XBMC crashes if launched from within GNOME

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farope Offline
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Post: #1
I'm not sure that this is a problem with XBMC itself, but I can't reproduce it using any other program. If I launch xbmc (or xbmc-standalone) from a session within GNOME3, it will crash immediately approximately 90% of the time. However, using gdm to login to a session which automatically launches xbmc-standalone (Exec=xbmc-standalone), then XBMC works perfectly.

Most of the time, it segfaults in XUngrabPointer() from libX11.so.6 (see http://pastebin.com/b1xJgm6v), but occasionally it crashes by some other method (http://pastebin.com/fgR5cfQs). According to xdpyinfo, my display depth is 24-bit.

In order to reproduce, I simply need to attempt to launch XBMC from inside GNOME3. I am using 64-bit ArchLinux with an Intel Core i3 and using the xf86-video-intel driver. This happens both with xbmc 10.1-9 from Archlinux, and compiling the source available at http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/source/...0.1.tar.gz.
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vdrfan Offline
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Post: #2
10.1 is outdated as we're preparing a new release. You might want to give it a try. Sources @ https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc

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alanwww1 Offline
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Post: #3
It is happening with latest Pre Eden builds as well. And not only Gnome Shell, also Unity 3D, KDE, Compiz.

One thing in common:
  • It happens when switching between fullscreen and windowed mode, in any 3D accelerated window manager.
  • XBMC starts succesfully in windowed mode, but if I try to turn into full screen mode it happens.
  • Sometimes (1-5% of the cases) xbmc even starts succesfully in fullscreen mode, but as I try to get back to windowed mode, that is when the crash happens.
  • It is also the gui manager that crashes, not only xbmc.
  • It only happens if you choose to turn off 3D gui effects for full screen applications. (This is really needed if one wants a stutter-, tear- free playback)
  • It is specific to Intel Sandy Bridge GPUs as I found.
  • I have not found any other application which has such problems switching from fullscreen to windowed. I tried Openarena, VLC.
  • It is a Distribution, window manager independent problem.

As I have not found any other application that has this problem, it might be that there is a possible solution in xbmc to handle this problem.

Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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ergosteur Offline
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Post: #4
I can confirm this bug. It's also not specific to Sandy Bridge, I have it on a first gen Core i3

model name : Intel® Core™ i3 CPU M 350 @ 2.27GHz
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0046] (rev 02)

I've tried updating to the graphics drivers from this ppa:
https://launchpad.net/~oibaf/+archive/graphics-drivers

but it doesn't help.

Running Ubuntu 11.10 with Gnome-shell on a Dell Latitude E5410.
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Dimmuxx Offline
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Post: #5
I have the same problem on my sandy bridge laptop when using the latest build from the unstable ppa.
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alanwww1 Offline
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Post: #6
Yeah I think ALL Intel chipsets are effected. Surely something in the driver, but there should be also something we can do in xbmc, because no other full screen applcation has this problem. I am investogating the resolution change code in xbmc. I found out that switching to the SAME resolution is handled differently than switching to a difrerent one. I am investigating how we can reinitalize things when desktop effects are turned off. It is in GraphicContext.cpp.

If any one can help, or has any idea, let me know.

Chers, Alan

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Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
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FernetMenta Offline
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Post: #7
alanwww1: We had problems on AMD platform and resolution changes. Not sure if you are observing the same problem but you might want to try this patch:
https://github.com/FernetMenta/xbmc/comm...6168bec0c7
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alanwww1 Offline
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Post: #8
Thanks Rainer for the help. I tried your patch, but we seem to have a different issue here. Still the same crash.

Any other idea ? The xbmc intro logo shows and after we have the crash of the whole windowing session. System drops us back to lihtdm.

Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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alanwww1 Offline
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Post: #9
I made a little debugging to find out what makes the crash.

I found out that it is in WinSystemX11GL.cpp
The function is: bool CWinSystemX11GL::PresentRenderImpl(const CDirtyRegionList& dirty)

And the call is:
glXSwapBuffers(m_dpy, m_glWindow);

The strange is that the crash is with the SECOND glxSwapbuffers call. The first one, which shows xbmc splash screen runs succesfully.

Here is the log with additional logentries I inserted: http://pastebin.com/NktiBb0Y

Not sure how the desktop effects turning off with full screen apps works, but sure it has to do something why the swapbuffers call does not work. Maybe it is turned off AFTER the first Swapbuffer call leaving things borked.

The other important thing is that not xbmc which crashes. It is the complete window manager. I am back to KDM, GDM or LightDM depending on which one I am using.

Rainer or anyone have you got any idea how to fix this ? It is a pretty serious problem I think.

Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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pearljago Offline
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Post: #10
Same problem here. I am running an i3 core with gnome 3.2, everytime I try to run xbmc my x window crashes immediately and I get back to the login screen, however if I run xbmc on the fluxbox desktop enviroment works perfect, seems a bug with Gnome3.2, xbmc and i3 core machines.
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