Hi everyone,

Posting here is my recent experience of solving the above problem.

first turn on the debugging log:
user@system:~$ export SANE_DEBUG_DLL=255

then, invoke command to identify the error:
user@system:~$ scanimage --resolution 200> image.tiff

log appears as below:
[sanei_debug] Setting debug level of dll to 255.
[dll] sane_init: SANE dll backend version 1.0.12 from sane-backends 1.0.19
[dll] sane_init/read_dlld: processing /etc/sane.d/dll.d ...
[dll] sane_init/read_dlld: considering /etc/sane.d/dll.d/hplip
[dll] sane_init/read_config: reading dll.d/hplip
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `hpaio'
[dll] sane_init/read_dlld: considering /etc/sane.d/dll.d/libsane-extras
[dll] sane_init/read_config: reading dll.d/libsane-extras
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `epkowa'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `hp_rts88xx'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `ls5000'
[dll] sane_init/read_dlld: done.
[dll] sane_init/read_config: reading dll.conf
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `net'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `abaton'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `agfafocus'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `apple'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `avision'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `artec'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `artec_eplus48u'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `as6e'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `bh'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `canon'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `canon630u'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `cardscan'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `coolscan'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `coolscan2'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `dell1600n_net'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `dmc'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `epjitsu'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `epson'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `epson2'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `fujitsu'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `genesys'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `gt68xx'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `hp'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `hp3900'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `hpsj5s'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `hp3500'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `hp4200'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `hp5400'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `hp5590'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `hpljm1005'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `hs2p'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `ibm'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `leo'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `lexmark'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `ma1509'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `matsushita'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `microtek'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `microtek2'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `mustek'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `mustek_usb'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `mustek_usb2'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `nec'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `niash'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `pie'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `pixma'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `plustek'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `qcam'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `ricoh'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `s9036'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `sceptre'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `sharp'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `sm3600'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `sm3840'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `snapscan'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `sp15c'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `tamarack'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `teco1'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `teco2'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `teco3'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `u12'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `umax'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `umax1220u'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `v4l'
[dll] add_backend: adding backend `smfp'
[dll] sane_get_devices
[dll] load: searching backend `smfp' in `/usr/lib/sane'
[dll] load: trying to load `/usr/lib/sane/libsane-smfp.so.1'
[dll] load: dlopen()ing `/usr/lib/sane/libsane-smfp.so.1'
[dll] init: initializing backend `smfp'
FATAL: Module parport_pc not found.
Segmentation fault

so you see the backend "smfp" is causing the error, and since I don't need parallel port support I might very well turn it off. I have custom-compiled my kernel without parallel port support which I suspect is the cause of my problem.

edit as root:
user@system:~$ sudo vim /etc/sane.d/dll.conf

comment out the "smfp" to become "#smfp"

another area to note is:
also make sure that your $HOME/.sane directory is owned by yourself. If its owned by root, normal user will not be able to use xsane too. If unsure, remove it entirely and let xsane create a new one for you.

LQ tags use the space character as a separator. If you want to create a multi word tag you need to use a visible character in between the words. People typically use the + character so your tag should be sane+segmentation+fault .

Also, since this post explains how to solve a problem you should put that in the title. Your title should read

SOLVED: sane segmentation fault.

Otherwise, thanks for posting this information.