Fedora Upgrade Blues

[n2ize]

Okay, yesterday I upgraded my "test system" from Fedora 20 to Fedora 21. The upgrade went smooth and "everything" works, except for a couple of issues.

First issue... On my main system I often run a train simulator called "OpenBve". Since it is a windows program it is run under Linux via "mono". On Fedora 19 and 20 it worked flawlessly. On upgrading to Fedora 21 it is completely broken and won't even start. Here is the stacktrace and debugging output.



[john@localhost openbve]$ mono OpenBve.exe
Stacktrace:

at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Drawing.GDIPlus.GdipLoadImageFromFile (string,intptr&) <0xffffffff>
at System.Drawing.Image.FromFile (string,bool) <0x0005b>
at System.Drawing.Image.FromFile (string) <0x0000f>
at OpenBve.formMain.LoadImage (string,string) <0x00037>
at OpenBve.formMain.formMain_Load (object,System.EventArgs) <0x00c9f>
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad (System.EventArgs) <0x00075>
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoadInternal (System.EventArgs) <0x0007f>
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl () <0x00053>
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl () <0x00127>
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow (System.Windows.Forms.Message&) <0x00193>
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc (System.Windows.Forms.Message&) <0x002c7>
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc (System.Windows.Forms.Message&) <0x00013>
at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc (System.Windows.Forms.Message&) <0x0005b>
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc (System.Windows.Forms.Message&) <0x0024f>
at System.Windows.Forms.Control/ControlWindowTarget.OnMessage (System.Windows.Forms.Message&) <0x00024>
at System.Windows.Forms.Control/ControlNativeWindow.WndProc (System.Windows.Forms.Message&) <0x00036>
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.WndProc (intptr,System.Windows.Forms.Msg,intptr,intptr) <0x002f0>
at System.Windows.Forms.XplatUIX11.SendMessage (intptr,System.Windows.Forms.Msg,intptr,intptr) <0x00313>
at System.Windows.Forms.XplatUIX11.MapWindow (System.Windows.Forms.Hwnd,System.Windows.Forms.Wi ndowType) <0x001fb>
at System.Windows.Forms.XplatUIX11.CreateWindow (System.Windows.Forms.CreateParams) <0x00d53>
at System.Windows.Forms.XplatUI.CreateWindow (System.Windows.Forms.CreateParams) <0x00024>
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.CreateHandle (System.Windows.Forms.CreateParams) <0x0003f>
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateHandle () <0x00069>
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.CreateHandle () <0x0001b>
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl () <0x00087>
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.SetVisibleCore (bool) <0x0009f>
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.SetVisibleCore (bool) <0x002ef>
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.set_Visible (bool) <0x00032>
at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.Windows.Forms.Control.set_Visible (bool) <0xffffffff>
at System.Windows.Forms.Application.RunLoop (bool,System.Windows.Forms.ApplicationContext) <0x002b3>
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.ShowDialog (System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window) <0x0079f>
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.ShowDialog () <0x0000f>
at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.Windows.Forms.Form.ShowDialog () <0xffffffff>
at OpenBve.formMain.ShowMainDialog (OpenBve.formMain/MainDialogResult) <0x00133>
at OpenBve.Program.Main (string[]) <0x00a17>
at (wrapper runtime-invoke) <Module>.runtime_invoke_void_object (object,intptr,intptr,intptr) <0xffffffff>

Native stacktrace:

mono() [0x49e695]
mono() [0x4f09bb]
mono() [0x421fdd]
/lib64/libpthread.so.0(+0x100d0) [0x7f0369ce30d0]
/lib64/libgdiplus.so.0(+0x418b9) [0x7f03613dd8b9]
/lib64/libgdiplus.so.0(GdipLoadImageFromFile+0x1ad) [0x7f03613c0cdd]
[0x403bd20e]

Debug info from gdb:

Mono support loaded.
Mono support loaded.
[New LWP 2687]
[New LWP 2686]
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/lib64/libthread_db.so.1".
0x00007f0369ce21cd in read () from /lib64/libpthread.so.0
Id Target Id Frame
3 Thread 0x7f036318b700 (LWP 2686) "mono" 0x00007f0369cdf590 in pthread_cond_wait@@GLIBC_2.3.2 () from /lib64/libpthread.so.0
2 Thread 0x7f03624c1700 (LWP 2687) "mono" 0x00007f0369ce1710 in sem_wait () from /lib64/libpthread.so.0
* 1 Thread 0x7f036a7f2740 (LWP 2685) "mono" 0x00007f0369ce21cd in read () from /lib64/libpthread.so.0

Thread 3 (Thread 0x7f036318b700 (LWP 2686)):
#0 0x00007f0369cdf590 in pthread_cond_wait@@GLIBC_2.3.2 () at /lib64/libpthread.so.0
#1 0x00000000005ed3a3 in GC_wait_marker ()
#2 0x00000000005f1939 in GC_help_marker ()
#3 0x00000000005ebb27 in GC_mark_thread ()
#4 0x00007f0369cda52a in start_thread () at /lib64/libpthread.so.0
#5 0x00007f03697ff79d in clone () at /lib64/libc.so.6

Thread 2 (Thread 0x7f03624c1700 (LWP 2687)):
#0 0x00007f0369ce1710 in sem_wait () at /lib64/libpthread.so.0
#1 0x00000000005d7086 in mono_sem_wait ()
#2 0x00000000005a30cb in finalizer_thread ()
#3 0x0000000000542fef in start_wrapper ()
#4 0x00000000005c41a6 in thread_start_routine ()
#5 0x00000000005ecfe6 in GC_start_routine ()
#6 0x00007f0369cda52a in start_thread () at /lib64/libpthread.so.0
#7 0x00007f03697ff79d in clone () at /lib64/libc.so.6

Thread 1 (Thread 0x7f036a7f2740 (LWP 2685)):
#0 0x00007f0369ce21cd in read () at /lib64/libpthread.so.0
#1 0x000000000049e82b in mono_handle_native_sigsegv ()
#2 0x00000000004f09bb in mono_arch_handle_altstack_exception ()
#3 0x0000000000421fdd in mono_sigsegv_signal_handler ()
#4 0x00007f0369ce30d0 in <signal handler called> () at /lib64/libpthread.so.0
#5 0x00007f03613dd8b9 in gdip_load_png_image_from_file_or_stream () at /lib64/libgdiplus.so.0
#6 0x00007f03613c0cdd in GdipLoadImageFromFile () at /lib64/libgdiplus.so.0
#7 0x00000000403bd20e in ()
#8 0x0000000000a73750 in ()
#9 0x00007f0353a7b0e0 in ()
#10 0x00007fffac264dd8 in ()
#11 0x0000000040e56418 in ()
#12 0x0000000000000017 in ()
#13 0x00007fffac264e80 in ()
#14 0x00007fffac264d90 in ()
#15 0x00007f0353a1c750 in ()
#16 0x00007f0353a1c750 in ()
#17 0x00007f0353a7b0e0 in ()
#18 0x00007f0353a7b0e0 in ()
#19 0x00000000403bd14c in ()
#20 0x00007f0353a1c750 in ()
#21 0x00007f0356da7000 in ()
#22 0x0000000000000000 in ()

================================================== ===============
Got a SIGSEGV while executing native code. This usually indicates
a fatal error in the mono runtime or one of the native libraries
used by your application.
================================================== ===============

Aborted (core dumped)
[john@localhost openbve]$




Looks to me like it either has something to do with the newest version of "mono" itself or with the native "libgdiplus" which is used for loading images, or both. I want to fix this before I upgrade my main system to Fedora 21 since I enjoy running this program and even develop add-ons for it. Not sure what to do. Perhaps I can try downgrading to an earlier version of "mono" and "libgdiplus" and see what happens. This shouldn't be a problem since I only use mono to run this one application. Other possibility might be to build an earlier version of "mono" and whatever the offending native library may be, place them in a nonstandard location, i.e. /usr/local and make sure that OpenBve uses the older versions instead of the new versions. Any ideas, hints, suggestions from you Fedora guru's is appreciated...

Next issue concerns "apper" the KDE graphical software installer/updater. There are actually 2 problems which are apparently bugs.

1) If I try to click on a software group, such as "development tools" I get an error message that says,



Search groups not supported by backend


Apparently this is a bug in apper itself or is related to the "PackageKit" backend. According to documentation this bug is actively being worked on and will hopefully be fixed in an upcoming update.. Although I did an update today and apparently the new "apper" still has the same bug.

The other problem is a bit more obscure.

2) If I try to update or install software via apper I get the message..



cannot download Packages/m/mono-core-2.10.8-8.fc21.x86_64.rpm to /var/cache/PackageKit/metadata/fedora/packages/: Cannot download Packages/m/mono-core-2.10.8-8.fc21.x86_64.rpm:
All mirrors were tried


yet, if I install or update via the command line the old fashoned way using "$ yum install <name>" everything works fine and the downloads and installations work flawlessly. From what I read online this too may be a backend issue yet I cannot find any fix for this.

Have any of you Fedora + KDE users experienced these problems. Again, any info, ideas, fixes, hints etc. for fixing these threee issues (or any one of them) is apppreciated. Until I can fix these problems I am holding off on upgrading my main system to fedora 21.

[NM5TF]

I am not familiar with apper nor do I use KDE.....

I am using Gnome 3.14 & Fedora 20.....I had so many problems after upgrade to F21
that I purged the install & went back to F20....most concerned my nvidia card....

have you tried the app yum extender yet?.....it's a GUI for yum that is basically a
1 step update/package installer/remover......

[n2ize]

I am not familiar with apper nor do I use KDE.....

I am using Gnome 3.14 & Fedora 20.....I had so many problems after upgrade to F21
that I purged the install & went back to F20....most concerned my nvidia card....

have you tried the app yum extender yet?.....it's a GUI for yum that is basically a
1 step update/package installer/remover......

No but I might try yum extender. At least until "apper" is eventuually fixed. I'll give it a try. From what I gather the main issue is with PackageKit so it might also be a problem in GNOME as well.

My main concern however is getting my OpenBve train simulator working again. I might have to downgrade some packages and see if that fixes the issues. Worst case scenario I can repartition my drive, keeping a small partition for Fedora 20 and OpenBve and then install Fedora 21 on the remaining space. Or run Fedora 20 + OpenBve on a virtual machine. Problem is that OpenBve is not maintained as a Linux package and updates to it are extremely slow as it lives mainly in a Windows world.

Yeah, I know, Fedora upgrades often break stuff that was previously working perfect. Fedora is a bleeding edge proving ground and us users are the "test pilots".

[KC2UGV]

Sorry, but things like this are why I'm migrating away from systemd-based distros... Personally, I'd just use yum to do the software installations, or switch to Ubuntu because while it's systemd, it's not the RHEL alpha program.

[n2ize]

Sorry, but things like this are why I'm migrating away from systemd-based distros... Personally, I'd just use yum to do the software installations, or switch to Ubuntu because while it's systemd, it's not the RHEL alpha program.

For now I have no choice but to use yum directly on Fedora 21. Which is no problem since in the past I always did everything from the CLI via yum or rpm. Personally I like systemd but Fedora has a tendency to jump the gun and include things in a new distro that don't always work. Then again that's what Fedora is all about and why there is a new release every few months as well as continual updates.

Tomorrow I'll see if I can tackle the "mono/OpenBve" issue.

[n2ize]

Well, one good thing so far. I installed the "Flightgear" rpm's from the repositories and the new Flightgear works great. Even the automatic scenery installations/updates seem to work perfectly. In Fedora 19 they were problematic and in Fedora 20 they were broken completely. So now you can fly anywhere in the world and Flightgear will automatically download and install or update the scenery for your location.

Still working on a solution to the broken train sim.

[n2ize]

I am not familiar with apper nor do I use KDE.....

I am using Gnome 3.14 & Fedora 20.....I had so many problems after upgrade to F21
that I purged the install & went back to F20....most concerned my nvidia card....

have you tried the app yum extender yet?.....it's a GUI for yum that is basically a
1 step update/package installer/remover......

How did you go about downgrading from F21 to F20 ? Were you able to do it via yum or did you just do a re-install of F20. Not that I plan to downgrade but it's still good to know in the event I should run into major problems with a distro upgrade.

[NM5TF]

How did you go about downgrading from F21 to F20 ? Were you able to do it via yum or did you just do a re-install of F20. Not that I plan to downgrade but it's still good to know in the event I should run into major problems with a distro upgrade.

I deleted my F21 partition & re-installed F20....no big deal as F21 was giving me
lots of trouble, and I had not installed many packages anyway....will wait until
the nvidia card issues are resolved before proceeding to F21 again...

[n2ize]

I deleted my F21 partition & re-installed F20....no big deal as F21 was giving me
lots of trouble, and I had not installed many packages anyway....will wait until
the nvidia card issues are resolved before proceeding to F21 again...

Thanks. Oh BTW I installed yum-extender (from the yumex package) and it works fine. So the main problem on KDE/F21 seems to be the the KDE GUI instller/upgrader known as "apper". Apparently apper has some issues working with the new version of PackageKit. And while ther also seem to be some minor issues with PackageKit itself it is nothing that prevents other GUI installers from working with it. My guess it that they'll have it fixed in time for Fedora 22. But I am not in any hurry to jump to F22 untill later this spring or summer.