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segmentation-fault interview questions

Top segmentation-fault frequently asked interview questions

How to catch segmentation fault in Linux?

I need to catch segmentation fault in third party library cleanup operations. This happens sometimes just before my program exits, and I cannot fix the real reason of this. In Windows programming I could do this with __try - __catch. Is there cross-platform or platform-specific way to do the same? I need this in Linux, gcc.


Source: (StackOverflow)

What is segmentation fault?

What is segmentation fault? Is it different in C and C++? How are segmentation fault and dangling pointer related?


Source: (StackOverflow)

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What is a bus error?

What does the "bus error" message mean, and how does it differ from a segfault?


Source: (StackOverflow)

Why do I get a segmentation fault when writing to a string initialized with "char *s" but not "char s[]"?

The following code receives seg fault on line 2:

  char *str = "string";
  str[0] = 'z';
  printf("%s", str);

While this works perfectly well:

  char str[] = "string";
  str[0] = 'z';
  printf("%s", str);

Tested with MSVC and GCC.


Source: (StackOverflow)

What is the simplest standard conform way to produce a Segfault in C?

I think the question says it all. An example covering most standards from C89 to C11 would be helpful. I though of this one, but I guess it is just undefined behaviour:

#include <stdio.h>

int main( int argc, char* argv[] )
{
  const char *s = NULL;
  printf( "%c\n", s[0] );
  return 0;
}

EDIT:

As some votes requested clarification: I wanted to have a program with an usual programming error (the simplest I could think of was an segfault), that is guaranteed (by standard) to abort. This is a bit different to the minimal segfault question, which don't care about this insurance.


Source: (StackOverflow)

How do you read a segfault kernel log message

This can be a very simple question, I'm am attempting to debug an application which generates the following segfault error in the kern.log

kernel: myapp[15514]: segfault at 794ef0 ip 080513b sp 794ef0 error 6 in myapp[8048000+24000]

Here are my questions:

  1. Is there any documentation as to what are the diff error numbers on segfault, in this instance it is error 6, but i've seen error 4, 5

  2. What is the meaning of the information at bf794ef0 ip 0805130b sp bf794ef0 and myapp[8048000+24000]?

So far i was able to compile with symbols, and when i do a x 0x8048000+24000 it returns a symbol, is that the correct way of doing it? My assumptions thus far are the following:

  • sp = stack pointer?
  • ip = instruction pointer
  • at = ????
  • myapp[8048000+24000] = address of symbol?

Source: (StackOverflow)

Why stack overflow on some machines, but segmentation fault on another?

Just out of curiosity, I'm trying to generate a stack overflow. This code generates a Stack Overflow according to the OP, but when I run it on my machine, it generates a segmentation fault:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int num = 11;
unsigned long long int number = 22;

int  Divisor()
{
    int result;
    result = number%num;

    if (result == 0 && num < 21)
    {
        num+1;
        Divisor();

        if (num == 20 && result == 0)
        {
            return number;
        }
    }

    else if (result != 0)
    {
        number++;
        Divisor();
    }
}

int main ()
{
    Divisor();
    cout << endl << endl;
    system ("PAUSE");
    return 0;
}

Also, according to this post, some examples there should also do the same. Why is it I get segmentation faults instead?


Source: (StackOverflow)

Why does const int main = 195 result in a working program but without the const it ends in a segmentation fault?

Consider following C program (see live demo here).

const int main = 195;

I know that in the real world no programmer writes code like this, because it serves no useful purpose and doesn't make any sense. But when I remove the const keyword from above the program it immediately results in a segmentation fault. Why? I am eager to know the reason behind this.

GCC 4.8.2 gives following warning when compiling it.

warning: 'main' is usually a function [-Wmain]

const int main = 195;
          ^

Why does the presence and absence of const keyword make a difference here in the behavior of the program?


Source: (StackOverflow)

Why does an infinitely recursive function in PHP cause a segfault?

A hypothetical question for you all to chew on...

I recently answered another question on SO where a PHP script was segfaulting, and it reminded me of something I have always wondered, so let's see if anyone can shed any light on it.

Consider the following:

<?php

  function segfault ($i = 1) {
    echo "$i\n";
    segfault($i + 1);
  }

  segfault();

?>

Obviously, this (useless) function loops infinitely. And eventually, will run out of memory because each call to the function executes before the previous one has finished. Sort of like a fork bomb without the forking.

But... eventually, on POSIX platforms, the script will die with SIGSEGV (it also dies on Windows, but more gracefully - so far as my extremely limited low-level debugging skills can tell). The number of loops varies depending on the system configuration (memory allocated to PHP, 32bit/64bit, etc etc) and the OS but my real question is - why does it happen with a segfault?

  • Is this simply how PHP handles "out-of-memory" errors? Surely there must be a more graceful way of handling this?
  • Is this a bug in the Zend engine?
  • Is there any way this can be controlled or handled more gracefully from within a PHP script?
  • Is there any setting that generally controls that maximum number of recursive calls that can be made in a function?

Source: (StackOverflow)

The shortest C program, still causes segfault

For a moment I was very proud of myself to have written my probably first C bug-free program. Here is the entire source code:

int main;

It compiles perfectly even without the int, but a warning is issued (even without -Wall) and, as a programmer who is aiming at a bug-free program, I treat them as errors.

Having happily compiled this application, I immediately rushed to launch it. To my surprise, a segmentation fault error appeared...


Now seriously. What is exactly happening?

My guess is as follows: it's the lack of main's definition. This is so obvious and yet the compiler permits it. OK, main may be defined in a different unit. But even the linker doesn't do anything about it. Any particular reason why?


Source: (StackOverflow)

Signal 11 SIGSEGV Crash in Galaxy S3 Android WebView

I have a complex, interactive HTML5 in an Android WebView - and it works fine on basically all platforms except Galaxy S3. On Galaxy S3 (Android 4.0.4), once out of every 5 times or so, just after the load completes, /system/lib/libwebcore.so tries to access invalid memory and a Fatal signal 11 (SIGSEGV) at [various addresses] (code=1) is thrown.

The HTML5 is a tiny battle where enemies appear and the user slashes them to proceed. In between battles are normal html pages: normal page -> HTML5 battle -> normal page -> HTML5 battle -> normal page -> HTML5 battle. The HTML5 doesn't do anything particularly out-of-the-box - there's a lot of -webkit-animation calls...

.enemy {
    position:absolute;
    opacity:0;
    -webkit-animation:enemyAnim 0.6s linear 0.2s;
}

…that reference a lot of -webkit-keyframes...

@-webkit-keyframes enemyAnim {
from {
 -webkit-transform: matrix(1, 0, 0, 1, 144.25, 150.25) scale(1, 1);
 opacity:1;
}
8.33% {
 -webkit-transform: matrix(1, 0, 0, 1, 189.406, 102.206) scale(1.3066, 1.3066);
 opacity:1;
}
16.66% {
 -webkit-transform: matrix(1, 0, 0, 1, 200.424, 82.649) scale(1.414, 1.414);
 opacity:1;
}
/*…*/

And a fairly complex div tree, but nothing particularly experimental. There's some level of Javascript, but the hangs appear to occur even with all Javascript turned off.

Has anyone ever had a problem with a Galaxy S3 being…different? No Android 2.x devices have this problem, and even a Galaxy Nexus running 4.1.1 doesn't seem to have any particular problem. I've never been tempted to write to Stack Overflow before, but this is really vexing me...

Searching on "Android WebView sigsegv crash" & "4.0.4 WebView sigsegv crash" gives several issues, but:

Since some of the crashes are occuring during memory free()s, I know that things are being free'd around the time of the crash and my gut feeling is that some things are being freed mid-render that shouldn't be. It's frustrating because SIGSEGVs should be physically impossible with pure HTML, JS, & CSS =/

Below is a sample crash report. Note that the crash location is not limited to the below; crash reports don't seem to be wildly different but there seems to be some variation in location.

10-08 17:34:06.605: I/DEBUG(524): *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
10-08 17:34:06.605: I/DEBUG(524): Build fingerprint: 'samsung/m0xx/m0:4.0.4/IMM76D/I9300XXBLH1:user/release-keys'
10-08 17:34:06.605: I/DEBUG(524): pid: 7443, tid: 7443  >>> cool.tiny.rpg.battle <<<
10-08 17:34:06.605: I/DEBUG(524): signal 11 (SIGSEGV), code 1 (SEGV_MAPERR), fault addr deadbaad
10-08 17:34:06.605: I/DEBUG(524):  r0 deadbaad  r1 00000001  r2 40000000  r3 00000000
10-08 17:34:06.605: I/DEBUG(524):  r4 00000000  r5 00000027  r6 400d8540  r7 400e74f4
10-08 17:34:06.605: I/DEBUG(524):  r8 01fa7160  r9 00000000  10 bed6a584  fp 41d79970
10-08 17:34:06.605: I/DEBUG(524):  ip ffffffff  sp bed6a2b0  lr 400b9639  pc 400b59c8  cpsr 68000030
10-08 17:34:06.605: I/DEBUG(524):  d0  0000000000000000  d1  4343000000000000
10-08 17:34:06.605: I/DEBUG(524):  d2  43b6800041a00000  d3  41a8000043020000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d4  8000000000000000  d5  43aa00003f800000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d6  43a4000043430000  d7  43cb000041a00000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d8  4082f00000000000  d9  4082f4000000025e
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d10 4460400000000500  d11 0000000000000000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d12 0000000000000000  d13 0000000000000000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d14 0000000000000000  d15 0000000000000000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d16 4076800000000000  d17 7e37e43c8800759c
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d18 0000000000000000  d19 0000000000000000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d20 3ff0000000000000  d21 8000000000000000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d22 0000000000000000  d23 0000000000000000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d24 0000000000000000  d25 3ff0000000000000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d26 4034000000000000  d27 3ff0000000000000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d28 0000000000000000  d29 3ff0000000000000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  d30 0000000000000000  d31 3ff0000000000000
10-08 17:34:06.610: I/DEBUG(524):  scr 60000010
10-08 17:34:06.750: I/DEBUG(524):          #00  pc 000179c8  /system/lib/libc.so
10-08 17:34:06.750: I/DEBUG(524):          #01  pc 00013852  /system/lib/libc.so
10-08 17:34:06.750: I/DEBUG(524):          #02  pc 00015b90  /system/lib/libc.so (dlfree)
10-08 17:34:06.750: I/DEBUG(524):          #03  pc 00016208  /system/lib/libc.so (free)
10-08 17:34:06.750: I/DEBUG(524):          #04  pc 0010f79c  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_Z6yyfreePvS_)
10-08 17:34:06.750: I/DEBUG(524):          #05  pc 0010ef70  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
10-08 17:34:06.750: I/DEBUG(524):          #06  pc 003ee8ec  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
10-08 17:34:06.755: I/DEBUG(524):          #07  pc 003eef44  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN7WebCore12LayerAndroidD1Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.755: I/DEBUG(524):          #08  pc 003eef84  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN7WebCore12LayerAndroidD0Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.755: I/DEBUG(524):          #09  pc 0019b2ca  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
10-08 17:34:06.755: I/DEBUG(524):          #10  pc 003ec6a0  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN5Layer14removeChildrenEv)
10-08 17:34:06.755: I/DEBUG(524):          #11  pc 003ec782  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN5LayerD2Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.760: I/DEBUG(524):          #12  pc 003eef70  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN7WebCore12LayerAndroidD1Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.760: I/DEBUG(524):          #13  pc 003eef84  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN7WebCore12LayerAndroidD0Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.760: I/DEBUG(524):          #14  pc 0019b2ca  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
10-08 17:34:06.760: I/DEBUG(524):          #15  pc 003ec6a0  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN5Layer14removeChildrenEv)
10-08 17:34:06.760: I/DEBUG(524):          #16  pc 003ec782  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN5LayerD2Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.760: I/DEBUG(524):          #17  pc 003eef70  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN7WebCore12LayerAndroidD1Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.760: I/DEBUG(524):          #18  pc 003eef84  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN7WebCore12LayerAndroidD0Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.760: I/DEBUG(524):          #19  pc 0019b2ca  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
10-08 17:34:06.760: I/DEBUG(524):          #20  pc 003ec6a0  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN5Layer14removeChildrenEv)
10-08 17:34:06.765: I/DEBUG(524):          #21  pc 003ec782  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN5LayerD2Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.765: I/DEBUG(524):          #22  pc 003eef70  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN7WebCore12LayerAndroidD1Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.765: I/DEBUG(524):          #23  pc 003eef84  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN7WebCore12LayerAndroidD0Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.765: I/DEBUG(524):          #24  pc 0019b2ca  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
10-08 17:34:06.765: I/DEBUG(524):          #25  pc 003ec6a0  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN5Layer14removeChildrenEv)
10-08 17:34:06.765: I/DEBUG(524):          #26  pc 003ec782  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN5LayerD2Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.765: I/DEBUG(524):          #27  pc 003eef70  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN7WebCore12LayerAndroidD1Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.765: I/DEBUG(524):          #28  pc 003eef84  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN7WebCore12LayerAndroidD0Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):          #29  pc 0019b2ca  /system/lib/libwebcore.so
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):          #30  pc 003ec6a0  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN5Layer14removeChildrenEv)
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):          #31  pc 003ec782  /system/lib/libwebcore.so (_ZN5LayerD2Ev)
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524): memory map around addr deadbaad:
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524): bed4a000-bed6b000 [stack]
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524): (no map for address)
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524): ffff0000-ffff1000 [vectors]
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524): stack:
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a270  00000001  
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a274  bed6a2b0  [stack]
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a278  400e2800  /system/lib/libc.so
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a27c  0000000c  
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a280  400e2794  /system/lib/libc.so
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a284  400e7888  
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a288  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a28c  400b9639  /system/lib/libc.so
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a290  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a294  bed6a2c4  [stack]
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a298  400d8540  /system/lib/libc.so
10-08 17:34:06.770: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a29c  400e74f4  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2a0  01fa7160  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2a4  400b87a5  /system/lib/libc.so
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2a8  df0027ad  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2ac  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524): #00 bed6a2b0  bed6a2ac  [stack]
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2b4  00000001  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2b8  400d8524  /system/lib/libc.so
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2bc  00000005  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2c0  bed6a2dc  [stack]
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2c4  fffffbdf  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2c8  bed6a2dc  [stack]
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2cc  bed6a2dc  [stack]
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2d0  400dbaac  /system/lib/libc.so
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2d4  400b1857  /system/lib/libc.so
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524): #01 bed6a2d8  00000130  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2dc  20404040  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2e0  524f4241  /dev/ashmem/dalvik-mark-stack (deleted)
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2e4  474e4954  /dev/ashmem/dalvik-heap (deleted)
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2e8  4e49203a  /dev/ashmem/dalvik-heap (deleted)
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2ec  494c4156  /dev/ashmem/dalvik-heap (deleted)
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2f0  45482044  /dev/ashmem/dalvik-heap (deleted)
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2f4  41205041  /dev/ashmem/dalvik-heap (deleted)
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2f8  45524444  /dev/ashmem/dalvik-heap (deleted)
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a2fc  49205353  /dev/ashmem/dalvik-heap (deleted)
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a300  6c64204e  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a304  65657266  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a308  01f86700  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a30c  406f6a2c  /system/lib/libskia.so
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a310  406c4ecc  /system/lib/libskia.so
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a314  3ff00000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a318  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a31c  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a320  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a324  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a328  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a32c  01c9aa08  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a330  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a334  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a338  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a33c  3ff00000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a340  60d00000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a344  60e42ff0  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a348  014bb000  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a34c  400e74f4  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a350  01bc24b0  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a354  400e7550  
10-08 17:34:06.775: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a358  01f74458  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a35c  400e7528  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a360  00000010  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a364  400e74f4  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a368  01f74460  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a36c  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a370  bed6a584  [stack]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a374  400b3ba9  /system/lib/libc.so
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a378  0211c9a0  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a37c  020d499c  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a380  000097a0  /system/bin/app_process
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a384  00004000  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a388  01d087b8  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a38c  400e7560  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a390  01dc6ef8  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a394  400e7528  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a398  01fd5378  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a39c  400e7580  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3a0  01ddafa8  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3a4  01ddb008  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3a8  01ed4568  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3ac  400e7580  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3b0  00000068  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3b4  400e74f4  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3b8  01ed4570  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3bc  00000014  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3c0  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3c4  400b3ba9  /system/lib/libc.so
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3c8  00000000  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3cc  01ae77d8  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3d0  01fa7160  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3d4  01fd7d2c  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3d8  00000009  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3dc  4dfa26b2  /dev/ashmem/dalvik-heap (deleted)
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3e0  01fa7158  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3e4  01fd7d2c  [heap]
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3e8  00000009  
10-08 17:34:06.780: I/DEBUG(524):     bed6a3ec  400b3b95  /system/lib/libc.so

Update Nov 30th:

I've still got a long way to go in narrowing this down to a simple test case, but I've gotten reproduction of the above SIGSEGV down to 2 HTML pages loaded from a plain webview app. The webview simply starts up and loads:

http://static0.kl-uswest.ec2.gumi.sg/static/android4crash/crash.html

The pages link to each other, and don't necessarily crash on the first view, but eventually they crash 100% on the Android 4.1.1 emulator and my Galaxy Nexus (4.1.1). Note that the post title is wrong - this definately isn't S3 only.

The interesting thing is,
- Using the webview inside my real app, loading 1 page (crash.html or any heavy HTML5 page) repeatedly is enough to cause the SIGSEGV.
- Using this plain webview app for testing, the two pages need each other to crash - just loading 1 page repeatedly will not die.
- Loading the pages in the Android 4.1.1 web browser, even the 2 pages aren't enough - it will die but it takes many pages.

In terms of error location, there are different stack traces on the crashes, some related to stylesheets, others related to destructors at HTMLImageElement. Android 2.x, iOS, any other browser is rock solid.

Javascript changes the DOM, and that appears to be enough to cause the crash here…but why?
At first glance this strikes me as a garbage collection problem - my app would garbage collect earlier than the plain webview app because it has used more memory in other places. I'm not getting memory error messages, however. I'll continue working to narrow this down, but anyone with any ideas as to how to proceed or what might be the issue truly has my eternal undying affection.

Test App Code:

http://static0.kl-uswest.ec2.gumi.sg/static/android4crash/CrashApp.zip

Test App APK:

http://static0.kl-uswest.ec2.gumi.sg/static/android4crash/CrashApp.apk

All HTML resources: 

http://static0.kl-uswest.ec2.gumi.sg/static/android4crash/CrashHTMLPagFull.zip

Test App's startup code:

 public class MainActivity extends Activity {

private WebView webView;

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    webView = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webView1);
    webView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);

    webView.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient()); 
    webView.setWebChromeClient(new WebChromeClient()); 
    webView.loadUrl("http://static0.kl-uswest.ec2.gumi.sg/static/android4crash/crash.html");
}

 }

Update Feb 3rd:

The problem seems to occur due to webkit-animations that are still animating when the page closes. I narrowed down one crash to a single "myblink" tag:

.myblink{-webkit-animation-name:"anime-blink";-webkit-animation-duration:1.2s;-webkit-animation-timing-function:ease-in-out;-webkit-animation-iteration-count:infinite}
@-webkit-keyframes "anime-blink"{0%{opacity:0}
20%{opacity:1}
60%{opacity:1}
100%{opacity:0}
}

A test that cycled between a text page and a (no-CSS) canvas page would would crash if and only if the text page used the "myblink" tag.

My humble hypothesis is:

[deconstructor for active webkit-animation] + [heavy next page being loaded at same time] + [bad luck with timing] = [memory corruption]

I say this because, and I could be missing something, the contents of the animation seem almost irrelevant. I tried:

  • making opacity always equal 1
  • replacing opacity with a position transform
  • turning off animation looping
  • putting the blink tag on a picture instead of text
  • playing around with keyframes

…but it would always crash. The only thing that would stop the crashing was to turn off animation looping and also shorten the animation-duration - i.e. crashing would stop if the animation was finished before the page was closed.

For now I've worked around the crash in-game by converting in-game animations to a completely canvas-based solution ;^^ Drastic, I know. So I won't be investigating further for a while, but still I would so love to narrow this down to a specific piece of webkit source code.

Side note: I'd like to give a shoutout to:

https://www.codeaurora.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=450

...which is either the same issue or something very similar.

Update Nov 19th:

The original server was taken offline, so have placed the above test code in Dropbox:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/56202247/CrashApp.zip https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/56202247/CrashHTMLPagFull.zip

(Note that url in CrashApp application has to be changed to wherever you put the HTML pages)


Source: (StackOverflow)

segfault only when NOT using debugger

I have a multithreaded C program, which consistently generates a segmentation fault at a specific point in the program. When I run it with gdb, no fault is shown. Can you think of any reason why the fault might occur only when not using the debugger? It's pretty annoying not being able to use it to find the problem!


Source: (StackOverflow)

What can cause segmentation faults in C++? [closed]

I noticed there's not question with a list of common causes of segmentation faults in C++, so I thought I'd add it.

Naturally it's community Wiki, since there's no one correct answer.

I think this might be useful for newer programmers learning C++, feel free to close it if you disagree.


Source: (StackOverflow)

What causes a Python segmentation fault?

I am implementing Kosaraju's Strong Connected Component(SCC) graph search algorithm in Python.

The program runs great on small data set, but when I run it on a super-large graph (more than 800,000 nodes), it says "Segmentation Fault".

What might be the cause of it? Thank you!


Additional Info: First I got this Error when running on the super-large data set:

"RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded in cmp"

Then I reset the recursion limit using

sys.setrecursionlimit(50000)

but got a 'Segmentation fault'

Believe me it's not a infinite loop, it runs correct on relatively smaller data. It is possible the program exhausted the resources?


Source: (StackOverflow)

Executing machine code in memory

I'm trying to figure out how to execute machine code stored in memory.

I have the following code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    FILE* f = fopen(argv[1], "rb");

    fseek(f, 0, SEEK_END);
    unsigned int len = ftell(f);
    fseek(f, 0, SEEK_SET);

    char* bin = (char*)malloc(len);
    fread(bin, 1, len, f);

    fclose(f);

    return ((int (*)(int, char *)) bin)(argc-1, argv[1]);
}

The code above compiles fine in GCC, but when I try and execute the program from the command line like this:

./my_prog /bin/echo hello

The program segfaults. I've figured out the problem is on the last line, as commenting it out stops the segfault.

I don't think I'm doing it quite right, as I'm still getting my head around function pointers.

Is the problem a faulty cast, or something else?


Source: (StackOverflow)