While running a xfce4-session through vncserver I get the following in /var/log/messages: xfsettingsd[13830]: segfault at 1 ip 08052182 sp bfda99d0 error 4 in xfsettingsd[8048000+12000] The system will ultimately freeze and must be rebooted. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. log to system with vncclient 2. open terminal and run xfce4-session 3. Actual Results: Not immediately, but soon after, the system freezes. By logging locally and running top, Xvnc is hogging 100% cpu. Logging with ssh is impossible. Expected Results: No freezing of the system Someone with a similar problem: when running xfce4 under VNC (vnc4server), xfce4-settings-helper generates a segfault. E.g.: kernel: xfce4-settings-[20447]: segfault at 1 ip 8000936e sp bffff270 error 4 in xfce4-settings-helper[80000000+f000] And has made the following patch: Author: Mathias Koehrer <mathias.koehrer@etas.com> --- xfce4-settings-4.8.3.orig/xfce4-settings-helper/pointers.c +++ xfce4-settings-4.8.3/xfce4-settings-helper/pointers.c @@ -135,8 +135,11 @@ xfce_pointers_helper_init (XfcePointersH /* query the extension version */ version = XGetExtensionVersion (xdisplay, INAME); - /* check for Xi */ - if (version == NULL || !version->present) + /* check for Xi. + * Note: if running under VNC, XGetExtensionVersion returns a pointer + * with the address "1". This has to be considered here. + * */ + if (version == NULL || version == (void*)1 || !version->present) { g_critical ("XI is not present."); } On xfce.org, the version xfce4-settings-4.11.1 has already some changes to these same lines of code. Maybe a version bump...
There was some other problem in my lan, so the fact that logging through ssh becomes impossible doesn't have nothing to do with this segfault. The segfault still happens when I try running xfsettingsd. Here are some more of them: Dec 2 15:01:31 orionte kernel: [268409.288557] xfsettingsd[10807]: segfault at 1 ip 080521a2 sp bf804d50 error 4 in xfsettingsd[8048000+12000] Dec 2 15:04:24 orionte kernel: [268582.392951] xfsettingsd[10814]: segfault at 1 ip 080521a2 sp bf98a710 error 4 in xfsettingsd[8048000+12000] Dec 2 15:04:31 orionte kernel: [268589.814535] xfsettingsd[10817]: segfault at 1 ip 080521a2 sp bfb3be70 error 4 in xfsettingsd[8048000+12000] Dec 2 15:04:36 orionte kernel: [268595.213298] xfsettingsd[10820]: segfault at 1 ip 080521a2 sp bfeb98c0 error 4 in xfsettingsd[8048000+12000] Dec 2 15:04:38 orionte kernel: [268596.782834] xfsettingsd[10823]: segfault at 1 ip 080521a2 sp bf909f90 error 4 in xfsettingsd[8048000+12000] Dec 2 15:04:39 orionte kernel: [268598.069167] xfsettingsd[10826]: segfault at 1 ip 080521a2 sp bfd03cc0 error 4 in xfsettingsd[8048000+12000] Dec 2 15:04:40 orionte kernel: [268598.596476] xfsettingsd[10829]: segfault at 1 ip 080521a2 sp bfbbd900 error 4 in xfsettingsd[8048000+12000] Dec 2 15:04:40 orionte kernel: [268598.944035] xfsettingsd[10832]: segfault at 1 ip 080521a2 sp bff19cd0 error 4 in xfsettingsd[8048000+12000] Dec 2 15:04:41 orionte kernel: [268599.244599] xfsettingsd[10835]: segfault at 1 ip 080521a2 sp bfed8470 error 4 in xfsettingsd[8048000+12000] Dec 2 15:04:41 orionte kernel: [268599.542168] xfsettingsd[10838]: segfault at 1 ip 080521a2 sp bf946580 error 4 in xfsettingsd[8048000+12000] Dec 2 15:04:41 orionte kernel: [268599.893853] xfsettingsd[10841]: segfault at 1 ip 080521a2 sp bfb0f760 error 4 in xfsettingsd[8048000+12000
This seems to be fixed in xfce-base/xfce4-settings-4.12.0. All calls to XGetExtensionVersion are now properly checked also against NoSuchExtension.
