Dq8JdnjNvyuv--

Ubuntuxfree86 package

Comment 4 for bug 10973

Ubuntu
xfree86 package