Debian Bug report logs - #765828
x11-utils: xprop -spy leaks memory

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Christophe Rhodes <csr21@cantab.net>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: x11-utils: xprop -spy leaks memory

Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 15:34:59 +0100

Package: x11-utils
Version: 7.7+2
Severity: important

Dear Maintainer,

pulseaudio-start-x11 uses xprop -root -spy to detect the existence of the
root window (and to kill the pulseaudio session when the x11 session exits).
Unfortunately, xprop -root -spy leaks memory on any property change, as far
as I can see.

This was reported to debian mailing lists here:
<http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.debian.devel.pulseaudio/4456>
but I couldn't find a bug reported anywhere.  At present, in an X session that
is around a month old, the single persistent xprop process, whose parent is
pulseaudio-start-x11, is consuming nearly 600MB of resident memory.

Best wishes,

Christophe

-- System Information:
Debian Release: jessie/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (900, 'unstable'), (900, 'stable'), (500, 'testing'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 3.16-1-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages x11-utils depends on:
ii  libc6                     2.19-11
ii  libfontconfig1            2.11.0-6.1
ii  libfontenc1               1:1.1.2-1
ii  libfreetype6              2.5.2-1.1
ii  libgl1-mesa-glx [libgl1]  10.2.6-1
ii  libx11-6                  2:1.6.2-3
ii  libx11-xcb1               2:1.6.2-3
ii  libxaw7                   2:1.0.12-2
ii  libxcb-shape0             1.10-3
ii  libxcb1                   1.10-3
ii  libxcomposite1            1:0.4.4-1
ii  libxext6                  2:1.3.2-1
ii  libxft2                   2.3.2-1
ii  libxi6                    2:1.7.4-1
ii  libxinerama1              2:1.1.3-1
ii  libxmu6                   2:1.1.2-1
ii  libxmuu1                  2:1.1.2-1
ii  libxrandr2                2:1.4.2-1
ii  libxrender1               1:0.9.8-1
ii  libxt6                    1:1.1.4-1
ii  libxtst6                  2:1.2.2-1
ii  libxv1                    2:1.0.10-1
ii  libxxf86dga1              2:1.1.4-1
ii  libxxf86vm1               1:1.1.3-1

x11-utils recommends no packages.

Versions of packages x11-utils suggests:
ii  mesa-utils  8.2.0-1

-- no debconf information

Message #10 received at 765828@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Julien Cristau <jcristau@debian.org>

To: Christophe Rhodes <csr21@cantab.net>, 765828@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#765828: x11-utils: xprop -spy leaks memory

Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 18:18:13 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On Sat, Oct 18, 2014 at 15:34:59 +0100, Christophe Rhodes wrote:

> Package: x11-utils
> Version: 7.7+2
> Severity: important
> 
> Dear Maintainer,
> 
> pulseaudio-start-x11 uses xprop -root -spy to detect the existence of the
> root window (and to kill the pulseaudio session when the x11 session exits).
> Unfortunately, xprop -root -spy leaks memory on any property change, as far
> as I can see.
> 
> This was reported to debian mailing lists here:
> <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.debian.devel.pulseaudio/4456>
> but I couldn't find a bug reported anywhere.  At present, in an X session that
> is around a month old, the single persistent xprop process, whose parent is
> pulseaudio-start-x11, is consuming nearly 600MB of resident memory.
> 
I replied to that report at the time, and I'm going to make the same
reply now.  Somebody needs to send the patch to the xorg-devel list to
get it reviewed/applied upstream.

Cheers,
Julien

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Message #15 received at 765828@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Christophe Rhodes <csr21@cantab.net>

To: Julien Cristau <jcristau@debian.org>

Cc: 765828@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#765828: x11-utils: xprop -spy leaks memory

Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 18:50:05 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Julien Cristau <jcristau@debian.org> writes:

> On Sat, Oct 18, 2014 at 15:34:59 +0100, Christophe Rhodes wrote:
>
>> This was reported to debian mailing lists here:
>> <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.debian.devel.pulseaudio/4456>
>> but I couldn't find a bug reported anywhere.  At present, in an X session that
>> is around a month old, the single persistent xprop process, whose parent is
>> pulseaudio-start-x11, is consuming nearly 600MB of resident memory.
>> 
> I replied to that report at the time, and I'm going to make the same
> reply now.  Somebody needs to send the patch to the xorg-devel list to
> get it reviewed/applied upstream.

OK.  Who is that "somebody"?

I have some kind of a working relationship with my distributor: I try to
contribute bug reports, to help out with upstream software that I'm
familiar with, and to record problems and potential problems that I
encounter with software that I'm less familiar with.  I consider logging
this bug a (small) contribution to making Debian better, not least
because at the moment it looks like Debian might release with the
default desktop being effectively unusable after about a month's
operation on lowish-memory machines.

I have no working relationship with the upstream software developers.  I
have no desire to subscribe to the xorg-devel list, to work out where it
actually is, to learn the community norms, to lobby for the patch or
other remedy; I don't even know whether it's by design that xprop leaks
memory ("#ifdef notused" suggests that it might be), and I do not
consider myself competent to argue either way.  What happens if
xorg-devel says "oh, right, let's disable the -spy option"?  I simply do
not have time to open that can of worms for myself.

So, I wonder, where can I find a team of people who are interested in
the quality of the x11 software as shipped in Debian?  Who (probably) do
already have some kind of working relationship with the upstream
software developers?  Who (probably) know where the relevant mailing
lists live, how to engage with the developers, how to negotiate the
optimal outcome?  Where could such a team be found?  Well, maybe there
isn't one, in which case I will work around the problem; but if
submitting a bug in software that Debian distributes and executes by
default isn't one step on the road to improving the situation, I'm
sorry.

In case it's not clear through the sarcasm: if your response indicates
that no-one in the debian-x maintainers is going to take this forward, I
will be sorry, but I will not be doing it myself either.  Now, please
excuse me; I must go and do the washing up.

Christophe

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Message #20 received at 765828@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Jeff Nowakowski <jeff@dilacero.org>

To: 765828@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: x11-utils: xprop -spy leaks memory

Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2014 14:54:44 -0500

I just ran across this bug after seeing "xprop -root -spy" at 1.8 GB
on my desktop, which has been running 30 days. This definitely needs
to be addressed.

Hello maintainers:

https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers-reference/developer-duties

"3.1.4. Coordination with upstream developers

A big part of your job as Debian maintainer will be to stay in contact
with the upstream developers. Debian users will sometimes report bugs
that are not specific to Debian to our bug tracking system. You have
to forward these bug reports to the upstream developers so that they
can be fixed in a future upstream release.

While it's not your job to fix non-Debian specific bugs, you may
freely do so if you're able. When you make such fixes, be sure to pass
them on to the upstream maintainers as well. Debian users and
developers will sometimes submit patches to fix upstream bugs -- you
should evaluate and forward these patches upstream."

Message #25 received at 765828@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Michael Gilbert <mgilbert@debian.org>

To: 765828@bugs.debian.org

Subject: pulseaudio xprop issue

Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 02:30:15 -0500

Christophe Rhodes wrote:
> In case it's not clear through the sarcasm: if your response indicates
> that no-one in the debian-x maintainers is going to take this forward, I
> will be sorry, but I will not be doing it myself either.  Now, please
> excuse me; I must go and do the washing up.

It's somewhat easy to avoid the problem altogether.  Just remove the
pulseaudio-module-x11 package.

Best wishes,
Mike

Message #30 received at 765828@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: DesDZ <desdz666@gmail.com>

To: 765828@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: x11-utils: xprop -spy leaks memory

Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 02:27:20 +0100

This bug still bites... Hard !

Here's a workaround. Open the file /usr/bin/start-pulseaudio-x11, and
replace the line :

        /usr/bin/xprop -root -spy > /dev/null 2>&1 || true
with
        /usr/bin/xprop -root -spy WM_____ > /dev/null 2>&1 || true

This tells xprop to "spy" on an non-existent property and won't store
anything to memory.

Still, xprop should definitely be fixed, because this is DIRTY, and will
most probably not survive a pulseaudio upgrade.

Message #35 received at 765828@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Simon Ruggier <Simon.Ruggier@gmail.com>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <765828@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: Me too

Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2016 12:20:52 -0400

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Package: x11-utils
Version: 7.7+2
Followup-For: Bug #765828

I also can confirm this is still an issue. I don't know how exactly how old
my process was
(35 days, most likely), but it was using 1.2GB of memory.



-- System Information:
Debian Release: 8.4
  APT prefers stable-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable'), (102, 'testing'),
(101, 'unstable'), (100, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 3.16.0-4-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_CA.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_CA.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: sysvinit (via /sbin/init)

Versions of packages x11-utils depends on:
ii  libc6                     2.19-18+deb8u4
ii  libfontconfig1            2.11.0-6.3
ii  libfontenc1               1:1.1.2-1+b2
ii  libfreetype6              2.5.2-3+deb8u1
ii  libgl1-mesa-glx [libgl1]  10.3.2-1+deb8u1
ii  libx11-6                  2:1.6.2-3
ii  libx11-xcb1               2:1.6.2-3
ii  libxaw7                   2:1.0.12-2+b1
ii  libxcb-shape0             1.10-3+b1
ii  libxcb1                   1.10-3+b1
ii  libxcomposite1            1:0.4.4-1
ii  libxext6                  2:1.3.3-1
ii  libxft2                   2.3.2-1
ii  libxi6                    2:1.7.4-1+b2
ii  libxinerama1              2:1.1.3-1+b1
ii  libxmu6                   2:1.1.2-1
ii  libxmuu1                  2:1.1.2-1
ii  libxrandr2                2:1.4.2-1+b1
ii  libxrender1               1:0.9.8-1+b1
ii  libxt6                    1:1.1.4-1+b1
ii  libxtst6                  2:1.2.2-1+b1
ii  libxv1                    2:1.0.10-1+b1
ii  libxxf86dga1              2:1.1.4-1+b1
ii  libxxf86vm1               1:1.1.3-1+b1

x11-utils recommends no packages.

Versions of packages x11-utils suggests:
ii  mesa-utils  8.2.0-1

-- no debconf information

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #40 received at 765828@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: "Yuriy M. Kaminskiy" <yumkam@gmail.com>

To: 765828@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: x11-utils: xprop -spy leaks memory

Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2016 02:15:47 +0300

Control: tags -1 fixed-upstream
thanks

This bug should be fixed upstream by commits from
4f748e3d2b1368ec0590a413ba5f7addc5e3344f
to
fa732adbbf5e29f4bb230e9b7c0c91ccb4b5af7e
(not yet in any released version, AFAIK).

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