Bug #221635 “man: pipeline.c:1143: pipeline_sigchld: Assertion `...” : Bugs : man-db package : Ubuntu

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Carlos Eduardo Moreira dos Santos (cemsbr) wrote on 2008-04-25:

#1

My ubuntu is for i386 desktop

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William Grant (wgrant) wrote on 2008-04-25:

#2

/usr/bin/man is a symlink to the man binary owned by man-db, but the symlink itself isn't owned by a package, which is dpkg -S didn't show anything.

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Marcus Asshauer (mcas) wrote on 2008-04-25:

#3

Thank you for reporting this bug. Please add the output of "apt-cache policy man-db".
I cannot reproduce your problem on my Hardy system with man-db 2.5.1-3.

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Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote on 2008-04-27:

#4

Hmm, something weird is going on here. That assertion ought to be valid ...

Please install the strace package and run 'strace -o man.trace -f -s 1024 man true', then attach the resulting man.trace file to this bug report.

Changed in man-db:
assignee:	nobody → kamion
importance:	Undecided → High
status:	New → Incomplete

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Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote on 2008-04-27:

#5

I can certainly make this go away for 2.5.2, incidentally; the assert function is not safe for use in signal handlers, so it's correct to change this to a simple if guard instead which won't crash if it fails to be true for some reason.

However, I'm a little worried that by doing so I'll be papering over some other problem, which is why I want to get strace output.

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Carlos Eduardo Moreira dos Santos (cemsbr) wrote on 2008-04-27:

#6

# apt-cache policy man-db
man-db:
  Installed: 2.5.1-3
  Candidate: 2.5.1-3
  Version table:
*** 2.5.1-3 0
        500 http://mirrors.us.kernel.org hardy/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Hey! I did strace and the man page appeared! Then I tried "man true" and it worked! The man pages are working now and it must be because of the reboot. I've not upgraded any packages so far (I'll do it now).

Is it a random bug? If it happens again, I'll write the outputs.

Thank you

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Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote on 2008-04-29:

#7

Ugh, I hate bugs that vanish like that ...

In that case, I think I shall just assume that this upstream fix will deal with it (it would at least have made that specific symptom go away), and not worry too much about the underlying cause. Thanks for trying.

Sun Apr 27 11:24:24 BST 2008 Colin Watson <email address hidden>

        * lib/pipeline.c (pipeline_sigchld): assert is not
          async-signal-safe, so avoid calling it in a signal handler and use
          an if guard instead (Ubuntu bug #221635, although exactly why the
          assertion is failing there is unclear).

Changed in man-db:
status:	Incomplete → Fix Committed

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Benson Margulies (bimargulies) wrote on 2008-04-30:

#8

I had upgraded from Gutsy to Hardy when this hit me.

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Luke Faraone (lfaraone) wrote on 2008-04-30:

#9

@Benson Margulies

Can you try the solutions offered earlier?

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Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote on 2008-04-30:

#10

Benson: Please try to get an strace for me (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/man-db/+bug/221635/comments/4) before you try any solutions.

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Benson Margulies (bimargulies) wrote on 2008-05-01:

#11

I was redirected to this report from another. Sadly, as I explained there, this problem disappeared after a reboot, so I can no longer repro it.

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Carlos Eduardo Moreira dos Santos (cemsbr) wrote on 2008-05-01:

#12

I happened to me after my first reboot on a fresh install (next boot it disappeared).

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Spindizzy (spindizzy-wizard) wrote on 2008-05-02: Re: man does not work ( GOT STRACE! )

#13

Download full text (20.8 KiB)

Here's the strace from a system where man is still failing the assert:

$ strace man cat
execve("/usr/bin/man", ["man", "cat"], [/* 36 vars */]) = 0
brk(0) = 0x8069000
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
mmap2(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f47000
access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=77171, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 77171, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f34000
close(3) = 0
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/libgdbm.so.3", O_RDONLY) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\200\17"..., 512) = 512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=19136, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 22112, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f2e000
mmap2(0xb7f33000, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x4) = 0xb7f33000
close(3) = 0
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/libz.so.1", O_RDONLY) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\20\31\0"..., 512) = 512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=81240, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 83968, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f19000
mmap2(0xb7f2d000, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x13) = 0xb7f2d000
close(3) = 0
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\260e\1"..., 512) = 512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1364388, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f18000
mmap2(NULL, 1369712, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7dc9000
mmap2(0xb7f12000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x149) = 0xb7f12000
mmap2(0xb7f15000, 9840, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f15000
close(3) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7dc8000
set_thread_area({entry_number:-1 -> 6, base_addr:0xb7dc86b0, limit:1048575, seg_32bit:1, contents:0, read_exec_only:0, limit_in_pages:1, seg_not_present:0, useable:1}) = 0
mprotect(0xb7f12000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0
munmap(0xb7f34000, 77171) = 0
brk(0) = 0x8069000
brk(0x808a000) = 0x808a000
umask(022) = 022
open("/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/locale.alias", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2586, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f46000
read(3, "# Locale name alias data base.\n#"..., 40...

Here's the strace from a system where man is still failing the assert:

$ strace man cat
execve("/usr/bin/man", ["man", "cat"], [/* 36 vars */]) = 0
brk(0)                                  = 0x8069000
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
mmap2(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f47000
access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY)      = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=77171, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 77171, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f34000
close(3)                                = 0
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/libgdbm.so.3", O_RDONLY) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\200\17"..., 512) = 512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=19136, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 22112, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f2e000
mmap2(0xb7f33000, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x4) = 0xb7f33000
close(3)                                = 0
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/libz.so.1", O_RDONLY)    = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\20\31\0"..., 512) = 512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=81240, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 83968, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f19000
mmap2(0xb7f2d000, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x13) = 0xb7f2d000
close(3)                                = 0
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\260e\1"..., 512) = 512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1364388, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f18000
mmap2(NULL, 1369712, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7dc9000
mmap2(0xb7f12000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x149) = 0xb7f12000
mmap2(0xb7f15000, 9840, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f15000
close(3)                                = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7dc8000
set_thread_area({entry_number:-1 -> 6, base_addr:0xb7dc86b0, limit:1048575, seg_32bit:1, contents:0, read_exec_only:0, limit_in_pages:1, seg_not_present:0, useable:1}) = 0
mprotect(0xb7f12000, 4096, PROT_READ)   = 0
munmap(0xb7f34000, 77171)               = 0
brk(0)                                  = 0x8069000
brk(0x808a000)                          = 0x808a000
umask(022)                              = 022
open("/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/locale.alias", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2586, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f46000
read(3, "# Locale name alias data base.\n#"..., 4096) = 2586
read(3, "", 4096)                       = 0
close(3)                                = 0
munmap(0xb7f46000, 4096)                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_IDENTIFICATION", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_IDENTIFICATION", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=373, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 373, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f46000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/gconv/gconv-modules.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=25700, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 25700, PROT_READ, MAP_SHARED, 3, 0) = 0xb7f3f000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MEASUREMENT", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_MEASUREMENT", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=23, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 23, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f3e000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_TELEPHONE", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_TELEPHONE", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=59, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 59, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f3d000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_ADDRESS", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_ADDRESS", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=155, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 155, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f3c000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_NAME", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_NAME", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=77, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 77, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f3b000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_PAPER", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_PAPER", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=34, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 34, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f3a000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/SYS_LC_MESSAGES", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=52, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 52, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f39000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MONETARY", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_MONETARY", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=286, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 286, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f38000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_COLLATE", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_COLLATE", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=921214, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 921214, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7ce7000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_TIME", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_TIME", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2451, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 2451, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f37000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_NUMERIC", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_NUMERIC", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=54, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 54, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f36000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_CTYPE", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_CTYPE", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=254076, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 254076, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7ca8000
close(3)                                = 0
fstat64(0, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0620, st_rdev=makedev(136, 2), ...}) = 0
fstat64(1, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0620, st_rdev=makedev(136, 2), ...}) = 0
fstat64(2, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0620, st_rdev=makedev(136, 2), ...}) = 0
getcwd("/home/wilesed", 4096)           = 14
getuid32()                              = 1000
geteuid32()                             = 1000
rt_sigaction(SIGCHLD, {0x8058880, [HUP INT TERM CHLD], SA_RESTART|SA_NOCLDSTOP}, NULL, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGHUP, NULL, {SIG_DFL}, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGHUP, {0x80574d0, [], 0}, {SIG_DFL}, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGINT, NULL, {SIG_DFL}, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGINT, {0x80574d0, [], 0}, {SIG_DFL}, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGTERM, NULL, {SIG_DFL}, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGTERM, {0x80574d0, [], 0}, {SIG_DFL}, 8) = 0
open("/home/wilesed/.manpath", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/etc/manpath.config", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=4624, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7ca7000
read(3, "# manpath.config\n#\n# This file i"..., 4096) = 4096
read(3, "he expected way.\n# If a particul"..., 4096) = 528
read(3, "", 4096)                       = 0
close(3)                                = 0
munmap(0xb7ca7000, 4096)                = 0
ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
ioctl(0, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/man-db.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/man-db.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/man-db.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/man-db.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/man-db.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/man-db.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/man-db.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/man-db.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/man-db.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/man-db.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/man-db.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/man-db.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
stat64("/usr/local/man", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/local/share/man", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/man", 0xbfb7af88)          = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/local/man", O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|0x80000) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
fcntl64(3, F_GETFD)                     = 0x1 (flags FD_CLOEXEC)
getdents64(3, /* 4 entries */, 4096)    = 96
getdents64(3, /* 0 entries */, 4096)    = 0
open("/usr/local/share/man", O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|0x80000) = 4
fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
getdents64(4, /* 4 entries */, 4096)    = 96
getdents64(4, /* 0 entries */, 4096)    = 0
open("/usr/share/man", O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|0x80000) = 5
fstat64(5, {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
getdents64(5, /* 44 entries */, 4096)   = 1152
stat64("/usr/share/man/pa", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/ru", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/de", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/da", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/sk", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/vi", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/gl", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/fr", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/hu", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/tr", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/fr.ISO8859-1", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/ja", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/zh_TW", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/nl", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/fr.UTF-8", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/pl.UTF-8", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/de.UTF-8", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/cs", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/sv", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/it", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/fi", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/ru.UTF-8", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/it.UTF-8", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/pl", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/pt_BR", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/zh_CN", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/it.ISO8859-1", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/ko", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/es", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/pt", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/pl.ISO8859-2", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/ru.KOI8-R", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/lt", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/id", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
getdents64(5, /* 0 entries */, 4096)    = 0
stat64("/usr/local/man", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/local/share/man", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGHUP, NULL, {0x80574d0, [], 0}, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGINT, NULL, {0x80574d0, [], 0}, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGTERM, NULL, {0x80574d0, [], 0}, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGHUP, NULL, {0x80574d0, [], 0}, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGINT, NULL, {0x80574d0, [], 0}, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGTERM, NULL, {0x80574d0, [], 0}, 8) = 0
open("/usr/local/man/man1", O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|0x80000) = 6
fstat64(6, {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0775, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
getdents64(6, /* 10 entries */, 4096)   = 312
getdents64(6, /* 0 entries */, 4096)    = 0
close(6)                                = 0
open("/usr/local/man/cat1", O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|0x80000) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/var/cache/man/oldlocal/index.db", O_RDONLY) = 6
fstat64(6, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=22497, ...}) = 0
fcntl64(6, F_SETLK, {type=F_RDLCK, whence=SEEK_SET, start=0, len=0}) = 0
read(6, "\316\232W\23\0\20\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\20\0\0\n\0\0\0\0\20\0"..., 52) = 52
read(6, "\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 4044) = 4044
lseek(6, 4096, SEEK_SET)                = 4096
read(6, "\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0"..., 4096) = 4096
brk(0x80ab000)                          = 0x80ab000
brk(0x80cc000)                          = 0x80cc000
brk(0x80ed000)                          = 0x80ed000
lseek(6, 8192, SEEK_SET)                = 8192
read(6, "\3\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\371?\0\0+\0\0\0\325O\0\0\37\10\0\0\341"..., 4096) = 4096
lseek(6, 13386, SEEK_SET)               = 13386
read(6, "$version$\0002.4.1\0", 16)     = 16
fcntl64(6, F_SETLK, {type=F_UNLCK, whence=SEEK_SET, start=0, len=0}) = 0
close(6)                                = 0
brk(0x809b000)                          = 0x809b000
brk(0x809a000)                          = 0x809a000
open("/usr/local/share/man/man1", O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|0x80000) = 6
fstat64(6, {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0775, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
getdents64(6, /* 10 entries */, 4096)   = 312
getdents64(6, /* 0 entries */, 4096)    = 0
close(6)                                = 0
open("/usr/local/share/man/cat1", O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|0x80000) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/var/cache/man/local/index.db", O_RDONLY) = 6
fstat64(6, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=22497, ...}) = 0
fcntl64(6, F_SETLK, {type=F_RDLCK, whence=SEEK_SET, start=0, len=0}) = 0
read(6, "\316\232W\23\0\20\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\20\0\0\n\0\0\0\0\20\0"..., 52) = 52
read(6, "\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 4044) = 4044
lseek(6, 4096, SEEK_SET)                = 4096
read(6, "\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0"..., 4096) = 4096
brk(0x80bb000)                          = 0x80bb000
brk(0x80dc000)                          = 0x80dc000
brk(0x80fd000)                          = 0x80fd000
lseek(6, 8192, SEEK_SET)                = 8192
read(6, "\3\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\371?\0\0+\0\0\0\325O\0\0\37\10\0\0\341"..., 4096) = 4096
lseek(6, 13386, SEEK_SET)               = 13386
read(6, "$version$\0002.4.1\0", 16)     = 16
fcntl64(6, F_SETLK, {type=F_UNLCK, whence=SEEK_SET, start=0, len=0}) = 0
close(6)                                = 0
brk(0x809c000)                          = 0x809c000
open("/usr/share/man/man1", O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|0x80000) = 6
fstat64(6, {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=69632, ...}) = 0
getdents64(6, /* 112 entries */, 4096)  = 4064
getdents64(6, /* 109 entries */, 4096)  = 4088
getdents64(6, /* 111 entries */, 4096)  = 4096
getdents64(6, /* 111 entries */, 4096)  = 4088
getdents64(6, /* 109 entries */, 4096)  = 4080
getdents64(6, /* 107 entries */, 4096)  = 4096
getdents64(6, /* 109 entries */, 4096)  = 4088
getdents64(6, /* 107 entries */, 4096)  = 4080
getdents64(6, /* 107 entries */, 4096)  = 4088
getdents64(6, /* 110 entries */, 4096)  = 4064
getdents64(6, /* 107 entries */, 4096)  = 4072
getdents64(6, /* 111 entries */, 4096)  = 4088
getdents64(6, /* 109 entries */, 4096)  = 4096
getdents64(6, /* 111 entries */, 4096)  = 4080
getdents64(6, /* 111 entries */, 4096)  = 4088
getdents64(6, /* 107 entries */, 4096)  = 4096
getdents64(6, /* 107 entries */, 4096)  = 4096
getdents64(6, /* 8 entries */, 4096)    = 264
getdents64(6, /* 0 entries */, 4096)    = 0
open("/proc/meminfo", O_RDONLY)         = 7
fstat64(7, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0444, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7ca7000
read(7, "MemTotal:       515028 kB\nMemFre"..., 1024) = 728
close(7)                                = 0
munmap(0xb7ca7000, 4096)                = 0
close(6)                                = 0
lstat64("/usr/share/man/man1/cat.1.gz", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=1006, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/man1/cat.1.gz", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=1006, ...}) = 0
stat64("/usr/share/man/man1/cat.1.gz", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=1006, ...}) = 0
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, [CHLD], [], 8) = 0
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, [], NULL, 8) = 0
open("/usr/share/man/man1/cat.1.gz", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 6
pipe([7, 8])                            = 0
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, [CHLD], [], 8) = 0
clone(child_stack=0, flags=CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID|CLONE_CHILD_SETTID|SIGCHLD, child_tidptr=0xb7dc86f8) = 19531
close(6)                                = 0
close(8)                                = 0
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, [], NULL, 8) = 0
--- SIGCHLD (Child exited) @ 0 (0) ---
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
write(2, "man: pipeline.c:1143: pipeline_s"..., 73man: pipeline.c:1143: pipeline_sigchld: Assertion `signum == 17' failed.
) = 73
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_UNBLOCK, [ABRT], NULL, 8) = 0
gettid()                                = 19530
tgkill(19530, 19530, SIGABRT)           = 0
--- SIGABRT (Aborted) @ 0 (0) ---
+++ killed by SIGABRT +++

Revision history for this message

Spindizzy (spindizzy-wizard) wrote on 2008-05-02: Re: man does not work

#14

Post reboot, the error no longer occurs.

Revision history for this message

Matt Zimmerman (mdz) wrote on 2008-05-12:

#15

In the strace provided, it does seem to be SIGCHLD which is being received. That points to this being some kind of weirdness in the signal handler (stack corruption?)

Revision history for this message

evane (glenn-brown) wrote on 2008-10-17:

#16

man.trace Edit (31.1 KiB, text/plain)

This happened to me as well. I have attached the man.trace file.

Revision history for this message

Przemek K. (azrael) wrote on 2009-12-14:

#17

Any news on this bug? Has it been fixed?

Revision history for this message

Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote on 2009-12-14: Re: [Bug 221635] Re: man: pipeline.c:1143: pipeline_sigchld: Assertion `signum == 17' failed.

#18

The bug kept going away any time I tried to investigate it with any
tools more sophisticated than strace.

However: since pipeline_sigchld now just uses an if guard rather than an
assert, I think I'll just call this fixed and get it off my list. It
certainly shouldn't fail in the same way, if at all.

status fixreleased

Changed in man-db (Ubuntu):
status:	Fix Committed → Fix Released

Ubuntu
man-db package

man: pipeline.c:1143: pipeline_sigchld: Assertion `signum == 17' failed.

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man: pipeline.c:1143: pipeline_sigchld: Assertion `signum == 17' failed.

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man-db package