[gentoo-user] Re: VLC stopped working: XML reader not found

[Grant Edwards]

On 2020-03-22, David Abbott <dabbott@g.o> wrote:

>>> VLC suddenly stopped working this week.  Last week it worked fine, but
>>> now I get this:
>>>
>>>     $ vlc
>>>     VLC media player 3.0.8 Vetinari (revision 3.0.8-0-gf350b6b5a7)
>>>     [000055814c41d3e0] main xml reader error: XML reader not found
>>>     [000055814c399580] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
>>>     Segmentation fault
>>>
>>> I re-emerged it, but no change.  Why is VLC suddenly looking for an
>>> XML reader and segfaulting when it doesn't find one?

[doesn't appear to be related to recent addition of second monitor]

> Is the xml use flag enabled?

No, it wasn't.

I rebuilt vlc with the xml flag enabled.  No error message about XML
reader not found, but it still segfaults.

Now that I think about it, I can't swear that it didn't always
complain about not findig an XML reader.  It didn't used to segfault
though. :)

Looking at the emerge logs, I see that a bunch of QT5 stuff got
upgraded two days ago.  My current assumption is that the qt5 upgrade
is the culprit.

Sure enough, starting vlc with the ncurses interface works fine.

VLC without the xml use flag also works fine when run with the ncurses
interface -- the XML reader not found message is back again.  I
suspect it's always been there, and I just never noticed until VLC
started segfaulting.

The only other Qt GUI app I have installed (AFAICT) is wireshark.  It
worked fine a few days ago, and now it segfaults too.

... I installed qterminal as a quick test, and it segfaults also.

I guess I'll have to start rolling back Qt packages on Monday when I
need Wireshark to work again. :/

--
Grant