Avast crashes unexpectedly in Ubuntu 8.10

[wallie]

On my computer I have 2 ntfs disks. One is 54Gb another is 293. When I check the small ntfs disk - everything works without problems. When I start checking the big disk (I'm doing it by clicking select folders /media/bigdisk ) it starts checking and after 1 second it exists unexpectedly without writing anything into .avast/log . So  I don't know even how to debug it.
I've booted to Windows and run  chkdsk on that disk, but avast continues to crash on that disk.

[Lisandro]

How exactly does it freeze? Does it happen always approximately at the same place/folder of the scan?
Do you see a hard disk activity (when it freezes)? Is only the program frozen, or the whole computer (possibly with mouse cursor)?

You can go to the program settings and turn on the creation of the report file (with "OK files" to be included as well in the report). This way, you can find out where the scan really stopped (it's going to be close to the end of the report).

After avast! disappears, check the end of the report file - the "troublesome" file is likely to be close to the end (close in the sense that this particular file will probably not be written in the report, but the previous one will be the last line, so it shouldn't be hard to guess). They would certainly like to have this file - if it really causes problems to avast! - so that they could fix the problem.

Also, let's say clearly: if during an avast! scan,
1. avast! freezes or crashes, it's probably avast! problem.
2. The computer freezes or restarts, it could be e.g. a conflict with some other program, or a hardware problem.
3. The computer powers down - it's probably a hardware problem (e.g. overheating). The scan generates a lot of hard disk activity (and is also CPU intensive), which may increase the temperature of your hardware. I suggest to check the coolers in the case.
4. If you get a blue screen, it could have a bug in avast! drivers (but then, there is not a power down).

[wallie]

How exactly does it freeze?

It doesn't freeze, it just disappears from the screen as if process was killed.

Does it happen always approximately at the same place/folder of the scan?

Yes, it looks like it is the root folder of my second ntfs disk. (or one of the first folders being scanned)
I've tried to scan separate directories on my big disk and it worked.

Do you see a hard disk activity (when it freezes)? Is only the program frozen, or the whole computer (possibly with mouse cursor)?

No, it's only the program which miraculously exists.

You can go to the program settings and turn on the creation of the report file (with "OK files" to be included as well in the report). This way, you can find out where the scan really stopped (it's going to be close to the end of the report).

After avast! disappears, check the end of the report file - the "troublesome" file is likely to be close to the end (close in the sense that this particular file will probably not be written in the report, but the previous one will be the last line, so it shouldn't be hard to guess). They would certainly like to have this file - if it really causes problems to avast! - so that they could fix the problem.

I've did it, and there were no report and no log file. (The log file appears only if it had to remove locking file from previous crash)

Also, let's say clearly: if during an avast! scan,
1. avast! freezes or crashes, it's probably avast! problem.

I think it's probably avast! problem, because nothing else crashes.

[Lisandro]

wallie, I'll need Igor's help...

[zilog]

How exactly does it freeze?

It doesn't freeze, it just disappears from the screen as if process was killed.

Does it happen always approximately at the same place/folder of the scan?

Yes, it looks like it is the root folder of my second ntfs disk. (or one of the first folders being scanned)
I've tried to scan separate directories on my big disk and it worked.

Do you see a hard disk activity (when it freezes)? Is only the program frozen, or the whole computer (possibly with mouse cursor)?

No, it's only the program which miraculously exists.

You can go to the program settings and turn on the creation of the report file (with "OK files" to be included as well in the report). This way, you can find out where the scan really stopped (it's going to be close to the end of the report).

After avast! disappears, check the end of the report file - the "troublesome" file is likely to be close to the end (close in the sense that this particular file will probably not be written in the report, but the previous one will be the last line, so it shouldn't be hard to guess). They would certainly like to have this file - if it really causes problems to avast! - so that they could fix the problem.

I've did it, and there were no report and no log file. (The log file appears only if it had to remove locking file from previous crash)

Also, let's say clearly: if during an avast! scan,
1. avast! freezes or crashes, it's probably avast! problem.

I think it's probably avast! problem, because nothing else crashes.

Hallo, what might be the culprit, is the pathname or the contents of a particular file itself. NTFS, from the point of linux's view, is the same thing as any other filesystem. we just need to know where and why it crashes.

1) which version of avast do you use? have you tried the latest avast4 workstation (announced on this forum)?
2) in the case of a low-level problem, gui is the most annoying thing - just use cmdline version (avast, or avastcmd)
3) which line is the last one? try to divide the scanned area repeatedly to identify what particular file causes the problem.
then, send us this file, OR, run avast under strace -f, and send us the output.

regards,
pc

[wallie]

[skip]

Hallo, what might be the culprit, is the pathname or the contents of a particular file itself. NTFS, from the point of linux's view, is the same thing as any other filesystem. we just need to know where and why it crashes.

1) which version of avast do you use? have you tried the latest avast4 workstation (announced on this forum)?

I've downloaded it few days ago from avast site.

2) in the case of a low-level problem, gui is the most annoying thing - just use cmdline version (avast, or avastcmd)
3) which line is the last one? try to divide the scanned area repeatedly to identify what particular file causes the problem.
then, send us this file, OR, run avast under strace -f, and send us the output.
regards,
pc

I've tried command line and at one file it quits with "Segmentation fault" I tried it few times and it quits at the same file. But when I tried to check the last file, there was no "segmentation fault". The problem might be the path contains a lot of "!" characters.

[zilog]

[skip]

Hallo, what might be the culprit, is the pathname or the contents of a particular file itself. NTFS, from the point of linux's view, is the same thing as any other filesystem. we just need to know where and why it crashes.

1) which version of avast do you use? have you tried the latest avast4 workstation (announced on this forum)?

I've downloaded it few days ago from avast site.

2) in the case of a low-level problem, gui is the most annoying thing - just use cmdline version (avast, or avastcmd)
3) which line is the last one? try to divide the scanned area repeatedly to identify what particular file causes the problem.
then, send us this file, OR, run avast under strace -f, and send us the output.
regards,
pc

I've tried command line and at one file it quits with "Segmentation fault" I tried it few times and it quits at the same file. But when I tried to check the last file, there was no "segmentation fault". The problem might be the path contains a lot of "!" characters.

First, try this version: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=41602.0
if the problem still exists, try to check not the last file, but also try the next one (use: find path -type f  ...to find which file would normally follow).

In the case that the file (or subdirectory) is always OK, when scanned directly, but causes segfault, when recursed into from some parent directory, it's a problem with the path - then, send us the output. '!' has no relevance for us, it's not path delimiter.

regards,
pc

[wallie]

[skip]

First, try this version: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=41602.0

It seems that I'm running that version (at least judging by installer filename)

if the problem still exists, try to check not the last file, but also try the next one (use: find path -type f  ...to find which file would normally follow).

In the case that the file (or subdirectory) is always OK, when scanned directly, but causes segfault, when recursed into from some parent directory, it's a problem with the path - then, send us the output. '!' has no relevance for us, it's not path delimiter.

I've found what next pat:  it's along directory + file name which contains Russian characters. Path length is 230 characters long, but if somewhere internally it keeps it in some Unicode format it can be more than 255. When I tried to specify that file in command line it returned with    [scan error: No such file or directory] (but I can open that file). I can send you by private message the path name.

[zilog]

[skip]

First, try this version: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=41602.0

It seems that I'm running that version (at least judging by installer filename)

if the problem still exists, try to check not the last file, but also try the next one (use: find path -type f  ...to find which file would normally follow).

In the case that the file (or subdirectory) is always OK, when scanned directly, but causes segfault, when recursed into from some parent directory, it's a problem with the path - then, send us the output. '!' has no relevance for us, it's not path delimiter.

I've found what next pat:  it's along directory + file name which contains Russian characters. Path length is 230 characters long, but if somewhere internally it keeps it in some Unicode format it can be more than 255. When I tried to specify that file in command line it returned with    [scan error: No such file or directory] (but I can open that file). I can send you by private message the path name.

Hallo,
probably, somewhere in the engine the windows-like maxpath 260 chars still survives, and might cause this kind of problem. the core was fixed against this bug for Mac purposes (and for sure it's capable of scanning far longer path with national characters). how big is that file? could you archive it (with the full path), and send it to me? or, create similar file in the same path, with some dummy contents, whether the problem would arise too.

i'll try to reproduce it.

regards,
pc

[wallie]

[skip]

probably, somewhere in the engine the windows-like maxpath 260 chars still survives, and might cause this kind of problem. the core was fixed against this bug for Mac purposes (and for sure it's capable of scanning far longer path with national characters). how big is that file? could you archive it (with the full path), and send it to me? or, create similar file in the same path, with some dummy contents, whether the problem would arise too.

i'll try to reproduce it.

regards,
pc

I've send you the packed file by e-mail. And it seems that it's filename, because when I renamed the file it was checked without problems. But when I moved the files to another folder it also caused seg fault.

[ventiman]

any fix to the issue yet?

[zilog]

any fix to the issue yet?

hallo,
we'll fix it in the very next beta built, but for now, i'm solving another _pure_nightmare_, hard to reproduce, to debug, and especially to understand.

nowadays "systems" are getting worse and worse. the ill-brained idea "features first, stability/corectness maybe later" starts to bring back its fruits. . I'm talking about latest FreeBSD releases, which are notoriously half-cooked, broken and mutually incompatible in many aspects. .

regards,
pc