On Thursday 18 June 2020 16:40:29 BorgLabs - Kate Draven wrote: > On Thursday 18 June 2020, William Morder via trinity-users wrote: > > On Thursday 18 June 2020 15:28:46 BorgLabs - Kate Draven wrote: > > > > This is directed mostly to Nik (since I've heard him mention both > > > > Devuan and VLC); but also to anybody else who might have some inkling > > > > what is causing this issue. > > > > > > > > VLC is (or would be) my media player of choice on most of my machines > > > > or devices. I use it on my smartphone, and don't need anything else > > > > to play music, movies, stream videos or radio. (I've tried other > > > > media players, yes, but they are all inadequate by comparison, at > > > > least for my own needs.) So many good things to say about VLC ... > > > > until about a year or two ago. > > > > > > > > Ever since Jessie it will start up, but then immediately crashes. > > > > I've gone through looking for conflicts, but nothing obvious jumps > > > > out at me. > > > > > > > > Any suggestions about where to look, or what might be causing such an > > > > issue? > > > > > > > > Bill > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > Hi Bill > > > > > > the only thing I can think of is, purge all settings, config, cache > > > etc. and try again from the command line. See what it pops out. > > > > > > If you are up to it, grab the source code and build it. If you get it > > > working like that, that means the deb package is likely faulty somehow. > > > > > > Kate > > > > Hi Kate! > > > > Yes, I do hate building from source, but I can do it; it's just that > > there is no single "right" way to do it, so I waste a lot of time futzing > > with it. > > > > Since I haven't found too much online about similar problems, I would > > guess that the problem lies not with the deb packages themselves, or it > > would have been hunted down by now; but I could be wrong. > > > > Regarding a purge of settings: Do you mean using "apt-get purge" > > or "dpkg --purge"? or do you mean some kind of manual search? My hunch is > > that the fault may be there, even though I haven't changed anything (not > > even my socks) since about 2006 or so. > > > > Bill > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > No apt anything bad human! > No soup for you! > > I mean, go to your user directory ~/foo and look for references to vlc. > For example... > > ~/Bill/.vlc > ~/Bill/.local/share/vlc > ~/Bill/.config/vlc > and rename or delete the content of. > I would rename.... > ~/Bill/.vlc.old > ~/Bill/.local/share/vlc.old > ~/Bill/.config/vlc.old > and let vlc reload those directories/files with clean ones. > > Obviously those directories may differ depending on distro and version etc. > > You can also try creating a new blank user, login as such and try vlc from > there. If it launches then it's definitely a config/settings file problem. > > Also try to start vlc as root. It could be a perms problem, though I doubt > it. > > good luck, > > Kate > Yeah, I keep forgetting about that easy way to bypass these niggling issues: just to create a new user, as gregm and Michael have recommended. I *know* that I can do this, and long ago in the past I used to create new users for troubleshooting purposes, but it has been at least five or six years since I've done it, merely because I haven't had much trouble to shoot, and I live like a hermit monk, so I am always the only user on any of my machines. I believe, with these recommendations, I will be prepared for my search. Nothing that I didn't already know, I suppose, but it's good to be reminded. Also ... I was kinda-sorta hoping that somebody might say, "Oh, I know exactly what it is, because ..."; but no such luck there, so the hunt is on. Thanks for the recommendations, and if anybody else has ideas, I am still listening. I'll let you know of any interesting results. Bill