Re: [dev] [wmii] Reproducible crashes with "dead" windows

On Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 1:21 PM, Tom Kazimiers <tom_AT_voodoo-arts.net> wrote:
>> This error is caused by an incomplete status bar definition:  there a
>> status bar applet defined in your config which lacks a "label"
>> subsection.
>
> I looked into my config file and found the following status bar applets:
>
> But why should a applet fail that late? I mean, it seems to work all the
> time except such situations.

You're right. I will add error checking, to detect a missing "label"
section, right at the beginning when the status bar applet is
initialized.

>>> So I guess Sunakus ruby wmiirc is the problem?
>>
>> I don't think so :)  wmiirc crashes generally do not cause wmii to
>> crash.  It is a serious matter if the entire WM crashes, leaving you
>> at a virtual terminal.
>
> Well, ok :-). I am not exactly left on a virtual terminal. More I am
> thrown to gdm - the login screen. But I guess there is not much
> difference in this case.

I see.

>> I would recommend that you enable core dumps (ulimit -c unlimited),
>> run wmii, cause the crash to occur, and send a GDB backtrace to this
>> mailing list:
>>
>>   gdb `which wmii` your_core_dump_file
>>   bt full
>
> Thanks for the tip. If I have done it correctly I get no core file
> generated. To enable core dumps I executed "ulimit -c unlimited" and
> instead of starting "wmii" after login, I started the above gdb line.
> Unfortunately without success, did I do something wrong?

Yes, the steps you took seem incorrect. The above commands are only
useful after a core dump has been generated. Since you are running
wmii via GDM (which is run by root, I would assume) things are a bit
more complicated. I would recommend trying this simpler (startx)
approach:

1. Go to a virtual terminal (control-alt-f2)
2. Log in
3. Run "ulimit -c unlimited"
4. Run "startx wmii -- :1"
5. Make wmii crash
6. You should have a core* file in your home dir.
7. Run the gdb commands on the core dump file.

> But what I got is more log entries from "~/.wmii-hg/wmiirc.log":
>
> E, [2010-02-17T02:08:29.687682 #31728] ERROR -- : Broken pipe (Errno::EPIPE)

This is a harmless error, which says that wmii abruptly closed the 9P
socket through which it and Rumai communicate.
Received on Mon Feb 22 2010 - 19:37:49 UTC