Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 and SuSE 9.2 problem

wirawan0 · 01-29-2005, 02:31 PM

OK. I have just installed SuSE 9.2 professional on a Dell Inspiron 600m. Now I began to install my favorite programs, including the proprietary Adobe Acrobat Reader 5. I love this reader, and often it performs much better than Xpdf for graphics-only pages (such as the old Physical Review papers).

Note that SuSE 9.2 comes with X.Org X11 server instead of the legacy XFree86.

Code:

Name        : xorg-x11                     Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version     : 6.8.1                             Vendor: SUSE LINUX AG, Nuernberg, Germany
Release     : 15.1                          Build Date: Wed 20 Oct 2004 06:59:02 PM EDT
Install date: Thu 27 Jan 2005 01:25:20 PM EST      Build Host: kemnitz.suse.de
Group       : System/X11/Utilities          Source RPM: xorg-x11-6.8.1-15.1.src.rpm
Size        : 23177718                         License: X11/MIT
Signature   : DSA/SHA1, Wed 20 Oct 2004 07:10:41 PM EDT, Key ID a84edae89c800aca
Packager    : http://www.suse.de/feedback
URL         : http://freedesktop.org/XOrg
Summary     : The basic X Window System package
Description :
This package contains X.Org and some other programs from the
contrib-directory.

But I found a serious issue with the acroread binary.
This problem occurs with version 5.0.9 that was downloaded via Adobe website (some time ago) directly or the 5.0.10 that comes with SuSE DVD installer:

1. the keyboard won't work with the exception of up, down, right, left, pgup, pgdn, home, end, and Esc. All other keys (Ctrl+F, Ctrl+L) don't work. Menubar is not accesible via F10 either.
2. When I clicked on the Edit menu, the X server hangs. The only way to solve this problem is to switch to a virtual console and kill acroread.

I wonder if anybody encounters this problem and has a solution for it. It is really pathetic that acroread won't run properly. Just a comment: I have a bad impression with X.org X11, if it is really mature for production use.

Correction: keys like H, G, V, and so on (lower or upper case) actually work on my machine! Keys like Ctrl+N, Ctrl+L will NOT. It's very funny that the binary DID work well once. Only once, __long__ time ago, in this SuSE machine, even the Edit menu worked OK. But that was the only occasion it happened to work. Now it consistently acted badly upon me.

Wirawan

cspangen · 02-18-2005, 09:05 AM

I am having the same problem. I have not found out why. So, I do not know what the solution is. If find the solution I will post it.

Carl

reddazz · 02-18-2005, 10:20 AM

Have you tried using kghostview, kpdf or gpdf. They are good pdf readers that you can use until you get a fix for your problem.

wirawan0 · 02-22-2005, 02:27 PM

Well...I use Adobe Acrobat Reader for specific reasons. It reads faster for graphics-only PDF (such as old papers put online by American Physical Society), and that it is useful for full-screen display. Other than that I'd rather use opensourced program like xpdf, indeed. Oh well...no help yet.

I hope Adobe Acrobat Reader 7, when it's released, would not have that kind of problem. :-(

wirawan0 · 02-28-2005, 12:13 PM

No progress yet folks?

Here's more diagnostics from me:

BTW, the binary itself (/usr/X11R6/lib/Acrobat5/Reader/intellinux/bin/acroread) is OK. it is the X server which is troublesome, since I could run the acroread (v.5.0.10) OK if I connect to the SuSE machine from another box running an older version of XFree86 (version 4.2.1, coming with Red Hat Linux 7.3).

Conversely, if I connect to that Red Hat box from my SuSE box, and open Acroread version 4 (!!) from there (bringing the display to my SuSE box), exactly the same kind of sickness happens! And even the same problem with Edit menu lockup happens! So, what would you think? Isn't that a sign that the X server is problematic? Unless acroread has a hidden bug which was not exposed until now with the new X server.

It's also interesting to strace the acroread binary. Here are the relevant chunks:

Code:

socket(PF_FILE, SOCK_STREAM, 0)         = 3
getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, {rlim_cur=1024, rlim_max=1024}) = 0
uname({sys="Linux", node="wirawan0", ...}) = 0
uname({sys="Linux", node="wirawan0", ...}) = 0
connect(3, {sa_family=AF_FILE, path="/tmp/.X11-unix/X0"}, 19) = 0
uname({sys="Linux", node="wirawan0", ...}) = 0
fcntl64(3, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC)         = 0
access("/home/wirawan/.Xauthority", R_OK) = 0

....

# now the beginning of socket communication with the x server:

writev(3, [{"l\0\v\0\0\0\22\0\20\0\0\0", 12}, {"MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1", 18}, {"\0\0", 2}, {"V^\304\376\276\205\226\311\2566B\344\277p\304S", 16}], 4) = 48
fcntl64(3, F_GETFL)                     = 0x2 (flags O_RDWR)
fcntl64(3, F_SETFL, O_RDWR|O_NONBLOCK)  = 0
read(3, "\1\0\v\0\0\0\223\0", 8)        = 8
read(3, "\350\277\237\3\0\0 \3\377\377\37\0\0\1\0\0\24\0\377\377"..., 588) = 588
write(3, "7\0\5\0\0\0 \3H\0\0\0\10\0\0\0\377\377\377\0b\0\5\0\f\0"..., 64) = 64
read(3, "\1\0\2\0\0\0\0\0\1\204\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\35\0\0\0000"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\1\10\3\0\27\n\0\0\37\0\0\0\0\0\0\0[(\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 32) = 32
readv(3, [{"*AxeText.Translations:\t#override"..., 10331}, {"\0", 1}], 2) = 10332
write(3, "\204\0\1\0", 4)               = 4
read(3, "\1\0\4\0\0\0\0\0\377\377?\0\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\35\0\0\000"..., 32) = 32
writev(3, [{"b\0\5\0\t\0 \3", 8}, {"XKEYBOARD", 9}, {"\0\0\0", 3}], 3) = 20
read(3, "\1\0\5\0\0\0\0\0\1\225q\256\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\35\0\0\000"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "\225\0\2\0\1\0\0\0", 8)       = 8

...

# 

ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 688196}, NULL) = 0
select(4, [3], [], [], {0, 21})         = 0 (Timeout)
gettimeofday({1109613061, 688973}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 690931}, {300, 0}) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 690990}, {300, 0}) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 691013}, NULL) = 0
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 691078}, NULL) = 0
select(4, [3], [], [], {0, 15935})      = 0 (Timeout)
gettimeofday({1109613061, 706987}, NULL) = 0
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 707188}, NULL) = 0
select(4, [3], [], [], {0, 0})          = 0 (Timeout)
gettimeofday({1109613061, 707361}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 707427}, {300, 0}) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 707495}, {300, 0}) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 707562}, {300, 0}) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 707629}, NULL) = 0
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 707824}, NULL) = 0
select(4, [3], [], [], {0, 15805})      = 0 (Timeout)
gettimeofday({1109613061, 724528}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 724680}, {300, 0}) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 724750}, {300, 0}) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 724816}, NULL) = 0
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 724973}, NULL) = 0
select(4, [3], [], [], {0, 15843})      = 0 (Timeout)
gettimeofday({1109613061, 741009}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 741081}, {300, 0}) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 741151}, {300, 0}) = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 741219}, NULL) = 0
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
gettimeofday({1109613061, 741420}, NULL) = 0
select(4, [3], [], [], {0, 15799})      = 1 (in [3], left {0, 1000})
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [32])                = 0
read(3, "\4\1n\30%-\200\0H\0\0\0B\1 \3\0\0\0\0005\0:\0\n\0\7\0\20"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "#\1\2\0\0\0\0\0\37\1\4\0=\1 \3\0\0\0\0\0\0 \3", 24) = 24
read(3, "\n\2p\30;\1 \3\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\t\1p\30<\1 \3\1\0\0\00002k\10`/\273\10\n\0\0\0\210\365"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\t\0p\30=\1 \3\1\365\377\277\341\265\f\10\370\256\273\10"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\1\0p\30\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\35\0\0\0000\'"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "+\1\1\0", 4)                  = 4
read(3, "\1\1q\30\0\0\0\0;\1 \3\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\35\0\0\0000\'\275"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "*\1\3\0=\1 \3\0\0\0\0+\1\1\0", 16) = 16
read(3, "\n\2r\30;\1 \3\3\0\0\0\1\0\0\0 \0\0\0 \0\0\0008\366\377"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\t\1r\30<\1 \3\3\0\0\00002k\10`/\273\10\n\0\0\0008\366"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\t\0r\30=\1 \3\3\366\377\277\341\265\f\10\370\256\273\10"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\1\1s\30\0\0\0\0=\1 \3\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\35\0\0\0000\'\275"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "#\3\2\0\0\0\0\0", 8)          = 8
write(3, "B\3\v\0B\1 \3\23\0 \3\0\0\0\0&\0\0\0\0\0\1\0%\0\1\0\0\0"..., 216) = 216
read(3, "\22\343w\30\27\0 \3\27\0 \3\0I\277\10\27\0 \3\0\0\0\0\270"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\26\343x\30\26\0 \3\26\0 \3\260\1 \3+\0I\0\277\0\376\0"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\23\0y\30:\0 \3:\0 \3\0I\277\10:\0 \3\0\0\0\0\270\366\377"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\1\203~\30\0\0\0\0\34\2\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\35\0\0\000"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "\27\3\2\0\34\2\0\0", 8)       = 8
read(3, "\1\0\177\30\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\35\0\0\000"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "\20\0\7\0\22\0\0\0_MOTIF_CLIP_ITEM_2\1\0", 28) = 28
read(3, "\1\0\200\30\0\0\0\0\35\2\0\0\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\35\0\0\000"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "\24\0\6\0H\0\0\0\35\2\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\230\377\3\0", 24) = 24
read(3, "\1 \201\30\2\0\0\0\35\2\0\0\0\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\0\0\0\0(\0"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\20\0 \3\10\0\0\0", 8)         = 8
write(3, "\22\0\10\0H\0\0\0\35\2\0\0\35\2\0\0 \0\0\0\2\0\0\0\20\0"..., 68) = 68
read(3, "\34\366\203\30\20\0 \3\315\1\0\0*-\200\0\0\0 \3\330I\277"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\1\260\204\30\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\35\0\0\000"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "\24\0\6\0H\0\0\0\35\2\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\230\377\3\0", 24) = 24
read(3, "\1 \205\30\2\0\0\0\35\2\0\0\0\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\0\0\0\0(\0"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\20\0 \3\t\0\0\0", 8)          = 8
write(3, "\22\0\10\0H\0\0\0\35\2\0\0\35\2\0\0 \0\0\0\2\0\0\0\20\0"..., 84) = 84
read(3, "\34\366\207\30\20\0 \3\315\1\0\0*-\200\0\0\0 \3\330I\277"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\1 \210\30\20\0\0\0\314\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\1\0\0\0"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0@\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 64) = 64
write(3, "\24\0\6\0H\0\0\0\317\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\230\377\3\0"..., 24) = 24
read(3, "\1 \211\30\1\0\0\0\317\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0(\0"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\350\3\0\0", 4)                = 4
write(3, "\27\0\2\0@\1\0\0", 8)         = 8
read(3, "\1\0\212\30\0\0\0\0H\21\240\1\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\35\0\0\000"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "\27\0\2\0@\1\0\0", 8)         = 8
read(3, "\1\0\213\30\0\0\0\0H\21\240\1\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\35\0\0\000"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "\20\0\7\0\21\0\0\0ACROBAT_SELECTION\0 \3", 28) = 28
read(3, "\1\0\214\30\0\0\0\0\36\2\0\0\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\35\0\0\000"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "\27\0\2\0@\1\0\0", 8)         = 8
read(3, "\1\0\215\30\0\0\0\0H\21\240\1\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\35\0\0\000"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "\3\0\2\0H\21\240\1\16C\2\0H\21\240\1", 16) = 16
read(3, "\1\0\216\30\3\0\0\0#\0\0\0\2\0\0\1\377\377\377\377\0\0"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\0\0J\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\275\10", 12) = 12
read(3, "\1\0\217\30\0\0\0\0H\0\0\0\234\377\234\377\n\0\n\0\0\0"..., 32) = 32
write(3, "\2\0\4\0H\21\240\1\0\10\0\0\0\0\2\0\3E\2\0\20\0 \3\16\0"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "\1\0\221\30\3\0\0\0#\0\0\0\1\0\0\1\377\377\377\377\0\0"..., 32) = 32
read(3, "0\200b\0000\200b\0\0\0\275\10", 12) = 12
read(3, "\1\30\222\30\0\0\0\0H\0\0\0\377\1\177\1\1\0\1\0\0\0\0\000"..., 32) = 32
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
write(3, "\2\0\4\0\20\0 \3\0\10\0\0000\200b\0\30E\6\0\20\0 \3@\1"..., 40) = 40
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
read(3, 0xbfffd538, 32)                 = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
select(4, [3], NULL, NULL, NULL)        = 1 (in [3])
read(3, "\237\0\224\30\0\0\0\0\20\0 \3@\1\0\0\36\2\0\0]\0\0\0\350"..., 32) = 32
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
read(3, 0xbfffd538, 32)                 = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
select(4, [3], NULL, NULL, NULL)        = ? ERESTARTNOHAND (To be restarted)
--- SIGTERM (Terminated) @ 0 (0) ---
stat64("/home/wirawan/.acrobat", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat64("/home/wirawan/.acrobat/prefs", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=7901, ...}) = 0
access("/home/wirawan/.acrobat/prefs", W_OK) = 0
open("/etc/localtime", O_RDONLY)        = 12
fstat64(12, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=1267, ...}) = 0
close(12)                               = 0
...

Sorry for such a LONG snippet. Basically, the acroread opens the socket communication with the X server. While there is no user input, the read from that socket gives Timeouts (see above). The X server hung on me (because I clicked the menu Edit on acroread) JUST after spitting the LAST line before SIGTERM above! Actually the line reads like this when the hang occurs:

Code:

select(4, [3], NULL, NULL, NULL

After SIGTERM was sent, the rest of the lines are the cleanup routines followed by acroread.

So clearly something is wrong with the X server itself!

Any light?

Wirawan

wirawan0 · 03-02-2005, 03:55 PM

OK. I just found more "facts" to post here:

1. Fedora Core 2, which uses xorg-x11 version 6.7.x (x = forget which one): here, acroread also acts up exactly in the same way as described here. The computer is a Dell Precision desktop, BTW.

2. Fedora Core 3, which uses xorg-x11 version 6.8.1 (IIRC), on a Dell Inspiron 700m laptop: here, acroread responds NORMALLY if we press Ctrl+<Letter> keys, and the Edit menu does not cause X lockup.

BTW, SuSE Linux 9.2 uses xorg-x11 version 6.8.1 also! So, where is the problem?

Wirawan

wirawan0 · 03-14-2005, 11:50 AM

On SuSE, I defaulted the session type to GNOME. Once, I tried to use WindowMaker and KDE. Both does not respond to the Ctrl+<key> and F-<number> keys. But the Edit menu does not cause the X server to hang.