Bug 163335 - Linux (qt6): crash whenever selecting text using cursor or keyboard going from right to left
Summary: Linux (qt6): crash whenever selecting text using cursor or keyboard going fro...
Status: ASSIGNED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
24.8.2.1 release
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Linux (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Michael Weghorn
URL:
Whiteboard: target:25.8.0
Keywords: accessibility
Depends on:
Blocks: a11y, Accessibility Crash Qt6
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2024-10-07 05:42 UTC by kristian.akhurst
Modified: 2025-01-14 14:24 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Backtrace from running office in debug mode (33.51 KB, text/plain)
2024-11-02 21:08 UTC, kristian.akhurst
Details

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Description kristian.akhurst 2024-10-07 05:42:39 UTC
Writer: Crash whenever selecting text using cursor or keyboard going from right to left.

Operating System: CachyOS Linux 
KDE Plasma Version: 6.1.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.6.0
Qt Version: 6.7.3
Kernel Version: 6.11.2-5-cachyos (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 16 × 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-11700 @ 2.50GHz
Memory: 62.7 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti/PCIe/SSE2

Version: 24.8.2.1 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: d9536723ce640b70ba821dfcf645a2e946c0bf76
CPU threads: 16; OS: Linux 6.11; UI render: default; VCL: kf6 (cairo+wayland)
Locale: en-AU (en_GB.UTF-8); UI: en-US
24.8.2-1.1
Calc: CL threaded

**Steps to reproduce:**

1. Open Writer
2. Write any text
3. Hold 'Shift' and use 'left arrow' to highlight backwards
4. Writer crashes.

Alt. Using mouse cursor to select text, right to left will crash Writer.

So far recovery has been perfect but the crash happens every time.

**Expected Results:** 
Writer does not crash when selecting text.
Comment 1 Julien Nabet 2024-10-07 11:28:59 UTC
On pc Debian x86-64 with master sources updated today or with LO Debian package 24.8.2.1 + kf6 rendering, I don't reproduce this.

Could you try https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/FirstSteps ?
If you still reproduce the crash, would it be possible you retrieve a backtrace? (see https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/BugReport/Debug_Information#GNU/Linux:_How_to_get_a_backtrace)
Comment 2 m_a_riosv 2024-10-07 20:12:42 UTC
Please test in safe mode, Menu/Help/Restart in Safe Mode
Comment 3 kristian.akhurst 2024-11-02 21:08:10 UTC
Created attachment 197359 [details]
Backtrace from running office in debug mode
Comment 4 kristian.akhurst 2024-11-02 21:12:28 UTC
Context; in debug mode writer crashes when attempting to launch from debug  enabled office launch window.

Some output from the console;

qt.accessibility.atspi: Subscription string not handled: "Window:Destroy:"
qt.accessibility.atspi: Could not find accessible on path: "/org/a11y/atspi/accessible/2147483648"
qt.accessibility.atspi: Could not find accessible on path: "/org/a11y/atspi/accessible/2147483648"
qt.accessibility.atspi: Could not find accessible on path: "/org/a11y/atspi/accessible/2147483648"
This plugin supports grabbing the mouse only for popup windows
This plugin supports grabbing the mouse only for popup windows

Possibly insinuating an accessibility setting issue?

First steps were followed before initial bug report;
- User profile appeared not to be corrupted
- Bug persisted in safe mode
- Reinstalling freshest version did not resolve the bug

Other attempts made;
- Uninstall Zotero suspecting the bridge plugin might be the issue. This did not resolve the issue.
Comment 5 QA Administrators 2024-11-03 03:16:20 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 6 Julien Nabet 2024-11-03 08:50:57 UTC
I didn't see anything relevant in the bt but perhaps missed it.
I must recognize I'm stuck here.
Comment 7 David 2024-11-21 22:30:28 UTC
This seems to have been fixed in version 24.8.3.
Comment 8 kristian.akhurst 2024-11-25 07:35:31 UTC
I am still experiencing this issue on 24.8.3.2

Version: 24.8.3.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 34c056405fc430dc0394ab15e41c1277807f8e9c
CPU threads: 16; OS: Linux 6.12; UI render: default; VCL: kf6 (cairo+wayland)
Locale: en-AU (en_GB.UTF-8); UI: en-US
24.8.3-1.1
Calc: CL threaded
Comment 9 David 2024-11-25 15:20:47 UTC
Maybe wayland or kf6 is making the difference. I'm still on kf5. 24.8.2 would crash every time, but I haven't had a single crash when selecting with 24.8.3 in the manner described.
Comment 10 Michael Weghorn 2025-01-09 15:52:21 UTC
I can reproduce, but for me, this only happens when the Orca screen reader is running (causing accessibility to be active).

Happens with both, wayland and X11.

Version: 25.8.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 4c8905a25af4585bc4077a1ab0e52e25eb398e83
CPU threads: 32; OS: Linux 6.12; UI render: default; VCL: qt6 (cairo+wayland)
Locale: en-GB (en_GB.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: CL threaded

Version: 25.8.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 4c8905a25af4585bc4077a1ab0e52e25eb398e83
CPU threads: 32; OS: Linux 6.12; UI render: default; VCL: qt6 (cairo+xcb)
Locale: en-GB (en_GB.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: CL threaded
Comment 11 kristian.akhurst 2025-01-10 00:29:58 UTC
I have Orca screen reader installed also, so I think that's a compelling reason^
Comment 12 Michael Weghorn 2025-01-10 14:32:34 UTC
(In reply to kristian.akhurst from comment #11)
> I have Orca screen reader installed also, so I think that's a compelling
> reason^

Thanks for the additional info.
To mention it: The gtk3 VCL plugin (whose use can be forced by setting the SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gtk3 environment variable) currently provides the best screen reader experience on Linux.

But the crash should of course be fixed anyway. I plan to take a look.
Comment 13 Michael Weghorn 2025-01-14 11:20:38 UTC
Pending workaround to fix the crash in our Qt a11y bridge, similar to how it's done elsewhere (like for gtk3):
https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/180228

I intend to backport that one for release branches (LO 25.2, LO 24.8) as well.

Series of changes meant to address the underlying issue in Writer (currently intended for master only):

https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/180231
Comment 14 Commit Notification 2025-01-14 14:24:44 UTC
Michael Weghorn committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/3eaa35e8bacc19a85f5c9d907450846bfa8bffae

tdf#163335 qt a11y: Work around broken sw selection handling

It will be available in 25.8.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.