VLC 1.1.7/openSUSE 11.3 having Floating point exception problem

[Bryant]

Recently I have upgraded my VLC from 1.1.5 to 1.1.7. I have openSUSE Linux 11.3 Gnome via the VLC repo. Since then I am unable to start the VLC anymore. I even tried launching with the command line. I got the below code:

VLC media player 1.1.7 The Luggage (revision exported)                                                                        
Blocked: call to unsetenv("DBUS_ACTIVATION_ADDRESS")                                                                          
Blocked: call to unsetenv("DBUS_ACTIVATION_BUS_TYPE")                                                                         
Blocked: call to setlocale(6, "")
Warning: call to srand(1296087532)
Warning: call to rand()
[0x80503fc] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.

Floating point exception

What should I do know?

[$tatic]

If you have openSuSE 11.3, kernel 2.6.37, nvidia 260.19.36 with vlc 1.1.7 and vlc 1.2.0 from the videoLAN then it is difficult to debug. The reason behind this is that both versions run when started in debugger. Try running gdp vlc, it will work properly. But before that you will get many complaints related to missing packages. I think it means that there is somewhere race conditions.

[CitricAcid]

While trying launching use the below command. Add it before launching.
vlc --verbose 2
After that you will get output same as below that I have mentioned for you. If your output is similar to this output then your VLC will start working as before without causing running issues.

VLC media player 1.1.7 The Luggage (revision exported)
[0x80503fc] main libvlc debug: VLC media player - 1.1.7 The Luggage
[0x80503fc] main libvlc debug: Copyright © 1996-2011 the VideoLAN team
[0x80503fc] main libvlc debug: revision exported
[0x80503fc] main libvlc debug: configured with ./configure  '--host=i686-pc-linux-gnu' '--build=i686-pc-linux-gnu' '--program-prefix=' '--prefix=/usr' '--exec-prefix=/usr'….
[0x80eb9ec] main interface debug: TIMER module_need() : 1.000 ms - Total 1.000 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1.000 ms)
[0x80ed4d4] main interface debug: looking for interface module: 5 candidates
[0x80e7854] main playlist debug: rebuilding array of current - root
[0x80e7854] main playlist debug: rebuild done - 0 items, index -1

[Blazej]

Yes you can try gdb, Your VLC will start running properly. Don’t worry it won’t crash. Just you will get the below code. Take the reference and compare it with your output.

GNU gdb (GDB) SUSE (7.1-3.12)
Copyright (C) 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
This GDB was configured as "i586-suse-linux".
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/>...
Reading symbols from /usr/bin/vlc...

[sergioKomic]

There is possibility of crash if you use the above code. Use strace vlc code instead of gdb. I am suggesting you because I have personally tried this. I got the below code:

writev(4, [{"l\0\v\0\0\0\22\0\20\0\0\0", 12}, {"", 0}, {"MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1", 18}, {"\0\0", 2}, {"XXp\363I3\vfM\214\312V\te,\30", 16}, {"", 0}], 6) = 48
read(4, "\1\0\v\0\0\0+\2", 8)           = 8
read(4, "\200\313\244\0\0\0\340\3\377\377\37\0\0\1\0\0\24\0\377\377\1\7\0\0  \10\377\0\0\0\0"..., 2220) = 2220
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN|POLLOUT}], 1, -1) = 1 ([{fd=4, revents=POLLOUT}])
writev(4, [{"b\0\5\0\f\0\0\0BIG-REQUESTS", 20}], 1) = 20
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN}], 1, -1)    = 1 ([{fd=4, revents=POLLIN}])
read(4, "\1\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\1\221\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0", 4096) = 32
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN|POLLOUT}], 1, -1) = 1 ([{fd=4, revents=POLLOUT}])
writev(4, [{"\221\0\1\0", 4}], 1)       = 4
poll([{fd=4, events=POLLIN}], 1, -1)    = 1 ([{fd=4, revents=POLLIN}])………..
writev(13, [{"GIOP\1\2\1\5\0\0\0\0", 12}], 1) = 12
close(13)                               = 0
close(12)                               = 0
close(11)                               = 0
unlink("/tmp/orbit-gabi/linc-2577-0-17b764123444") = 0
close(14)                               = 0
write(7, "@", 1)                        = 1
close(7)                                = 0
close(6)                                = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGCHLD, {SIG_DFL, [], SA_NOCLDSTOP}, {0xb609b200, [], SA_NOCLDSTOP}, 8) = 0
exit_group(0)

However, in this case my vlc started without problem.

[!const]

It also works with "valgrind vlc" or "gdb vlc". Remember you have to add vlc after valgrind and gdb or else you may crash it.

• linux-xyb3:~> valgrind vlc
• ==10271== Memcheck, a memory error detector
• ==10271== Copyright (C) 2002-2010, and GNU GPL'd, by Julian Seward et al.
• ==10271== Using Valgrind-3.6.1 and LibVEX; rerun with -h for copyright info
• ==10271== Command: vlc
• ==10271==
• VLC media player 1.1.9 The Luggage (revision exported)
• ==10272==
• ==10272== HEAP SUMMARY:
• ==10272== in use at exit: 72 bytes in 2 blocks
• ==10272== total heap usage: 415 allocs, 413 frees, 18,481 bytes allocated
• ==10272==

[void]

If none of those work then the only option remaining with you is that roll back your VLC again back to VLC to 1.1.5 from 1.1.7. I think there is no option for roll back. You have to first uninstall the VLC 1.1.7 and then install VLC 1.1.5. After doing that your problem will be solved. Your VLC will start running properly. There might be some problem with VLC 1.1.7.