Bug 139137 - macOS Catalina 10.15.7 VoiceControl feature causes LibreOffice (at least Calc) to crash
Summary: macOS Catalina 10.15.7 VoiceControl feature causes LibreOffice (at least Calc...
Status: RESOLVED INSUFFICIENTDATA
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
6.4.7.2 release
Hardware: x86 (IA32) macOS (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: wantBacktrace
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2020-12-21 22:01 UTC by rtpbs20
Modified: 2021-08-18 03:45 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

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Crash report or crash signature:


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Description rtpbs20 2020-12-21 22:01:35 UTC
Description:
Calc essentially persistently crashes regardless of the file one attempts to open if VoiceControl on Catalina 10.15.7 is active.

The crashes seem to occur only when opening a file in Calc, i.e. if Calc is already open with a particular file, launching VoiceControl won't crash Calc.

Steps to Reproduce:
1.launch voicecontrol in mac osx Catalina 10.15.7
2.open any .xls file with Calc
3.

Actual Results:
Calc crashes right after the file is opened, and then it endlessly tries to save the affected file, and one can only get out of it by using Force Quit

Expected Results:
the file should just have opened normally, I cannot see why VoiceControl would interfere with Calc


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No



Additional Info:
I have obviously not had the time to test this bug on
1- a different version of OSX (as I don't have any other)
2- other Libreoffice apps, as I basically only use Calc
3- any other calc file type, I use exclusively .xls

Also please note that
1- I tried to uninstall and reinstall LibreOffice a number of times, but it was pointless, and it also appears that once the crashes start, there is no way to stop them from occurring (even by switching off VoiceControl), only way is to reinstall a fresh LibreOffice

I have in the process lost at least 10 macros, which I will have to recreate.

I don't understand based on your info how to figure out whether openGL is enabled or not but here is a paste of the relevants passage

OpenGL driver version check (Current: 4.1 INTEL-14.7.8, Latest known: ):
Latest version of display drivers found
According the database, you are running the latest display drivers for your video card.
Comment 1 Julien Nabet 2020-12-22 08:36:58 UTC
Just for information, after 6.4.7, there won't be any new official LO version for 6.4 branch ; so you can give a try at 7.0.4 since there won't be any fix on 6.4 branch.
Also, you can follow advice from https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/FirstSteps.

Finally, if you still reproduce the crash, would it be possible you provide extra information? (see https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/BugReport/Debug_Information#macOS:_How_to_get_debug_information)
Comment 2 rtpbs20 2020-12-22 11:27:56 UTC
hi,
I forgot to mention, I also tried the latest LO 7.0 and that also crashed so whatever bug is in the 6.4 also lives in the 7.0
Comment 3 Julien Nabet 2020-12-22 12:56:07 UTC
(In reply to rtpbs20 from comment #2)
> hi,
> I forgot to mention, I also tried the latest LO 7.0 and that also crashed so
> whatever bug is in the 6.4 also lives in the 7.0

Ok I let you test what I proposed to you in my previous comment.
Comment 4 rtpbs20 2020-12-22 13:15:02 UTC
well, am still looking at how to get that debug file, I think I switch off all these functionalities at some point in the interest of privacy, if you have any clue what I would need to switch back on, that could help me get it over faster

in the meantime, have tested the bug some more, on 6.4 at least, it seems I was incorrect in saying that once the crashes start they cannot be stopped, basically if I switch voice control off, the crashes do stop

so they clearly are linked to that feature somehow
Comment 5 Julien Nabet 2020-12-22 14:50:48 UTC
I had kept your Alex' accessibility questionnaire on MacOs.
"
1) Do you have any accessibility features enabled? Apple’s accessibility
features like “VoiceOver” or “Enable access for assistive devices”, which get
enabled in “System Preferences > Universal Access”, are known to cause many crashes and freezes in LibreOffice. So please try to disable any accessibility features, then check if the problem is still reproducible.

2) Do you have installed any window management/user interface utilities/apps/control panels/extensions for Mac OS X like
   * AquaSnap                * BetterSnapTool
   * BetterTouchTool         * Breeze
   * Cinch                   * Divvy
   * DoublePane              * Flexiglass
   * HyperDock               * iSnap
   * Moom                    * RightZoom
   * ShiftIt                 * SizeUp
   * SizeWell                * Spectacle
   * Stay                    * TileWindows
   * WindowTidy              * Flavours (from flavours.interacto.net)
... or something similar?

And/or do you use any mouse cursor/pointer utility, i.e. some little application or control panel etc. which animates or replaces etc. the mouse curser/pointer, like
   * LazyMouse?

And/or do you use any special software which could be related to accessibility stuff, e.g. a screen reader, screen magnifier, speech recognition software,
a text-to-speech (dictation) application, or similar?

All these and many similar utilities rely heavily on Mac OS accessibility features and therefore can cause LibreOffice to crash or freeze. So please check if you have installed any utility of this kind and try to disable it
(or to add LibreOffice to the list of excluded applications for the utility,
if there is such a thing).

So please check these possibilities, if any of them helps to make the crash go away, and report the results here.
"

Alex: about retrieving extra info, I don't know if the link https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/BugReport/Debug_Information#macOS:_How_to_get_debug_information is still relevant or obsolete. Any thoughts here?
(if you think about some elements to change, I've got an account to modify the wiki page)
Comment 6 rtpbs20 2020-12-22 18:08:02 UTC
I am not sure how to respond to your questions, I mentioned in the title of the bug report that this issue occurs when VoiceControl (a Mac Accessibility feature) is active, so yes, I guess the answer to your first question, is yes, I am using the Mac Accessibility feature.

I am sure you are not saying that LO is supposed to crash during Mac Accessibility feature use, so if you are saying that yes, you guys are aware of this bug and I guess it will be addressed at some point in the future than ok.

and yes, I am using some other tools, too many to mention, but those do not seem to correlate with the crashing so I don't think they are relevant, but for reference, I also use 'Rectangle', 'Quicksilver', 'Mac Media Key Forwarder'... and look when I have a free 2-3 hours, I will make a list of those, I just don't have the time right now

hope this helps somehow
Comment 7 Julien Nabet 2020-12-22 22:22:22 UTC
Just for information, there are thousands of bugs in LO and most of devs use Linux.
So indeed, if there's a Mac Accessibility bug, yes it should be fixed but don't expect it soon (some bugs are years old).
Now hope the stacktrace will provide some hints.
Comment 8 rtpbs20 2020-12-22 22:42:32 UTC
I don't expect anything, I realize the product is free, I was just highlighting a problem

apologies for not knowing by heart all of the problem backlog in LO

next time, I will keep my mouth shut, I got the point. thanks for the help
Comment 9 QA Administrators 2020-12-23 03:45:43 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 10 steve 2020-12-23 11:06:10 UTC
Unable to reproduce.

Created a test.xls file, stored on desktop.

Launch Siri and while it is open and waiting for a voice command I open the xls test file.

LO opens the test file. No crash, no problem.

NEEDINFO:

1. Please retest with 7.0.4 and provide macOS build info. Using 10.15.7 (19H114) here.

2. OpenGL check: LibreOffice ▸ Preferences ▸ LibreOffice ▸ View on macOS as per https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/OpenGL

3. any accessibility tools in macOS in use on your system?

4. any UI tools like window managers installed?

Version: 7.0.4.2
Build ID: dcf040e67528d9187c66b2379df5ea4407429775
CPU threads: 8; OS: Mac OS X 10.15.7; UI render: default; VCL: osx
Locale: de-DE (de_DE.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Comment 11 Alex Thurgood 2020-12-23 15:05:24 UTC
(In reply to Julien Nabet from comment #5)

> 
> Alex: about retrieving extra info, I don't know if the link
> https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/BugReport/Debug_Information#macOS:
> _How_to_get_debug_information is still relevant or obsolete. Any thoughts
> here?
> (if you think about some elements to change, I've got an account to modify
> the wiki page)

It is really quite hard to retrieve any useful debugging info these days, as Apple has locked down/hidden the information that you can retrieve.

Additionally, some change in the way LO is built and packaged removed the crash reports that used to be generated in such circumstance.

There might, and I say might, be some information in the console/system logs, which a user can gain access to via the Utilities/Console.app tool? On can try searching through the various logs for "office" or "soffice" to see if anything in particular pops up.
Comment 12 Alex Thurgood 2020-12-23 16:07:04 UTC
@rtpbs20 : are there any particular options that you have also activated in relation to VoiceOver, e.g. via the VoiceOver Tool ? 

This can sometimes help to nail down accessibility issues (with which unfortunately, LibreOffice has been plagued for years).

I'm on Apple Silicon M1 BigSur, so what I see might be different from what you have on Catalina, I don't know.
Comment 13 steve 2021-01-18 11:20:14 UTC
Back to needinfo
Comment 14 QA Administrators 2021-07-18 03:30:10 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 15 QA Administrators 2021-08-18 03:45:30 UTC
Dear rtpbs20,

Please read this message in its entirety before proceeding.

Your bug report is being closed as INSUFFICIENTDATA due to inactivity and
a lack of information which is needed in order to accurately
reproduce and confirm the problem. We encourage you to retest
your bug against the latest release. If the issue is still
present in the latest stable release, we need the following
information (please ignore any that you've already provided):

a) Provide details of your system including your operating
   system and the latest version of LibreOffice that you have
   confirmed the bug to be present

b) Provide easy to reproduce steps – the simpler the better

c) Provide any test case(s) which will help us confirm the problem

d) Provide screenshots of the problem if you think it might help

e) Read all comments and provide any requested information

Once all of this is done, please set the bug back to UNCONFIRMED
and we will attempt to reproduce the issue. Please do not:

a) respond via email 

b) update the version field in the bug or any of the other details
   on the top section of our bug tracker

Warm Regards,
QA Team

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