Ubuntu
vte package

Graphical corruption in gnome-terminal

Bug #120858 reported by Geoffrey Washburn
60
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
vte (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Medium
Ubuntu Desktop Bugs
xserver-xorg-video-ati (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: gnome-terminal

After upgrading to Feisty (7.04) I began having problems with gnome-terminal's display becoming corrupted. It is conceivable that this is instead a problem with my X server, but given that no other application or terminal has been exhibiting similar problems I expect it is probably something particular to how gnome-terminal is written. The most frequent problem is that when returning to a gnome-terminal window after switching virtual desktops there will be graphical garbage in terminal window. In particular the garbage often takes the form of bits of graphics that were being displayed by other software on other virtual desktops. Sometimes the graphics even comes from software that is no longer running, so I suspect that somehow gnome-terminal is reusing video memory but not properly clearing it first. I will also frequently run into problems when loading a large text file with less, and text will become overwritten with other text when scrolling, or black blocks of inverted text.

I just spent a few minutes trying to reproduce the problem in a way that so that I could obtain a screenshot, but did not succeed. I'll try to amend this bug report as soon as I can capture something.

My graphics chipset is

ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon Mobility M6 LY [Radeon Mobility 9000]

and I'm using the "radeon" driver module.

Revision history for this message
Geoffrey Washburn (washburn-acm) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Geoffrey Washburn (washburn-acm) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Micah Cowan (micahcowan) wrote :

Probably, it's at least an interaction between gnome-terminal and your X driver; where the bug lies is hard to say. I'm adding xserver-xorg-video-ati so that between the two, perhaps we can find the bug in one or both. Perhaps its a duplicate of bug 34435, though AFAICT the symptoms are different from that bug and its duplicates. However, it mentions problems with the XRENDER extension, used via Cairo in most apps, which gnome-terminal also uses.

Are you able to reproduce this problem in xfce4-terminal (which shares the same library code for the terminal emulation widget as gnome-terminal)?

Revision history for this message
Geoffrey Washburn (washburn-acm) wrote :

I just checked and xfce4-terminal does exhibit the same problems. I had previously checked urxvt and konsole, but they do not seem to be affected.

Revision history for this message
M. Lewicka (jaszczurka) wrote :

I'm having the same issue since upgrading to Feisty. Effects are pretty much the same as in previously attached screenchots.

Chipset: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE]
Driver: ati

Revision history for this message
Martin Pool (mbp) wrote :

I'm getting corruption in gutsy's gnome-terminal 2.18.1-1ubuntu1 on a
(**) | |-->Device "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon R250 [Mobility FireGL 9000]"

Revision history for this message
Geoffrey Washburn (washburn-acm) wrote :

I can also confirm that if I boot my Ubuntu installation under VMWare and use the VMWare X11 driver, the corruption does not occur.

Revision history for this message
Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton) wrote :

I think this really is a bug in vte, since I can see this on feisty with nvidia binary driver, but only on a terminal that is running screen on another computer (Tru64). There is something wrong in the way the terminal is refreshed, since I also get corruption on a screen window which is running ircII, and every time I send a message, it is left on the input area. Changing the screen window to another and back fixes that.

Changed in vte:
importance: Undecided → Medium
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in xserver-xorg-video-ati:
status: New → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Jamie Strandboge (jdstrand) wrote :

This may be related to or the same as https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vte/+bug/88504. I can say that I installed the xserver-xorg-video-ati_6.7.194-1ubuntu1tv_i386.deb yesterday, and so far the symptoms are better, but there are still some font rendering problems.

I also have some comments in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/99288 that apply to this bug instead.

Revision history for this message
daishi (daishi) wrote :

I can also confirm this on a Thinkpad T42 with:
ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500] rev 0
(I am still on feisty)

Revision history for this message
BrendanL79 (brendanl79) wrote :

Getting same issue on Gutsy (and did on Feisty) on a Thinkpad T30 . Device Manager says I have ATI "Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]"

Revision history for this message
Pedro Villavicencio (pedro) wrote :

IS this still an issue with Intrepid? the vte has been changed a lot during the 2.23 cycle and it would be nice to try to reproduce the same with it. thanks.

Changed in vte:
assignee: nobody → desktop-bugs
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Matt Zimmerman (mdz) wrote : Re: [Bug 120858] Re: Graphical corruption in gnome-terminal

On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 03:50:19PM -0000, Pedro Villavicencio wrote:
> IS this still an issue with Intrepid? the vte has been changed a lot
> during the 2.23 cycle and it would be nice to try to reproduce the same
> with it. thanks.

I haven't seen this problem in a long time.

--
 - mdz

Revision history for this message
Geoffrey Washburn (washburn-acm) wrote :

I seem to recall the problem going away, but I purchased a newer ThinkPad in the meantime, so I have no way of definitively verifying it anymore.

Revision history for this message
daishi (daishi) wrote :

I am still on the machine i confirmed this bug with previously.
I haven't seen this problem since upgrading to Hardy.
(First occurred for me on Feisty as noted above, and can
confirm that the problem persisted through Gutsy).

Revision history for this message
Pedro Villavicencio (pedro) wrote :

Ok, thanks for the confirmations, closing the report then since it works fine with Hardy, thanks you.

Changed in vte:
status: Incomplete → Invalid
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