Bug 13810 - xboard, chess frontend, after installing, failed to start
Summary: xboard, chess frontend, after installing, failed to start
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: Mageia
Classification: Unclassified
Component: RPM Packages (show other bugs)
Version: 5
Hardware: All Linux
Priority: Normal normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Mageia Bug Squad
QA Contact:
URL: https://forums.mageia.org/en/viewtopi...
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2014-07-27 17:55 CEST by sreekumar thirunilathil
Modified: 2015-10-27 08:35 CET (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Source RPM: xboard-4.7.2-2.mga4.tainted
CVE:
Status comment:


Attachments

Description sreekumar thirunilathil 2014-07-27 17:55:04 CEST
Description of problem: I installed xboard, chess frontend through mageia control centre. After installing the program, when i tried to start the application, it didn't succeed. When tried from console, it exited with an error message:

"Unable to create font set for -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,-*-*-*-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*."

Distribution: Mageia release 4 (Official) for i586
Kernel: 3.12.21-desktop586-2.mga4 i686
Desktop: KDE

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

xboard-4.7.2-2.mga4.tainted

How reproducible:


Steps to Reproduce:
1.Install the xbaord program (Tainted repo should be enabled)
2.Try to run the program
3.


Reproducible: 

Steps to Reproduce:
Comment 1 Felix Miata 2014-07-27 18:56:32 CEST
Some discussion about Helvetica:
https://ml.mageia.org/l/arc/dev/2014-07/msg00644.html

It ends with "xboard really needs is to have its dependence on Helvetica replaced or removed."

IMO, that goes for any program that depends on Helvetica on Linux, unless and until upstream fontconfig makes some radical changes.

CC: (none) => mrmazda

Florian Hubold 2014-07-29 17:29:12 CEST

URL: (none) => https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=13810
CC: (none) => doktor5000
Hardware: i586 => All

Florian Hubold 2014-07-29 17:29:28 CEST

URL: https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=13810 => https://forums.mageia.org/en/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8132

Comment 2 sreekumar thirunilathil 2014-07-29 17:59:12 CEST
The same issue was reported in an archlinux forum post.:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=134813

Following the temporary solution adviced in the thread, i edited my /etc/xboard.conf, and added the following three lines.

-font "-*-lucida-medium-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
-clockFont "-*-lucida-medium-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
-coordFont "-*-lucida-medium-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"

After this edit, xboard is launching from both menu and console.
Comment 3 Florian Hubold 2014-07-29 18:24:31 CEST
FWIW, there are even some entries in the changelog for the helvetica fonts issue:

[doktor5000@Mageia4 xboard-4.7.3]$ grep -Ri helvetica .
./ChangeLog:Added "misc-fixed" as a fallback font to handle locales where adobe-helvetica does not have all the required characters.  The fixed font is ugly but does have a rather complete set of characters, while the helvetica font is missing Cyrillic characters (at least on my distro).  I haven't found a way to get a nicer font that includes Cyrillic to work with XCreateFontSet, but I don't fully understand why.  I'll try to improve things further in the future if I figure out what's all going wrong.
./ChangeLog:crash.  This can happen to Linux users who don't install Helvetica, for
./ChangeLog:    Changed the default font from fixed to helvetica_oblique14 to:
./ChangeLog:        **-helvetica-bold-r-normal--14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
./ChangeLog:    helvetica_oblique14 is a font alias not on all R4 systems.
Rémi Verschelde 2014-09-17 14:39:12 CEST

CC: (none) => remi

Comment 4 Christiaan Welvaart 2014-11-29 19:13:35 CET
I don't think this is simply a matter of missing fonts. If the list is replaced by the first entry (helvetica) the problem goes away. Font configuration is done in one of three different ways selected at build time. The current configuration is called NLS and appears to be broken somehow. The best option is probably to switch to the GTK2 GUI. The first version where upstream claims it is the best GUI is 4.8.0, however. Are there any objects to updating to that version and switching to the GTK2 interface? I checked that this solves the font problem in cauldron, and that it works in mga4 where I could not verify the problem with the current xboard package.

CC: (none) => cjw

Comment 5 Samuel Verschelde 2015-09-21 13:19:54 CEST
Mageia 4 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2015-09-19. It is is no longer 
maintained, which means that it will not receive any further security or bug 
fix updates.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you plan to 
fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version' to a later 
Mageia version.

Bug Reporter: Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we weren't 
able to fix it before Mageia 4's end of life. If you are able to reproduce it 
against a later version of Mageia, you are encouraged to click on "Version" and 
change it against that version of Mageia. If it's valid in several versions, 
select the highest and add MGAxTOO in whiteboard for each other valid release.
Example: it's valid in cauldron and Mageia 5, set to cauldron and add MGA5TOO.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's lifetime, 
sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events. Often a more recent Mageia 
release includes newer upstream software that fixes bugs or makes them obsolete.

If you would like to help fixing bugs in the future, don't hesitate to join the
packager team via our mentoring program [1] or join the teams that fit you 
most [2].

[1] https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Becoming_a_Mageia_Packager
[2] http://www.mageia.org/contribute/
Comment 6 Marja Van Waes 2015-10-27 06:57:09 CET
As announced over a month ago, Mageia 4 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2015-09-19. It is is no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further security or bug fix updates.

This issue may have been fixed in a later Mageia release, so, if you still see it and didn't already do so: please upgrade to Mageia 5 (or, if you read this much later than this is written: make sure you run a currently maintained Mageia version)

If you are able to reproduce it against a maintained version of Mageia, you are encouraged to 
1. reopen this bug report, by changing the "Status" from "RESOLVED - OLD" to "REOPENED"
2. click on "Version" and change it against that version of Mageia. If you know it's valid in several versions, select the highest and add MGAxTOO in whiteboard for each other valid release.
Example: it's valid in cauldron and Mageia 5, set to cauldron and add MGA5TOO.
3. give as much relevant information as possible. If you're not an experienced bug reporter and have some time: please read this page:
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/How_to_report_a_bug_properly

If you see a similar issue, but are _not_sure_ it is the same, with the same cause, then please file a new bug report and mention this one in it (please include the bug number, too). 


If you would like to help fixing bugs in the future, don't hesitate to join the
packager team via our mentoring program [1] or join the teams that fit you 
most [2].
[1] https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Becoming_a_Mageia_Packager
[2] http://www.mageia.org/contribute/

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => OLD

Comment 7 Rémi Verschelde 2015-10-27 08:35:25 CET
It was actually fixed in Mageia 5 by Christiaan.

Resolution: OLD => FIXED
Version: 4 => 5


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