Libraries associated with Daily Build PPA crash Xorg after Mouse Input.

[Nicholas McCurdy]

System became unstable after upgrade from Daily PPA repository (build series: [5.2.0+bzr878ubuntu0+inline])

System would boot to WM Loader screen and (considering no mouse input whatsoever) would remain stable throughout login, loading of Unity-2D, and operations within the operating environment.

Mouse input (movement, click, scrolling, etc) causes an immediate crash / reload cycle of Xorg, flashing to 80x25 text console and immediately back to the WM Loader Screen. This effectively resets the X session and abruptly kills all active processes within X at the time.

Resolution was to roll back the following installed libraries:
libbamf3-0 to version 0.2.104-0ubuntu1
libbamf0 to version 0.2.104-0ubuntu1
bamfdaemon to version 0.2.104-0ubuntu1
libxfixes-dev to version 1:5.0-4
libxfixes3 to version 1:5.0-4

Resolution probably didn't require rolling back all five packages, but my research couldn't narrow the selection further without risking further data corruption/loss and hammering an already fragile system (ancient and crappy laptop is ancient and crappy (but works well under ubuntu/unity-2d!)).

I will dump necessary system information into this bug report with the understanding that the problematic packages are no longer installed.

Below is the text of the question I posed on launchpad/unity-2d for additional detail.
https://answers.launchpad.net/unity-2d/+question/186846
2/4/2011 Upgrade from the Unity-2D Daily PPA caused massive Xorg instability. [With Interim SOLUTION]

System: Ubuntu Linux 11.10 3.0.0-16-generic on i686 - Unity-2D on a SuperCrappy SiS 7650 Video Bus

This is less of a question than it is the (initial) solution to my particular problem, and hopefully a possible starting point for others with a similar situation.

Hopefully the Unity-2D team can also take a look at the packages listed and let us all know if there's something they can help with in a more permanent way. :)

Problem: Upgrade from Unity-2D Daily PPA this morning installed updates of a series of libraries and other items.... nothing strange so far: all was green, no errors reported. Following a reboot (Xorg was updated significantly) and return to the WindowManager Loader / Login screen, any and all mouse input caused X to crash and reinit back to the WM Loader... Not nice. Sure, I love a mouseless terminal too, but today really wasn't the day for it.

Since this PPA upgrade was part of a 65+ package general system upgrade, I rolled the package upgrades back and forwards again until the problematic ones were located. I then performed another full upgrade and then re-downgraded the identified library packages to the versions they were running stably with this morning.

Initial Solution (Assuming that you have a fully-updated set of packages installed):
Find your way to a terminal with R/W HDD access + Internet connection and type this:

sudo apt-get install libbamf3-0=0.2.104-0ubuntu1 libbamf0=0.2.104-0ubuntu1 bamfdaemon=0.2.104-0ubuntu1 libxfixes-dev=1:5.0-4 libxfixes3=1:5.0-4

I say "Initial" Solution, because the libraries being downgraded are important in the operation of Unity-2D and I haven't fully tested its behavior with these modified dependencies to be sure of stability.

Note that the apt-get code listed above downgrades all 5 questionable libraries to the versions that were in use until yesterday on my system so the differences between them and the current versions are as minimal as possible. Also note that I HAVE NOT had the time (since it's getting late here, my inclination wanes too) to test the libraries individually (as it's probably only one of them causing the problem)... anyone who wants to is welcome to refine.

Final Words: dpkg is known for being bad at downgrading (dependency issues), so be aware that you could break your system if this is not done correctly for your particular installation.

[Nicholas McCurdy (nick-mccurdy)]

ubuntu-bug (apport) reports that since ubuntu-2d is not an "official ubuntu package" that it won't create the reports that I would like to attach... any advice on which specifics would be useful? I'll attach any information that might help.

[Nicholas McCurdy (nick-mccurdy)]

The Update took place on February 4th at 11:15am. I have included all Xorg log files from the surrounding dates since I rebooted X a thousand times on the 4th and am unsure where the clue might be at present. Hope this helps the process.

Thank's for responding. :)

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

The upgrade of X was indeed the culprit. The package xorg-xserver was removed from the PPA yesterday.

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

In order to downgrade the X server and recover stability, the following command needs to be issued:

sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-core=2:1.10.4-1ubuntu4.1 xserver-common=2:1.10.4-1ubuntu4.1

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

Thanks a lot Nicholas for your help. Sorry for causing you all this trouble.

[Ahmed Kamal (kim0)]

Once I downgrade X again, would I still be able to run the new unity ? :)

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

Ahmed: yes

[Nicholas McCurdy (nick-mccurdy)]

Thank you again to the Florian B. and the Unity 2D team. I appreciate your work, and am happy to have been able to help out in a small way to further the ongoing effort.