[Pan-users] Re: Pan 0.111 shuts down when loading new msgs from group in XFCE

[Duncan]

Phil <address@hidden> posted
address@hidden, excerpted
below, on  Sat, 09 Sep 2006 12:05:59 -0500:

> Hi, <br>I'm new to the mailing-list.<br><br>I have had a problem with
> the last 2-3 versions (weekly
> betas)&nbsp;of&nbsp;Pan.&nbsp;&nbsp;Pan&nbsp;will&nbsp;often&nbsp;completely&nbsp;close&nbsp;down&nbsp;with&nbsp;no&nbsp;error&nbsp;messages&nbsp;when&nbsp;going&nbsp;to&nbsp;a&nbsp;new&nbsp;newsgroup&nbsp;and&nbsp;downloading&nbsp;new&nbsp;msgs.&nbsp;&nbsp;This&nbsp;doesn't&nbsp;happen&nbsp;all&nbsp;the&nbsp;time,&nbsp;but&nbsp;at&nbsp;least&nbsp;a&nbsp;good&nbsp;30-40%&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;time.
> &nbsp;I'm running the XFCE desktop if that makes any difference
> (Xubuntu) <br> <br><br>_______________________________________________
> Pan-users mailing list

Please keep the HTML off the pan list.  Keep in mind that some of us
actually use pan (thru gmane.org) to participate on this list, and it
doesn't do HTML, nor would we want it to.

There are several things you can check for crashes.

1) Often, the file-system effects of a single crash for whatever reason
will cause a file corruption, and pan simply won't be stable after that
until that corrupt file is removed.  This usually results in a 100%
reproducable crash however, so this isn't /so/ likely if it's not
happening all the time.  However, it's always good to eliminate your local
config as the issue.  Therefore, move pan's working dir (~/.pan2 by
default) elsewhere with pan shut down, and see if the problem continues
with an entirely fresh config.  If the problem disappears, you can recover
most of your previous config by trial and error if desired, moving a few
files back at a time.  (Treat the cache as a single unit at first, and try
the preferences and server xml files first, then the newsrcs, etc.)  Once
you find a group of files that triggers the problem, try individual files
within that group.  Once you find the individual file, if desired, you can
try editing it and find the specific section and/or line that's causing
the problem.  Of course, if it's not something in pan's config or cache
data, starting from scratch won't help, in which case go onto the next
step.

2) XFCE isn't as heavy a desktop as either KDE or GNOME, yet tends to be
relatively full featured.  As such, it's a fairly popular desktop for
those running a bit less memory than they'd like.  It's possible you are
running into memory limits (either ulimit based or full memory based).  I
bring this up as I had a memory leak in X for awhile (related to
EXA/Composite rendering) that was running up against the ulimits I had set
to help control the problem.  Pan wasn't entirely stable under those
conditions and would occasionally simply quit, for no visible reason,
other than the X instability related to that memory leak (which now seems
fixed, BTW).

3) You can try running pan from a terminal window and see if it leaves any
error messages behind when it crashes.

4) If neither of those provide a lead to followup on, consider running pan
under gdb (you'll want to ensure it's not stripped of debugging symbols at
compile), or possibly using strace.  Strace won't provide as detailed an
info as basically all it does is hook in where the app calls the system,
but it doesn't require an unstripped binary as gdb does for anything
useful, and /might/ provide what's needed.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman