Ubuntu
libgksu package

gksu[6457]: segfault at 7fc11dc19008 ip 00007fc12899a538 sp 00007fff30dbb9d0 error 4 in libgksu2.so.0.0.2[7fc12898d000+11000]

Bug #275044 reported by Martin Spacek
266
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
libgksu (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Undecided
Unassigned
Nominated for Intrepid by Martin Spacek
Nominated for Jaunty by Thilo Schüller

Bug Description

Binary package hint: libgksu2-0

Clicking on an app in the system menu that requires admin privileges brings up "Starting Administrative Application" in the taskbar, which sits there for about 10 seconds, and then disappears. There's no dialog requesting my user password. Also, when I log in, there are some abnormal delays, and then "Starting Power Management" appears and does the same thing - sits there in the taskbar for about 10 seconds doing nothing. I've also noticed the screensaver isn't working, even though it's enabled in system preferences. When it comes time for it to activate, the screen slowly fades per usual, but then blinks right back on. I assume it's also missing privileges.

Anyway, after say clicking on synaptic in the system admin menu, nothing other than "Starting Administrative Application" shows up, but I get a new entry in dmesg:

[ 225.284669] gksu[6457]: segfault at 7fc11dc19008 ip 00007fc12899a538 sp 00007fff30dbb9d0 error 4 in libgksu2.so.0.0.2[7fc12898d000+11000]

So it looks like gksu is segfaulting. If I type:

>> gksudo synaptic

I get:

Segmentation fault (core dumped)

and this shows up in dmesg:

[ 299.289551] gksudo[6505]: segfault at 7f4474f66008 ip 00007f447fce7538 sp 00007fff88107810 error 4 in libgksu2.so.0.0.2[7f447fcda000+11000]

Same if I try using gksu, and doesn't seem to matter much what I'm trying to run. "gksudo nautilus" does the same thing. The sefaults seem to go away after I authenticate using sudo in a terminal (say "sudo synaptic", which works). But after rebooting, the problem comes back.

I upgraded yesterday from Hardy to Intrepid using "update-manager -d". This is 64-bit ubuntu running on an Intel Core2 duo. I'm pretty sure this wasn't happening before I upgraded. System is up to date as of today, 2008-09-26.

>> lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu intrepid (development branch)
Release: 8.10

>> apt-cache policy libgksu2-0
libgksu2-0:
  Installed: 2.0.7-1ubuntu2
  Candidate: 2.0.7-1ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 2.0.7-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://ubuntu.media.mit.edu intrepid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Revision history for this message
Martin Spacek (mspacek) wrote :

Just submitted a related bug report: bug #276483

Revision history for this message
_oOMOo_ (hermann-blaxhall) wrote :

I'm experiencing this bug too on a clean install of Intrepid Beta - it was not present in the alphas.

Syslog entry:

Oct 4 07:36:45 charlie kernel: [ 1180.276811] gksu[8059]: segfault at 7fd984e44008 ip 00007fd98e406538 sp 00007fff96827470 error 4 in libgksu2.so.0.0.2[7fd98e3f9000+11000]

Revision history for this message
Lizao (Larry) Li (creatorlarryli) wrote :

I'm also experiencing this bug on Intrepid beta.
I cannot launch synaptic or other programs from the menu. However, I can still launch these programs using gksudo or gksu from gnome-terminal WITHOUT INPUT PASSWORD.

Syslog entry:
Oct 4 15:53:46 larry-laptop kernel: [ 297.198019] gksu[7675]: segfault at 7fb7841d3008 ip 00007fb78db8f538 sp 00007fff95fb2b10 error 4 in libgksu2.so.0.0.2[7fb78db82000+11000]
auth.log entry:
Oct 4 15:53:46 larry-laptop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty= ruser= rhost= user=larry

When I use gksuo or gksu from gnome-terminal, the auth.log entry:
Oct 4 15:58:21 larry-laptop sudo: larry : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/larry ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/synaptic

Revision history for this message
Tuomas Aavikko (taavikko) wrote :

Unable to reproduce using i386 arch.
Seems that only affects amd64.

Revision history for this message
_oOMOo_ (hermann-blaxhall) wrote :

I have reinstalled Intrepid Beta and the problem has disappeared.

Revision history for this message
Lizao (Larry) Li (creatorlarryli) wrote :

I found a kind of workaround here:
You can run "gksu-properties" and set "Screen Grabbing" to "prompt". In this way, gksudo will work normally, except that you have to choose one more "yes or no" (either works).

It seems that "prompt" is the only option that can make it work. Maybe there is some problem with the Screen Grabbing thing.

BTW, I am running Intrepid Ibex beta on amd64. I didn't have this bug soon after the installation. It started probably after I did a "apt-get upgrade" (in the meantime, I installed quite a lot of packages but none of them were system related).

Revision history for this message
Mahdi (mahdi-hates-spam) wrote :

Still happens to me on an up-to-date intrepid amd64.
The proposed workaround did not work!

Revision history for this message
surfed (god-youhavechoice) wrote :

I can confirm the
set "Screen Grabbing" to "prompt"
workaround works for me.

Changed in libgksu:
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Steve Langasek (vorlon) wrote :

Is gksu leaving behind an apport report in /var/crash when this happens? I don't think there's enough information here yet to debug the problem without also being able to reproduce it, and I've never seen this bug happen.

Revision history for this message
surfed (god-youhavechoice) wrote :

i did not even know about /var/crash... crash report attached.

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