Bug#983873: retroarch: Menu freezes shortly after start

Pelle

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Mar 2, 2021, 10:20:03 AM3/2/21

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Package: retroarch
Version: 1.7.3+dfsg1-1.1+b2
Severity: grave
Justification: renders package unusable

Dear Maintainer,

When launching RetroArch, the menu freezes up instantly or after a couple of
seconds.

A work-around is to change the settings in .config/retroarch/retroarch.cfg
menu_driver = "rgui"
video_driver = "sdl2"

The issue appears to be resolved in v1.9.0 which is the version currently
available as flatpak.

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

Kernel: Linux 5.10.0-3-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU threads)
Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8),
LANGUAGE=en_US:en
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages retroarch depends on:
ii fonts-dejavu-core 2.37-2
ii libasound2 1.2.4-1.1
ii libavcodec58 7:4.3.2-0+deb11u1
ii libavformat58 7:4.3.2-0+deb11u1
ii libavutil56 7:4.3.2-0+deb11u1
ii libc6 2.31-9
ii libdrm2 2.4.104-1
ii libegl1 1.3.2-1
ii libfreetype6 2.10.4+dfsg-1
ii libgbm1 20.3.4-1
ii libgcc-s1 10.2.1-6
ii libgl1 1.3.2-1
ii libjack-jackd2-0 [libjack-0.125] 1.9.17~dfsg-1
ii libminiupnpc17 2.2.1-1
ii libopenal1 1:1.19.1-2
ii libpulse0 14.2-2
ii libqt5core5a 5.15.2+dfsg-5
ii libqt5gui5 5.15.2+dfsg-5
ii libqt5widgets5 5.15.2+dfsg-5
ii libretro-core-info 1.3.6+git20160816-1
ii libsdl2-2.0-0 2.0.14+dfsg2-3
ii libstdc++6 10.2.1-6
ii libswresample3 7:4.3.2-0+deb11u1
ii libswscale5 7:4.3.2-0+deb11u1
ii libudev1 247.3-1
ii libusb-1.0-0 2:1.0.24-2
ii libv4l-0 1.20.0-2
ii libwayland-client0 1.18.0-2~exp1.1
ii libwayland-cursor0 1.18.0-2~exp1.1
ii libwayland-egl1 1.18.0-2~exp1.1
ii libx11-6 2:1.7.0-2
ii libxext6 2:1.3.3-1.1
ii libxinerama1 2:1.1.4-2
ii libxkbcommon0 1.0.3-2
ii libxv1 2:1.0.11-1
ii libxxf86vm1 1:1.1.4-1+b2
ii retroarch-assets 1.3.6+git20160731+dfsg1-2
ii zlib1g 1:1.2.11.dfsg-2

retroarch recommends no packages.

retroarch suggests no packages.

Ryan Tandy

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Mar 11, 2021, 11:10:04 PM3/11/21

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Control: tag -1 moreinfo

Hello Pelle and thank you for reporting this retroarch issue.

On Tue, 02 Mar 2021 16:10:32 +0100 Pelle <pe...@riseup.net> wrote:
> When launching RetroArch, the menu freezes up instantly or after a couple of
> seconds.

This isn't happening on my system. I can use the menu normally, launch
content, etc.

Can you provide some more information about your environment? I'm using
X11 (not Wayland) on an Intel GPU. I also don't have any controller
connected, only mouse and keyboard.

Could you please run it as "retroarch --verbose" and post some or all of
the output up to the point where it freezes? There are also some
troubleshooting tips on the upstream site:
https://docs.libretro.com/guides/generating-retroarch-logs/

Would it be possible for you to install the debug symbols and capture a
backtrace when it's frozen?
https://wiki.debian.org/HowToGetABacktrace

> A work-around is to change the settings in .config/retroarch/retroarch.cfg
> menu_driver = "rgui"
> video_driver = "sdl2"

Just to confirm, I checked my config after starting it for the first
time, and I got these defaults:

menu_driver = "xmb"
video_driver = "gl"

and did not experience any freezes.

> The issue appears to be resolved in v1.9.0 which is the version currently
> available as flatpak.

If the 1.9.0 you tested was the flatpak, I wonder whether it's possible
for you to also to test a flatpak of 1.7.3, in case there is a relevant
difference in the build environment or the libraries used?

Thank you!

Ryan

Ryan Tandy

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Mar 12, 2021, 10:40:04 PM3/12/21

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Thank you for providing the additional info.

Are you using sway as compositor? I reproduced the freezing behaviour
when running under sway. In a GNOME session on Wayland, retroarch seems
to work fine.

If that is correct, I think I will downgrade the severity of this bug,
as retroarch is working on X11 and even on some Wayland setups - at
least Mutter which (in bullseye) still supports wl-shell.

The key part of the log:

On Fri, Mar 12, 2021 at 02:51:24PM +0100, Pelle wrote:
> [INFO] [Wayland]: Seat name: seat0.
> [INFO] [Wayland]: Physical width: 380 mm x 210 mm.
> [INFO] [Wayland]: Video mode: 1600 x 900 @ 60.0830 Hz.
> [INFO] [Wayland]: Setting buffer scale factor to 1.
> [ERROR] [Wayland]: Failed to create shell.
> [INFO] [GLX]: GLX_OML_sync_control and GLX_MESA_swap_control supported, using better swap control method...
> [INFO] [GL]: Found GL context: x
> [INFO] [GL]: Detecting screen resolution 1600x900.
> [INFO] [GLX]: Window manager is wlroots wm.

Running under GNOME, I got this instead:

[INFO] [Wayland]: Physical width: 330 mm x 210 mm.
[INFO] [Wayland]: Video mode: 1680 x 1050 @ 60.1080 Hz.
[INFO] [Wayland]: Setting buffer scale factor to 1.
[INFO] [Wayland]: Seat name: seat0.
[INFO] [EGL] Found EGL client version >= 1.5, trying eglGetPlatformDisplay
[INFO] [EGL]: EGL version: 1.4
[INFO] [Wayland]: Loaded keymap.
[INFO] [GL]: Found GL context: wayland

The message "Failed to create shell" helped me find what I think is the
corresponding upstream issue:

https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/issues/7064

PR#7607 is linked as fixing it but it sounds like there might have been
follow-up changes as well.

It's unfortunate that retroarch wasn't updated for bullseye, but I'm not
sure trying to backport the xdg-shell feature to this version of
retroarch is a good idea now that bullseye is in hard freeze.

thanks,
Ryan

Ryan Tandy

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Mar 13, 2021, 12:00:03 PM3/13/21

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On Sat, Mar 13, 2021 at 09:58:59AM +0100, Pelle wrote:
>I notice a similar bug in other packages in Debian Sid, such as
>ChessX. Would it make sense to report a bug with each of those
>packages, or would this be considered an issue with Sway / wlroots /
>xdg-shell?

Please report a separate bug against each package you have an issue
with. The maintainers will merge or reassign them if appropriate.