Tumblerd crashes X11

Support and Help
,
1

Ubuntu Version:
Xubuntu 24.04.1, both minimal install and normal install

Desktop Environment
Xfce

Problem Description:
Problem I think is solved, but
I put this here for the record in case anyone else is having the same problem,
or anyone else has a solution that doesn’t involve using the axe.

After booting or restarting Xubuntu 24.04.1, the first time I open Settings/Desktop,
X11 crashes with messages:

Screenshots or Error Messages:

Feb 28 12:50:17 X247 dbus-daemon[1072]: [session uid=1000 pid=1072] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1' unit='tumblerd.service' requested by ':1.67' (uid=1000 pid=1606 comm="xfdesktop-settings" label="unconfined")
Feb 28 12:50:17 X247 systemd[1056]: Starting tumblerd.service - Thumbnailing service...
Feb 28 12:50:17 X247 systemd[1]: Starting sysstat-collect.service - system activity accounting tool...
Feb 28 12:50:17 X247 systemd[1]: sysstat-collect.service: Deactivated successfully.
Feb 28 12:50:17 X247 systemd[1]: Finished sysstat-collect.service - system activity accounting tool.
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 tumblerd[1635]: X connection to :0 broken (explicit kill or server shutdown).
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 kglobalaccel5[1565]: The X11 connection broke (error 1). Did the X11 server die?
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 kglobalaccel5[1565]: The X11 connection broke: I/O error (code 1)
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 kglobalaccel5[1565]: X connection to :0 broken (explicit kill or server shutdown).
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 systemd[1056]: xfce4-notifyd.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 systemd[1056]: xfce4-notifyd.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 at-spi-bus-launcher[1252]: X connection to :0 broken (explicit kill or server shutdown).
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 polkitd[656]: Unregistered Authentication Agent for unix-session:c2 (system bus name :1.54, object path /org/gnome/PolicyKit1/AuthenticationAgent, locale en_AU.UTF-8) (disconnected from bus)
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 systemd[1056]: xdg-desktop-portal-gtk.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 systemd[1056]: xdg-desktop-portal-gtk.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 spice-vdagentd[1430]: closed vdagent virtio channel
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 systemd[1]: Stopping session-c2.scope - Session c2 of User mc...
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 gvfsd[1612]: Error calling org.gtk.vfs.MonitorClient.Changed(): The connection is closed (g-io-error-quark, 18)
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 gvfsd[1612]: Error calling org.gtk.vfs.MonitorClient.Changed(): The connection is closed (g-io-error-quark, 18)
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 systemd[1]: session-c2.scope: Deactivated successfully.
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 systemd[1]: Stopped session-c2.scope - Session c2 of User mc.
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 systemd[1]: session-c2.scope: Consumed 4.385s CPU time.
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 systemd-logind[673]: Removed session c2.
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 tumblerd[1653]: Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 key
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 tumblerd[1653]: Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 key
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 dbus-daemon[1072]: [session uid=1000 pid=1072] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1'
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 systemd[1056]: Started tumblerd.service - Thumbnailing service.
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 lightdm[1666]: pam_unix(lightdm-greeter:session): session opened for user lightdm(uid=108) by (uid=0)
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 systemd-logind[673]: New session c3 of user lightdm.
Feb 28 12:50:18 X247 systemd[1]: Created slice user-108.slice - User Slice of UID 108.

(happy to provide full logs, not sure how to do it without making the thread unreadable).

What I’ve Tried:
But then after re-logging in to the new X11 session, clicking Settings/desktop no longer causes X11 to crash. Though it will crash if I reboot.

It seems unlikely to be my settings,
as it happens on 2 separate clean installs, one standard, one minimal,
and before much configuration is done.
I keep the unconfigured standard install around just to be sure the problem isn’t me.

I noted in the above log
that the tumbler service being called immediately after clicking settings/desktop.
Also, in a bigger log of several openings/closing of settings/desktop,
tumblerd was was only being called the 1st time settings/desktop was opened -
not on subsequent opens.

Solution
So, after uninstalling tumbler, the crashes stopped.

when Xubuntu was first installed, settings/desktop did not cause an X11 crash.
One possibility is that when I added user directories (that would be thumbnailed)
tumblerd fell foul of apparmor user namespace restrictions?

Happy to file a bug if anyone else has the same problem.

2

I have seen the same problem in the past but it hasn’t recurred for a long time now after editing a config file.

I am not on my Xubuntu machine at the moment but will look later to see what changes I made to that configuration for tumblerd which seemed to solve it for me.

Watch this space!

1 Like
3

I think this is what @ajgreeny is referring to>>"/etc/xdg/tumbler/tumbler.rc " and just change this “Disabled=true”

This is a bit safer than removing it all together.

I can’t recall how many edits are there but there is a few.

1 Like
4

Spot-on 1fallen!
Here is the text file I have regarding this problem

TUMBLERD HIGH CPU USE

To completely disable thumbnails, open a Thunar window, Edit-Preferences-Show thumbnails:Never.

To disable them for video files only, edit /etc/xdg/tumbler/tumbler.rc changing the lines Disabled=false to Disabled=true under ‘Video Thumbnailers’ section.

You can disable any other sections as well if you want to test things but the Video Thumbnailers section did the trick for me

2 Likes
5

@ajgreeny
Thanks, though in this case it wasn’t high cpu usage - it was an instantaneous crash.
Also just disabling video thumbnailing is unlikely to be sufficient to stop a settings/desktop crash.

@1fallen
Thanks also: I reinstalled tumbler and tried your suggestion and set all to false.
Works, and is I agree a safer solution than mine.
Only very very small downside was a Settings/Desktop now hesitates as it opens.
The frame opens, then it waits a second as though it cant believe everything is set to false,
then it opens.
I’ve marked your post as the solution - thanks for that.

though I should admit I’ve gone back to removing tumbler - its faster
and seems to have no downsides. though maybe one day the house will fall down. :grin:

for interest:
I use mostly kde apps, eg Dolphin/Kwrite, in Xubuntu not Thunar/Mousepad
and still get new thumbnails as I guess Dolphin doesn’t use tumbler.
(I checked Thunar, I still get old thumbnails but not new ones).

6

We are not far apart on that front.

 apt policy dolphin kwrite kpat
dolphin:
  Installed: 4:24.12.2-2ubuntu1
  Candidate: 4:24.12.2-2ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 4:24.12.2-2ubuntu1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu plucky/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
kwrite:
  Installed: 4:24.12.2-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 4:24.12.2-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 4:24.12.2-0ubuntu1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu plucky/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
kpat:
  Installed: 4:24.12.2-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 4:24.12.2-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 4:24.12.2-0ubuntu1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu plucky/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Correct no tumbler for dolphin, it uses ffmpegthumbs, kdegraphics-thumbnailers among just a few.

I think it is odd though you have a delay on first login. :confused:

7

A casual search reveals Tumbler to be problematic in this regard in general. All it does is essentially pass requests from applications on to the actual thumbnailers. That suggests the problem isn’t thumbnail generation at all, but something to do with message passing.

Seems like the right solution for someone who doesn’t use Thunar is to disable or remove Tumbler. That doesn’t seem to be a good solution for the general “anyone else” the original message was intended for. For that, I’d file a bug.

8

Totally Agree with that!

apt policy tumbler
tumbler:
  Installed: 4.20.0-1
  Candidate: 4.20.0-1
  Version table:
 *** 4.20.0-1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu plucky/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

i still have a bad taste in my mouth over removing tumbler, and after some time passed bugs started infesting my system, so I had to use some bug-spray…LOL

It’s just not worth removing it, in my view.

9

I actually find it fascinating that there isn’t a bug report for this if one can reliably reproduce the problem. Makes me wonder if it’s also a problem for later releases.

If this can’t be reliably reproduced, then there may be a quirk about this particular system that causes a problem.

Either way, this really sounds like a bug report someone needs to file.

10

Yes it should, but I’m not effected… I’ll just leave it to OP for now.

11

I wonder if it isn’t due to the timing of the thing, particularly opening Settings/Desktop, and/or some other variable we’re not clear on.

@reckless-symmetry can you enumerate the exact steps you need to take to reproduce this on a clean system? Include the timing, e.g. “within 20 seconds of the desktop appearing, open Settings/Desktop.”

12

Interesting point. I have similar crashes in other less critical apps, and tumbler didnt appear in the logs. I’ll take a few days to see if i can find a common thread.
Though seems unlikely, as the other X11 crashes happen every time, but as mentioned, this one happpens only on the first opening after a restart.

Possibly related to being in a qemu vm?

Have tried every possible timing, other than waiting 40 days and 40 nights.

Agree. Though within about a week I’ll also install on a host (ie not in a vm). Let me see if it happens there also. If not, this would significantly impact the nature of the problem and the bug report. Also, I’d like to see that someone else has the same problem - a 1 person bug tends to get dismissed pretty quickly unless it has a high substantiation.

1 Like
13

@wxl:

That doesn’t seem to be a good solution for the general “anyone else” the original message was intended for.

@1fallen

It’s just not worth removing it, in my view

Understand, that’s why I marked 1fallen’s method as the solution rather than mine.

1 Like
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