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Bug 1010

Summary: [Regression] Process table in ksysguard keeps flashing
Product: TDE Reporter: Julius Schwartzenberg <julius.schwartzenberg>
Component: tdebaseAssignee: Timothy Pearson <kb9vqf>
Status: RESOLVED FIXED    
Severity: critical CC: bugwatch, julius.schwartzenberg, kb9vqf, michele.calgaro, slavek.banko
Priority: P5    
Version: R14.0.0 [Trinity]   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Compiler Version: TDE Version String:
Application Version: Application Name:

Description Julius Schwartzenberg 2012-05-30 12:47:23 CDT
When viewing the process table in ksysguard, it keeps flashing and it's impossible to interact with it at all.

I'm using Ubuntu Precise with the nightlies.
This problem was not present in 3.5.13 (oneiric release on Precise).

The problem occurs with both an old and a new profile.
Comment 1 Darrell 2012-06-01 21:30:26 CDT
I'm unsure whether we are seeing the same thing, but my process list seems to "blink" about every second. A soft blink, as though the entire list is being refreshed. Seems the data in the columns should refresh but without the "blinking" effect, which is somewhat distracting and irritating. I see this in 3.5.10 too.

However, I can select items and kill them. Slackware 13.1, latest GIT.
Comment 2 Timothy Pearson 2012-06-12 13:21:32 CDT
(In reply to comment #0)
> When viewing the process table in ksysguard, it keeps flashing and it's
> impossible to interact with it at all.
> 
> I'm using Ubuntu Precise with the nightlies.
> This problem was not present in 3.5.13 (oneiric release on Precise).
> 
> The problem occurs with both an old and a new profile.

What graphics driver are you using?

Some graphics drivers have horrible 2D performance, which would compound the effects of the normal refresh cycle that Darrell mentioned.
Comment 3 Julius Schwartzenberg 2012-06-12 14:20:06 CDT
I'm using the Intel driver on a X4500HD, so it's unlikely 2D performance is very bad.

I just tried and I can also select things, but the refreshing is so fast that it's impossible to keep the selection.
Comment 4 Timothy Pearson 2012-06-12 14:28:14 CDT
(In reply to comment #3)
> I'm using the Intel driver on a X4500HD, so it's unlikely 2D performance is
> very bad.
> 
> I just tried and I can also select things, but the refreshing is so fast that
> it's impossible to keep the selection.

Very odd.  I just tried the latest nightly build on Ubuntu Precise and there is no problem at all with refresh or retaining the last selection.  The "blink" Darrell mentioned is very, very slight, almost imperceptible to my eye.

I am using the Mach64 driver on this (old) test system with XAA 3D acceleration.
Comment 5 Julius Schwartzenberg 2012-06-12 15:36:25 CDT
I just updated again (it seems the nightly PPA gained some new packages today), but the problem is still there.

I made a clip with my camera which shows the problem:
https://plus.google.com/photos/108919478422583964698/albums/5646659523181340097/5753249090624566274
Comment 6 Darrell 2012-06-12 15:42:29 CDT
Ooh, wow! Not even close to the "blink" I see.

Owee. Bad bug!
Comment 7 Timothy Pearson 2012-06-12 15:50:24 CDT
(In reply to comment #6)
> Ooh, wow! Not even close to the "blink" I see.
> 
> Owee. Bad bug!

Nasty!  Can you give specifics on your system (CPU type, architecture, speed, exact kernel version, etc.)?  This almost looks like a timer problem, but that would imply a serious problem with the core system libraries (not TDE).
Comment 8 Julius Schwartzenberg 2012-06-12 15:55:26 CDT
(In reply to comment #7)
> Nasty!  Can you give specifics on your system (CPU type, architecture, speed,
> exact kernel version, etc.)?  This almost looks like a timer problem, but that
> would imply a serious problem with the core system libraries (not TDE).

Alright:
Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 2.53 GHz (normally running at 800 MHz)
AMD64
kernel version: 3.4.0-rc5-drm-intel-test-20120511 (maybe I should update this, had to test smth for Intel)
Ubuntu Precise

What else do you need? I suppose I should try it with the regular Precise kernel. I'll do that now.
Comment 9 Julius Schwartzenberg 2012-06-12 16:08:17 CDT
(In reply to comment #8)
> What else do you need? I suppose I should try it with the regular Precise
> kernel. I'll do that now.

Seems the kernel doesn't make a difference. I have the exact same issue with the stock Precise kernel, version 3.2.0-24-generic to be precise ;)
Comment 10 Timothy Pearson 2012-06-12 16:49:38 CDT
OK, thanks for the information.

Is there any way you can test this against different hardware?  As I mentioned before I can't replicate the bug yet, so debugging it will be next to impossible until we can nail down exactly what is triggering it.
Comment 11 Julius Schwartzenberg 2012-06-12 17:46:42 CDT
I do not have any other hardware around here unfortunately.

Maybe at one point a specific test program of version with timer debugging added could give more info about the problem.
Comment 12 Timothy Pearson 2013-04-07 01:41:43 CDT
I still cannot replicate this issue; are you still having this problem?
Comment 13 Julius Schwartzenberg 2013-04-12 16:12:57 CDT
I just tested it with the current nightlies on Quantal and it seems the problem is solved. I guess this bug can be closed. I do not have a Precise install to test on right now though.
Comment 14 Timothy Pearson 2013-04-12 16:29:16 CDT
OK, closing.  If you can force the problem to reappear on a newer distribution please reopen this report, otherwise I will assume there was some kind of X11 issue or bad Qt/X11 interaction on Precise at some point.
Comment 15 Michele Calgaro 2013-09-22 05:44:38 CDT
I need to reopen this bug since it is happening on my computer (Debian/Jessie). 
Basically the process list refreshes accordingly to the time set in the option panel, but after that it immediately whites out. If I resize the window so that a horizontal scroll bar is available, scrolling left or right briefly displays the list, but again it immediately blanks out.

Actually this problem has been happening since I installed TDE in Dec 2012.
When I have some time, I will look into the code to see if I can find where the problem is.
Comment 16 Slávek Banko 2013-09-22 13:09:56 CDT
Please, this problem is so critical as blocking for release R14.0.0?
Comment 17 Michele Calgaro 2013-09-22 20:11:14 CDT
Hi Slavek,
I reopened the bug keeping the same importance that it had before it was closed, but maybe it could be degraded to "major", which would be more accurate based on the description of each category. If you and Tim also think so, go ahead and change it.
From a user experience point of view, I think we should try to get this fixed before releasing 14.0.
Most likely this week I won't have enough time to look at it, but next one I will.
Comment 18 Michele Calgaro 2013-09-27 02:18:09 CDT
I had a couple of spare hours and I investigated this problem. It turned out  that it was not a software problem at all. 
I actually had KDE 4's ksysguardd installed in /usr/bin (probably a left over from when I tested KDE 4 more than a year ago) and this was conflicting with Trinity's ksysguard, since the required command 'test kill' was not supported anymore, but 'ps' and 'ps?' still were. This made ksysguard go into a repetitive loop, continuously trying to execute 'test kill', 'ps?' and then 'ps', causing the listview to keep refreshing.
After removing KDE4's ksysguardd, all worked perfectly.

If anybody is experiencing the same problem, please check that you are running the correct ksysguardd. Type 'ksysguardd' in a shell and you should be presented with this:

--------------------
ksysguardd 1.2.0
(c) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Chris Schlaeger <cs@kde.org> and
(c) 2001 Tobias Koenig <tokoe@kde.org>
This program is part of the KDE Project and licensed under
the GNU GPL version 2. See http://www.kde.org for details.
ksysguardd>   
--------------------

Note the version number 1.2.0. 
KDE4's ksysguardd has version number 4
Comment 19 Timothy Pearson 2013-09-27 12:10:52 CDT
Interesting!  I wonder if we should add a version check (magic string?) to ksysgaurd and ksysguardd to make sure that this does not happen to anyone else.
Comment 20 Michele Calgaro 2013-09-28 07:54:46 CDT
(In reply to comment #19)
> Interesting!  I wonder if we should add a version check (magic string?) to
> ksysgaurd and ksysguardd to make sure that this does not happen to anyone else.

That's a good idea. I have added this to my list of things to do. Sooner or later I will implement this.