[da-anda]

note that current master has a bug and will crash on startup if you have addons with empty tags in the addon.xml. This PR should fix it https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/5030 in case Milhouse is up to a new build

[cyrils]

Hi, hope I'm doing this ok..

I usually use beta 4.06 so it's tough finding the last version that works trouble free.

http://sprunge.us/diPQ (13/07/14) #0713 - This build is rebooting after loading EPG data from client.

http://sprunge.us/gjfN (11/07/14) #0711 - This version locks up at the XBMC logo.

http://sprunge.us/WjbM (10/07/14) #0710 - This one's locking up too like the one above

The 0706 one is also locking up at the XBMC splash screen.. going back to 4.06

edit.. ok just noticed da-anda's post.. that explains the lockups..

[Forage]

Build #0713 as well as #0714 are downloading TV Show episode details every time you view the information page. Both builds also make XBMC crash every time when starting to play an episode, even episodes that have been playing fine in the past.

Tested file are h264 MKV files. Movies of the same type cause no problems.
Do note that I did skip a few builds. The last one I that worked fine would be of a week or two ago.

What is going wrong here? Does it happen to be a known issue with a work-around?

Is it safe to revert to an older build even though the recent builds have db updates?

[popcornmix]

Is it safe to revert to an older build even though the recent builds have db updates?

Should be fine. Old databases are left behind when they update.
If you run an old build it will use the old database.
An old build will never try to use a newer database than it was designed for, so it can't break your newest database.

But as it's so easy to backup an sdcard (with dd or win32diskimager), then it makes sense to backup first just in case.

[Milhouse]

The PRs discussed above have all been merged into either mainline or newclock3, and my new test build now has xbmc.bin crashing (seg fault) after about 30 seconds. I'll try and track down the culprit but it will take some time...

[Milhouse]

New OpenELEC Helix build: #0714b
(Supercedes previous build)

Code:

# uname -a
Linux rpi512 3.15.5 #1 PREEMPT Mon Jul 14 20:54:12 BST 2014 armv6l GNU/Linux

# vcgencmd version
Jul  5 2014 19:03:42
Copyright (c) 2012 Broadcom
version cb433d55f9f5b29b59968019e3b54802894af489 (clean) (release)

# lsb_release
OpenELEC_Helix (Milhouse) - Version: devel-20140714224300-r18733-g78c03dc

Based on tip of OpenELEC master (78c03dc, changelog) and tip of XBMC master (02eacc8, changelog) with the following modifications:

• Includes newclock3 patches
  
• Excludes the OpenELEC fernetmenta patches due to conflicts with newclock3
  
• Excludes the OpenELEC linux-01-RPi_support patch in favour of sourcing these and possibly more recent patches directly from kernel branch rpi-3.15.y
  
• Excludes the OpenELEC xbmc-master-newclock3 patch in favour of sourcing these and possibly more recent patches directly from newclock3 branch
  
• Default setting for "Show RSS Feed" changed to disabled
  
• Disabled "Total Duration" in Confluence (see build #0221 for details)
  
• ALSA is enabled and any suitable hardware should be available in XBMC Audio Settings
  
• FIQ FSM is enabled by default. See initial post for more details.
  
• Includes RPi-specific libCEC commits from mk01/libcec. See build #0527 for details. Also double-key suppression.
  
• Increase scan interval of PeripBusCEC from 5000 to 60000, reducing CPU loading by about 2% (1GHz Pi) every 5 seconds (even when CEC is "disabled")
  
• Includes libnfs master with directory caching and file read-ahead support
  
• Enable zram with LZ4 compression as a kernel module. See guide. See post #605 for config patch.
  
• Includes PR4990: Allow larger font size
  

Build Highlights:

WARNING: Due to recent XBMC commits, this build may crash (seg fault) during startup. This is most likely due to missing null pointer checks that still need to be added to the code (eg. PR5030, PR5032). One addon that causes a problem is skin.grab.fanart, so move that out of your addon folder until safe to move it back.
@fightnight: PR4990 included

1. OpenELEC:
   • libssh: build without server support
     
2. XBMC:
   • Stdstring removal part2 (PR:4987, 27 commits, 683 files changed)
     
   • Fix for errors in log after fa9f662af783033c21f5f40f07b563fa843ae799 (PR:5028, 1 commit, 1 file changed)
     
   • [addons] fix addon settings not showing up (lsep, sep) (PR:5025, 1 commit, 1 file changed)
     
   • [pvr] bump api to 1.9.1 (PR:5012, 2 commits, 4 files changed)
     
   • [videodatabase] use fileid from videoinfotag when available (PR:5026, 1 commit, 1 file changed)
     
   • [stdtring] - fix implicit std:tring c'tor with NULL argument (PR:5030, 1 commit, 1 file changed)
     
   • [rar] add a callback class for unrarlib rather than calling into guilib (PR:5000, 2 commits, 7 files changed)
     
   • [3D] add support for stereomode detection of other codecs than MKV (PR:4702, 1 commit, 2 files changed)
     
   • quell clang warning: don't use strFileName twice.
     
3. newclock3:
   • check key is non-null before use (PR5032)
     
4. kernel 3.15.y:
   • pinctrl: add bcm2708 driver
     
   • Merge pull request #635 from notro/pinctrl
     

[Milhouse]

If anyone experiences crashes with #0714b and wants to try a debug build, the link is here.

It's a bit of a nightmare to run under gdb, as I had drop gpu_mem to 96MB (and noram in cmdline.txt) in order to have enough RAM to capture a full backtrace.

Stop xbmc.bin with "systemctl stop xbmc" and then see here for instructions on how to start and capture a backtrace. Posting a backtrace will help nail down crash bugs quicker.

[Milhouse]

I've uploaded another debug build, #0715b, that is basically the same as #0714b but includes PR5034, fixing the segmentation fault when running script.grab.fanart (and possibly others).

Please test this build and if you experience more crashes then paste a backtrace and hopefully someone (most probably @jmarshallnz) will be able to pinpoint where the fix needs to be applied. Without a backtrace this is much more difficult, if not impossible.

Apart from being significantly bigger than a regular build (260MB vs. 117MB) due to all the debug symbols etc., it should behave the same as a regular (non-debug) build, maybe running a little bit slower.

However, when run under gdb (the Linux debugger) it will allow a backtrace to be obtained. You'll only need to run it under gdb if you want a backtrace, otherwise install and run it as you would a non-debug build.

It won't be possible to run this build under gdb on a 256MB board, but running without gdb should work (probably).

Once we're happy that the recent changes are no longer causing a problem I'll switch back to non-debug builds.

To capture a backtrace with gdb:

1. Make as much RAM available as possible. Ways to increase available RAM include:
   • Addding "noram" to /flash/cmdline.txt to stop OpenELEC loading the SYSTEM image into RAM
     
   • Dropping gpu_mem as low as possible, eg. 96
     
   • Running the GUI at 720p and disabling higher quality textures
     
   • Adding 128MB of swap might help, but is very slow and the Pi might appear to freeze when using swap
     
2. If necessary, reboot with the new memory configuration set in #1
   
3. Execute the following in ssh:
   
   Code:

   systemctl stop xbmc
gdb /usr/lib/xbmc/xbmc.bin
4. In gdb, execute the following commands:
   
   Code:

   thread apply all bt
run --standalone -fs
5. Once the crash occurs and control returns to gdb, execute the following command to output the backtrace:
   
   Code:

   bt

See here for a worked example.

[da-anda]

debuging of the CStdString removal related bugs is probably easier to do on other platforms - at least the debugging of core parts that are not platform specific. So if you also have XBMC running on a different platform and like to help, maybe try catching the backtrace there if it's easier for you.

[fightnight]

@fightnight: PR4990 included

Thank you. Much much better. I recommend this for those who use composite video.

[Forage]

I've uploaded another debug build, #0715b, that is basically the same as #0714b but includes PR5034, fixing the segmentation fault when running script.grab.fanart (and possibly others).

It fails to update with a "Checking size: FAILED".

[Forage]

New OpenELEC Helix build: #0714b

TV Show episodes play again, but details are still being downloaded on the fly, every time I view the episode information.
Is this new behaviour for TV Shows? Does anyone else experience this behaviour? It's quite annoying when having default "OK" button behaviour set to displaying movie/episode information.

[ramekers]

@fightnight: PR4990 included

Thank you. Much much better. I recommend this for those who use composite video.

Hello fightnight,
I installed the latest build with PR4990 included, but don't see any change in font size;
what do I have to do to set the font to a bigger one ??

[fightnight]

Settings->Appearance->Skin-> Fonts change to Larger font size

[Milhouse]

It fails to update with a "Checking size: FAILED".

That means your /flash partition is too small for these larger debug builds.