Bug 25697 – Gaim 0.66-r2 will only run as root, running as normal user makes it segfault...

• Status: RESOLVED FIXED
• Product: Gentoo Linux

[Description Dane Elwell 2003-08-01 05:57:03 UTC]

I was originally running Gaim 0.63-r1, but upgraded to 0.66-r2 today when it was
marked stable. 

Trying to run it as a normal user is impossible. It always segfaults on startup,
(see URL, I made a post to the forums), yet it runs fine as root. (Well, it
starts, I didn't have the guts to try to login ;)

Anyway, 0.66-r2 seems unusable to me, so I emerge -C gaim and then reinstalled
Gaim 0.63-r1 which still works fine.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. emerge sync
2. emerge -U world
3. run gaim

Actual Results:  
Gaim segfaults when trying to be run as a normal user.

Expected Results:  
Worked when running as a normal user.

Portage 2.0.48-r5 (default-x86-1.4, gcc-3.2.3, glibc-2.3.2-r1)
=================================================================
System uname: 2.4.20-gentoo-r5 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.53GHz
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.oregonstate.edu http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/Linu
x/distributions/gentoo"
CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /var/qmail/control /usr/share/config /usr/kde/2/share/confi
g /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb"
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/env.d"
PORTDIR="/usr/portage"
DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"
PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"
PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"
PORTDIR_OVERLAY=""
USE="oss 3dnow arts foomaticdb kde libg++ motif nls pdflib quicktime zlib gdbm b
erkdb slang readline tcpd pam esd gnome qt aalib acpi alsa apm avi cdr crypt dga
 directfb dvd encode fbcon gd ggi gif gtk gtkhtml imap imlib java jpeg libwww ma
d mikmod mmx mozilla mpeg ncurses opengl oggvorbis pdf perl png python sdl spell
 sse ssl svga tiff truetype usb wmf X xml xml2 xmms xv x86 -gpm -cups"
COMPILER="gcc3"
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-march=pentium4 -O3 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"
CXXFLAGS="-O2 -mcpu=i686 -pipe"
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86"
MAKEOPTS="-j2"
AUTOCLEAN="yes"
SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
FEATURES="sandbox ccache"

----- emerge.log
1059736906: Started emerge on: Aug 01, 2003 12:21:46
1059736906:  *** emerge --upgradeonly --update world
1059736907:  >>> emerge (1 of 3) dev-libs/nspr-4.3 to /
1059736907:  === (1 of 3) Cleaning (/usr/portage/dev-libs/nspr/nspr-4.3.ebuild)
1059736908:  === (1 of 3) Compiling/Merging (/usr/portage/dev-libs/nspr/nspr-4.3$
1059737022:  === (1 of 3) Post-Build Cleaning (/usr/portage/dev-libs/nspr/nspr-4$
1059737023:  >>> AUTOCLEAN: dev-libs/nspr
1059737023:  --- AUTOCLEAN: Nothing unmerged.
1059737023:  ::: completed emerge (1 of 3) dev-libs/nspr-4.3 to /
1059737023:  >>> emerge (2 of 3) dev-libs/nss-3.8 to /
1059737023:  === (2 of 3) Cleaning (/usr/portage/dev-libs/nss/nss-3.8.ebuild)
1059737024:  === (2 of 3) Compiling/Merging (/usr/portage/dev-libs/nss/nss-3.8.e$
1059737478:  === (2 of 3) Post-Build Cleaning (/usr/portage/dev-libs/nss/nss-3.8$
1059737480:  >>> AUTOCLEAN: dev-libs/nss
1059737480:  --- AUTOCLEAN: Nothing unmerged.
1059737480:  ::: completed emerge (2 of 3) dev-libs/nss-3.8 to /
1059737480:  >>> emerge (3 of 3) net-im/gaim-0.66-r2 to /
1059737480:  === (3 of 3) Cleaning (/usr/portage/net-im/gaim/gaim-0.66-r2.ebuild)
1059737480:  === (3 of 3) Compiling/Merging (/usr/portage/net-im/gaim/gaim-0.66-$
1059738074:  === (3 of 3) Post-Build Cleaning (/usr/portage/net-im/gaim/gaim-0.6$
1059738075:  >>> AUTOCLEAN: net-im/gaim
1059738080: === Unmerging... (net-im/gaim-0.63-r1)
1059738091:  >>> unmerge success: net-im/gaim-0.63-r1
1059738091:  ::: completed emerge (3 of 3) net-im/gaim-0.66-r2 to /
1059738091:  *** Finished. Cleaning up...
1059738094:  *** exiting successfully.
1059738094:  *** terminating.

[Comment 1 Don Seiler (RETIRED) 2003-08-01 08:32:21 UTC]

I see in your forum thread that someone was able to get it working after deleting their .gaim folder and .gaimrc file.  Can you try that for now just to confirm the workaround?

[Comment 2 Eric Hustvedt 2003-08-01 13:52:56 UTC]

This is a known bug with importing the old gaimrc prefs format into the new prefs.xml format. They fixed the bug immediately after releasing .66 and elected to wait until the next major release, instead of releasing yet another bugfix rev.

I'll try to dig up a patch file for the issue.

[Comment 3 Eric Hustvedt 2003-08-04 06:39:55 UTC]

Created attachment 15475 [details, diff]
gaim-0.66-prefs.c.diff

This patch should fix the issues with gaim crashing while upgrading from
gaimrc-style prefs to the new xml style.

[Comment 4 Don Seiler (RETIRED) 2003-08-04 13:07:17 UTC]

I'm not able to get this patch to work with epatch correctly.  The first two hunks fail consistently.

Where did you find this patch?

[Comment 5 Eric Hustvedt 2003-08-04 14:33:43 UTC]

Created attachment 15503 [details, diff]
gaim-0.66-prefs.c.diff

Sorry, I diffed the one revision too far back in the gaim cvs. This new patch
includes only the NULL string pref fix.

[Comment 6 Don Seiler (RETIRED) 2003-08-05 13:45:20 UTC]

Alright this patch applies fine.  I want to test this out myself to be sure so I'll drop down to gaim-0.63-r1 and upgrade.  Let me know if you've done the same.

[Comment 7 Don Seiler (RETIRED) 2003-08-05 14:18:19 UTC]

OK I downgraded to 0.63-r1, added my accounts and set some prefs.  Then upgraded to my new 0.66-r3 (made sure patch was applied) and was able to launch gaim fine with accounts and prefs intact.

I'm adding this patch into the existing stable 0.66-r3.  Existing 0.66-r3 users won't need it so no point in bumping.

Thanks Eric.