Bug#548898: gvfs crashes gtk file chooser

[Yann Vernier]

Subject: gvfs crashes gtk file chooser
Package: gvfs
Version: 1.4.0-1
Severity: critical

*** Please type your report below this line ***
This was certainly a pain in the ass. For the record, the correct
response to an optional feature (gvfs) failing is not to crash the host
program. It's possible that bug belongs in libgtk, but the underlying
problem is just as severe (sending messages with unknown effects to
something that handles the file system).

Red Hat bug 512461 indicates that the problem is a protocol change
within gvfs - that is, between the library and the daemon processes it
automatically starts without user intervention. It spews a few error
messages of the form "process 6686: type array 97 not a basic type" then
crashes whatever Gtk program called the file chooser. Reproduced in
Iceweasel, Emacs, Comix, Viking etc. "Not a bug" is an insult to the
user, as this is nearly as destructive as it gets.

Appropriate handling:
#1. On failures, fall back to sane behaviour; i.e. non-vfs usage. 
#2. Make the protocol indicate version. Mismatches can then be detected.
    Give a warning/error code that can be handled.
#3. If a sane solution exists (in this case, have gvfs* daemons exit),
    consider automating it or at least suggesting it.

The problem could have been resolved in my instance by having the gvfs
package kill the daemons when they're upgraded.


-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (990, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.30-1-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=sv_SE.ISO-8859-15, LC_CTYPE=sv_SE.ISO-8859-15 (charmap=ISO-8859-15)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages gvfs depends on:
ii  libc6                         2.9-26     GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libdbus-1-3                   1.2.16-2   simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  libgconf2-4                   2.26.2-3   GNOME configuration database syste
ii  libglib2.0-0                  2.22.0-1   The GLib library of C routines
ii  libhal1                       0.5.13-3   Hardware Abstraction Layer - share
ii  libudev0                      146-3      libudev shared library
ii  x11-utils                     7.4+1      X11 utilities

Versions of packages gvfs recommends:
ii  dbus                          1.2.16-2   simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  gnome-mount                   0.8-2      wrapper for (un)mounting and eject
ii  hal                           0.5.13-3   Hardware Abstraction Layer

Versions of packages gvfs suggests:
ii  gvfs-backends                 1.4.0-1    userspace virtual filesystem - bac

-- no debconf information