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**lmilano** · Jan 07, 2010, 04:02 PM

Re: Help! Kmail crashes on new message/reply/forward

How about running the very latest KDE? Does that help? Sounds like a simple upgrade!
http://www.kubuntu.org/node/126

**Chopstick** · Jan 07, 2010, 04:34 PM

Re: Help! Kmail crashes on new message/reply/forward

If I understand that correctly, I was actually installing the backport-packages from KDE4.3.4; my current KDE-version is in fact KDE4.3.4. But I had to downgrade kdepim-runtime /-data/-lib4 in order to resolve a conflict with kdebase... see my other post:
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3109357.0
Curiously enough this problem only occurs on my laptop, but I installed the same versions on my office PC and it works perfectly (I got Akonadi fixed, too).
I tried downgrading Kontact/Kmail as well, but that causes a host of other conflict...

**lmilano** · Jan 07, 2010, 06:23 PM

Re: Help! Kmail crashes on new message/reply/forward

Ah, that explains it all, there must be binary incompatibility between the downgraded packages and the existing shared libraries. Here is what I would do:

1. Enable the backports repo again
2. refresh the sources
3. Undo the downgrade (i.e., use the latest of everything).
4. Make sure kubuntu-desktop is installed (or install it otherwise)

That should do, maybe when you installed the update the repository was temporarily inconsistent, which forced you to the upgrade.

If oyu see conflicts, I would uninstall whatever is on the way and then install it again. This is the simplest way to handle this sort of problem. Hope this helps!

I was running 4.3.4 from the ppa, and now I am upgrading to the backports as suggested in Kubuntu.org. Feel free to bug me in a little while if you want me to let you know how it went ...

Cheers!
Leo

**lmilano** · Jan 07, 2010, 07:22 PM

Re: Help! Kmail crashes on new message/reply/forward

Just for the record, the upgrade went just fine, and KMail is working ok. I would definitely try what I suggested above ...

**Chopstick** · Jan 07, 2010, 09:02 PM

Re: Help! Kmail crashes on new message/reply/forward

I tried what you suggested... it's a partial success in that I was able to lift the pin and upgrade all packages to the backport without causing conflicts. At least the system is in this sense "clean".
But my main problem, that I can't write emails, is not solved... it is still exactly the same...

I also tried to reinstall Kmail and reboot, but it did not help.

I'm actually not very surprised because my PC had the same packages pinned and no problems with Kontact.
This is really the weirdest part of it - I have no idea what the difference between my laptop and the PC is, in this respect. They have a different history though: my laptop started out with Intrepid, was upgraded to Jaunty, and now upgraded again to Karmic, while the PC had a clean install of Jaunty with no previous upgrades. Also my laptop has ext3 FS and a (not supported) ATI video card, and the PC has ext4 and a (supported) nVidia card. That's about all the difference.

Chopstick

**lmilano** · Jan 07, 2010, 09:31 PM

Re: Help! Kmail crashes on new message/reply/forward

Weird! how about this?

1. you uninstall anything kdepim
2. you run in konsole "sudo apt-get autoremove"
3. You install kdepim (including Kontact/Kmail again)

I am hoping there is some old package bothering you. Another thing to try is launch KMail from the command line and see if there is any relevant error message. How painful!

**Chopstick** · Jan 07, 2010, 10:20 PM

Re: Help! Kmail crashes on new message/reply/forward

I did what you suggested, but the problem persists...

I started kontact right after the reinstallation of everything (including kdebase-workspace and a lot of plasma stuff), without rebooting. Then I rebooted and tried again. Both times no change.
Could starting Kontact before rebooting be a problem?

Interestingly, although I selected complete removal in synaptic, all my account data etc. was still there!
That should not be, should it?

Btw. the console output is this:

Code:

me@erlkoenig:~$ kmail
me@erlkoenig:~$ *** KMail got signal 11 (Crashing)
KCrash: Application 'kmail' crashing...
sock_file=/home/me/.kde/socket-erlkoenig/kdeinit4__0

me@erlkoenig:~$

("me" is my user and "erlkoenig" is the computer name)

**kubicle** · Jan 08, 2010, 12:22 AM

Re: Help! Kmail crashes on new message/reply/forward

Originally posted by Chopstick

Interestingly, although I selected complete removal in synaptic, all my account data etc. was still there!
That should not be, should it?

As a rule, package changes (install/remove/purge) do not touch any of the per user configurations in users' $HOME directories...so the account data is preserved even if you purge the software.

In troubleshooting your problem, I'd first check whether it's a kde config issue or not.

To see if is a user config issue, you can either create a new user and test whether kmail will work for that user (recommended, this way you can be sure you get a clean config)...or rename ~/.kde and ~/.local/share/akonadi folders (don't delete, so you can rename them back after testing).

If kmail works with a fresh user (you may of course need to fill out mail account data for that user to test the functionality), then it's just a matter of finding out which configurations are causing the crashes for your primary user.

**Chopstick** · Jan 08, 2010, 12:51 AM

Re: Help! Kmail crashes on new message/reply/forward

I created a new user and got exactly the same problem: crash as soon as I click "New Message".
(I just switched users, I did not log out the other user or reboot the system - is that OK?)

**kubicle** · Jan 08, 2010, 02:44 AM

Re: Help! Kmail crashes on new message/reply/forward

Originally posted by Chopstick

(I just switched users, I did not log out the other user or reboot the system - is that OK?)

Yes, that will do.

Now that you've ruled out user config issues, it's time to tackle the packages..I'd try these first:

1. 'sudo apt-get -f install'
(to try repair any broken packages)

2. 'sudo dpkg --configure -a'
(to finish any interrupted configuration of packages)

3. 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade'
(to make sure you have everything updated to the latest)
And see if anything is upgraded and whether that fixes the issue

If the above doesn't work, you can try something a bit more drastic:
1. Log out from kde
2. Switch to a virtual terminal (Ctrl+Alt+F1) and login
3. stop kdm with 'sudo service kdm stop'
3. run 'sudo apt-get remove kdelibs5' (This will remove basically all of kde)
4. run 'sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop' (This will install the basic kde back, you still may need to reinstall any kde packages you had manually installed on your system)
5. restart kdm with 'sudo service kdm start'

Your issue might well be a valid bug, unfortunately I don't have a karmic machine to test things on.

**Chopstick** · Jan 08, 2010, 09:18 AM

Re: Help! Kmail crashes on new message/reply/forward

I tried everything you suggested, kubicle, but nothing changed (except that my system is pretty much cleaned up now - that at least is good).

I filed a bug report with complete backtrace after installing the kdepim-dbg package.

**Chopstick** · Jan 15, 2010, 09:34 AM

Re: Help! Kmail crashes on new message/reply/forward

I've given up on this, and made a clean install from CD.

Now everything works fine.

And a nice side effect is, that my system is that desktop effects (OpenGL) work now, and I had a chance to clean up my system.

Thank you for trying to help, guys!

Chopstick

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