No help topics are displayed in yelp

Package: yelp
Version: 2.10.0-3
Followup-For: Bug #345563

After performing dist-upgrade from sarge to etch, I have found that the main
"Help" option in Gnome desktop menu renders a blank page (only an icon
and no help index).

I have tried to run yelp or gnome-help from the console, but it gives
the following text error (not visible -obviously- if you click directly
on the desktop "Help" button):

I/O warning : failed to load external entity
"/home/daniel/.gnome2/yelp-bookmarks.xbel"
*** glibc detected *** free(): invalid next size (fast): 0x0804b868 ***
I/O warning : failed to load external entity ""

I have checked my .gnome2 folder and that file "yelp-bookmarks.xbel" is
missing.

I have created a new test user, entered corresponding new session, but problem is the same, and file above is also missing (gnome does not create it, nor it is in /etc/skel). Therefore I don't think this problem is due to migration from sarge to etch, it may happen in new debian etch systems as well.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.12-1-686
Locale: LANG=es_ES@euro, LC_CTYPE=es_ES@euro (charmap=ISO-8859-15)

Versions of packages yelp depends on:
ii docbook-xml 4.4-4 standard XML documentation system,
ii gconf2 2.10.1-6 GNOME configuration database syste
ii gnome-doc-utils 0.5.2-1 a collection of documentation util
ii libbonobo2-0 2.10.1-1 Bonobo CORBA interfaces library
ii libbz2-1.0 1.0.2-11 high-quality block-sorting file co
ii libc6 2.3.5-8 GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii libgcc1 1:4.0.2-5 GCC support library
ii libgconf2-4 2.10.1-6 GNOME configuration database syste
ii libglade2-0 1:2.5.1-2 library to load .glade files at ru
ii libglib2.0-0 2.8.4-2 The GLib library of C routines
ii libgnome2-0 2.10.1-1 The GNOME 2 library - runtime file
ii libgnomeui-0 2.10.1-1 The GNOME 2 libraries (User Interf
ii libgnomevfs2-0 2.10.1-5 The GNOME virtual file-system libr
ii libgtk2.0-0 2.8.9-2 The GTK+ graphical user interface
ii liborbit2 1:2.12.4-1 libraries for ORBit2 - a CORBA ORB
ii libpopt0 1.7-5 lib for parsing cmdline parameters
ii libstdc++6 4.0.2-5 The GNU Standard C++ Library v3
ii libxml2 2.6.22-2 GNOME XML library
ii libxslt1.1 1.1.15-2 XSLT processing library - runtime
ii mozilla-browser 2:1.7.12-1 The Mozilla Internet application s
ii xml-core 0.09 XML infrastructure and XML catalog
ii zlib1g 1:1.2.3-9 compression library - runtime

yelp recommends no packages.

-- no debconf information

        Hi,

 This is a followup for Debian bug <http://bugs.debian.org/345563>.

> yelp no longer displays any help topics in the browser window.

 Do you still get this bug with yelp 2.12?

  Thanks,

--
Loïc Minier <email address hidden>
Current Earth status: NOT DESTROYED

Loïc Minier wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This is a followup for Debian bug <http://bugs.debian.org/345563>.
>
>
>>yelp no longer displays any help topics in the browser window.
>
>
> Do you still get this bug with yelp 2.12?
>
> Thanks,
>

yelp 2.12 not available yet for debian testing ("etch")

Hello, I confirm this bug also in version 2.12.2 of yelp.

If I start yelp from console, I get the following
message:

-------
I/O warning : failed to load external entity
"/home/daniel/.gnome2/yelp-bookmarks.xbel"

(yelp:10899): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_stock_lookup: assertion `stock_id !=
NULL' failed
*** glibc detected *** free(): invalid next size (fast): 0x0804b868 ***
I/O warning : failed to load external entity ""
-------

And blank contents (just a background icon, a lifebelt).

If I create a new (useless) bookmark to that blank page, I still get the
following:

-------
(yelp:11297): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_stock_lookup: assertion `stock_id !=
NULL' failed
*** glibc detected *** free(): invalid next size (fast): 0x0804b868 ***
I/O warning : failed to load external entity ""
-------

I include (attached to this message) the strace of yelp.

Note:

The memory locations in the previous message and in strace_yelp.txt
are not the same (I think they correspond to different runs,
sorry for that).

Significant lines in strace_yelp.txt, corresponding to given
messages are:

Line 1481 ("(yelp:11297): Gtk-CRITICAL ** ...." )
Line 6858 ("I/O warning : failed to...")

Just in case it helps.

Well, it seems yelp gives the same error messages when
opening from console a valid help file, e.g.:

  yelp file:///usr/share/gnome/help/drivemount/es/drivemount.xml

which is rendered ok (also rendered ok when started from the
application's "help" menu option). Therefore those errors in my
previous messages may not be significant.

The problem seems to be related with an incorrect rendering of
the main Help topics page(s).

I have been reported also (in IRC channels) that some users coming
from a fresh debian testing installation do not experience this
problem ?

I come from dist-upgrade from sarge. So this may be
related to some garbage information remaining in my system? (perhaps
xml packages files?) I have checked the files I have installed for the
yelp package and they seem to be ok...

After searching the internet I have found a thread with a similar
bug found in Ubuntu:

https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/yelp/+bug/18434

According to that thread the problem is in scrollkeeper, as it
seems it crashes somewhere if the current LANGUAGE environmente
variable is "compound" (contains more than a language specification,
mine is: "es_ES:es:en_GB:en" )

Running the command:

  LANGUAGE=es_ES yelp

from the command line solves the problem for me: I get a "Help topics"
page with contents.

Therefore it seems this is a scrollkeeper's bug, not a yelp's one.

reassign 345563 yelp 2.12.2-2
severity 352628 grave
merge 352628 345563
thanks

reassign 345563 scrollkeeper
reassign 352628 scrollkeeper
severity 352714 grave
merge 345563 352628 352714
thanks

There are two release critical bugs against yelp (352628 and 345563).
Based on comments to those bugs they are really bugs in scrollkeeper,
and I've verified this by testing. Thus I'm reassigning them. The same
bug is already reported as a normal-severity bug against scrollkeeper,
so I'm raising its severity and merging.

The bug logs also include a reference to a patch that fixes the problem.
I've verified the fix, both by code review and testing, and am including
the patch with which I intend to NMU to fix the bug.

package scrollkeeper
tag 352714 fixed
tag 352628 fixed
tag 345563 fixed
thanks

Below is the change log entry that should have been in the binary
(version 0.3.14-10.1) that I uploaded, but because I forgot to rebuild
the binary package after changing the changelog (but after testing that
the fix actually fixes the bug) it wasn't included and also these three
bugs weren't closed. I'm marking them "fixed" with this message.

+scrollkeeper (0.3.14-10.1) unstable; urgency=low
+
+ * Non-maintainer upload.
+ Note that although #352714 against scrollkeeper is of severity
+ "normal", #352628 and #345563 against yelp are release critical,
+ which is justification for the NMU.
+ * Applied patch, with a modification to surround the addition with
+ parentheses, from
+ http://librarian.launchpad.net/1510562/scrollkeeper.patch (see also
+ https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/yelp/+bug/18434). This
+ fixes a memory allocation that is one array element too small. Note
+ that the original patch only adds one byte, but we need enough for
+ one char**. As it happens, adding just one byte will work, since
+ malloc rounds up to the next suitable multiple of word size (or
+ even larger unit), but it is not correct to rely on this.
+ Closes: #352714, #352628, #345563.
+
+ -- Lars Wirzenius <email address hidden> Sat, 8 Apr 2006 18:47:42 +0000
+

--
Comedy evolution: survival of the wittiest

# Hi,
#
# Now that the BTS supports version-tracking, bugs that were
# fixed in NMUs but never acknowledged can be marked as
# closed in the relevant version. In the case of the bugs listed
# below, they're marked as release-critical in the version of the
# package to which they apply. The release team need to be able to
# accurately determine whether any of the bugs still affect "etch", so
# they're now being closed with version information.
#
# This doesn't affect the maintainer's ability to tell whether
# the bug is currently fixed in any particular Debian distribution
# as the BTS can now display "bugs open in unstable", "bugs open in
# version X-Y" and so on.
#
# See http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/07/msg00010.html
# and http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/10/msg00006.html
# for more information on version tracking.
#
# Separate mails are being sent to each bug's submitter

close 345238 6:6.2.4.5-0.6
close 345238 4:5.4.4.5-1woody8
close 345238 6:6.0.6.2-2.6
close 352714 0.3.14-10.1
close 345595 6:6.2.4.5-0.6
close 345595 4:5.4.4.5-1woody8
close 345595 6:6.0.6.2-2.6
close 345876 6:6.2.4.5-0.6
close 345905 0.2.7-2.sarge2
close 346085 1.0-1.1
close 346244 1.4pre.20050518-0.2
close 346262 0.50.0-1.3
close 346263 2.0.12-1.6
close 346264 1:1.2.3-9.2
close 346284 0.50.0-1.4
close 362912 0.50.0-1.4
close 346485 1.4pre.20050518-0.3
close 346610 1.8-1.1
close 346613 3.7p3-2.1
close 346615 0.8.0-3.1
close 346616 1.1-1.1
close 346617 1.0-7.1
close 346627 0.9.1-13
close 346630 1.1-13.1
close 346634 1.5-3.2
close 346635 0.2.4-4.2
close 346659 0.9.14-1.1
close 346664 0.2.3-1.1
close 346668 3.1.0-5.1
close 346669 1:1.18-2.2
close 346676 1.0.0-2.1
close 349381 1.0.0-2.1
close 346678 0.4.1-1.1
close 346693 0.70-1.1
close 346698 0.2-1.1
close 346699 0.11.46-1.1
close 346705 0.5-2.1
close 346711 3.2.1-3.1
close 346713 3.1.0-7.1
close 347155 3.1.0-7.1
close 346723 0.9.8beta2-4.2
close 346724 2.0.12-8.1
close 346740 1:0.71-1.3
close 346741 0.8.0-1.1
close 346746 0.2002083100+1.0Beta6-2.2
close 346758 1.0-11.1
close 346769 2.5.2.99.pre2+cvs20030224-1.1
close 346772 2.7-3.1
close 346780 2.3.04.3-3.1
close 346782 0.5-5.1
close 346784 5.0.4-2.1
close 346787 3.3.0-5.1
close 346792 2.1a-6.1
close 346797 2.3.02-6.1
close 346807 0.9d-2.1
close 346819 1.2-5.2
close 346821 1.1-1.3
close 346824 2.6-17.1
close 346831 2.2-23.1
close 346836 5.85-3.2
close 346837 3.3.1-8.2
close 346838 2.6-2.1
close 346844 1.0-7.2
close 346852 1:0.5-1.1
close 346864 1.3-2.1
close 346868 9.02-7.1
close 346869 1.10-2.1
close 346870 1.12-13.1
close 346875 0.9.6-1.1
close 346884 1.99.16-8.1
close 346886 0.3-2.1
close 346895 0.6c-1.1
close 346899 0.5.1-1.1
close 346909 8.0.5-11.1
close 347163 8.0.5-11.1
close 346910 1.2-1.1
close 346912 4.0b2-15.2
close 346915 1.9-3-4.1
close 346918 0.9.33-1.1
close 346935 1.2.0-1.1
close 346941 1.1.1-4.1
close 346949 0.85-5.6
close 346952 3.0-9.1
close 346953 1.0.1-2.1
close 346954 0.2.9b-2.1
close 346959 0.5-7.1
close 346962 2.13.2-7.1
close 346966 1.0.3-1.1
close 346969 0.98-6.1
close 346973 1.3.1-4.1
close 346979 1.5-16.1
close 368565 6.3.2-2.1
close 368913 0.4.1-1.2
close 368938 0.3.0-alpha1-8.1
close 368962 3.003-gm1-2.1
...