App crashes when loading images containing Exif metadata, segmentation fault (Odin)

[kem-a]

What Happened

When loading images containing Exif metadata app instantly crashes if in Preferences option Write metadata to files is toggled off.

Expected Behavior

App should handle this without a crash. In perfect case scenario it should show error message to the user or to show at least which image caused error. There are many ways how to handle it. Going through 2k photos one by one to figure out the problem is not a very convenient way to solve errors.

One last note, it is still possible to crash app even with metadata toggle enabled. I had two photos that just did that, but I haven't narrowed down exact cause. My guess is that photos contains some non standard metadata, that Photos app can't handle.

[edit:] I dug deeper and found that two photos that caused a crash had corrupted Exif metadata. By fixing it Photos app could load it. So in summary, Photos app does not handle very well metadata issues.

Steps to Reproduce

1. In Preferences toggle off option Write metadata to files.
2. Take any image and apply metadata, for example, rotate it.
3. Copy to Photo library or folder from where Photos app loads images.

Logs

$ dmesg
[ 6502.494616] io.elementary.p[10017]: segfault at 7e2 ip 00007f89b14304b5 sp 00007ffcc02dc210 error 6 in libc-2.31.so[7f89b13ea000+178000]
[ 6502.494675] Code: 0f 85 29 2c 00 00 8b 8d 58 fa ff ff 83 f9 2f 0f 87 4d 17 00 00 89 ca 83 c1 08 48 03 95 68 fa ff ff 89 8d 58 fa ff ff 48 8b 12 <89> 02 e9 a8 c9 ff ff 48 89 e0 48 39 c4 74 15 48 81 ec 00 10 00 00

$ journalctl | grep io.elementary.p
sep 16 17:18:01 kerrigan io.elementary.p[10017]: Page.vala:276: Page 20190310_203941.jpg: Unable to locate action PrevPhoto
sep 16 17:18:01 kerrigan io.elementary.p[10017]: Page.vala:276: Page 20190310_203941.jpg: Unable to locate action NextPhoto
sep 16 17:18:01 kerrigan io.elementary.p[10017]: Page.vala:276: Page 20190310_203941.jpg: Unable to locate action FlipHorizontally
sep 16 17:18:01 kerrigan io.elementary.p[10017]: Page.vala:276: Page 20190310_203941.jpg: Unable to locate action FlipVertically
sep 16 17:18:01 kerrigan io.elementary.p[10017]: Page.vala:276: Page 20190310_203941.jpg: Unable to locate action SetBackground
sep 16 17:18:02 kerrigan kernel: io.elementary.p[10017]: segfault at 7e2 ip 00007f89b14304b5 sp 00007ffcc02dc210 error 6 in libc-2.31.so[7f89b13ea000+178000]

Platform Information

OS: elementary OS 6 Odin x86_64
Host: Aspire VX5-591G V1.08
Kernel: 5.11.0-34-generic

$ io.elementary.photos --version
Photos 2.7.1

[davidak]

I was not able to reproduce with your steps, but noticed an issue with metadata too.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Download https://davidak.de/images/theme_10_08.jpg
2. Open with photos from terminal: io.elementary.photos '/home/davidak/Documents/theme_10_08.jpg'
3. You get this message:

PhotoMetadata.vala:557: Unable to read date/time Xmp.xmp.CreateDate from source theme_10_08.jpg: 2008-10-12T16:31+02:00 is not XMP format date/time

It is actually just a warning. The app does not crash.

Maybe the crash is related to a different problem? Maybe the same that i reported here: #699

[davidak@gaming:~]$ io.elementary.photos '/home/davidak/Documents/theme_10_08.jpg' 
** Message: 18:09:02.390: main.vala:347: Shotwell Photo Viewer 2.7.3

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.423: PhotoMetadata.vala:557: Unable to read date/time Xmp.xmp.CreateDate from source theme_10_08.jpg: 2008-10-12T16:31+02:00 is not XMP format date/time

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.569: PhotoMetadata.vala:557: Unable to read date/time Xmp.xmp.CreateDate from source theme_10_08.jpg: 2008-10-12T16:31+02:00 is not XMP format date/time

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.569: PhotoMetadata.vala:557: Unable to read date/time Xmp.xmp.CreateDate from source theme_10_08.jpg: 2008-10-12T16:31+02:00 is not XMP format date/time

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.575: PhotoMetadata.vala:557: Unable to read date/time Xmp.xmp.CreateDate from source theme_10_08.jpg: 2008-10-12T16:31+02:00 is not XMP format date/time

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.586: Page.vala:280: Page theme_10_08.jpg: Unable to locate action PrevPhoto

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.586: Page.vala:280: Page theme_10_08.jpg: Unable to locate action NextPhoto

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.586: Page.vala:280: Page theme_10_08.jpg: Unable to locate action FlipHorizontally

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.586: Page.vala:280: Page theme_10_08.jpg: Unable to locate action FlipVertically

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.586: Page.vala:280: Page theme_10_08.jpg: Unable to locate action SetBackground

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.602: Page.vala:280: Page theme_10_08.jpg: Unable to locate action PrevPhoto

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.602: Page.vala:280: Page theme_10_08.jpg: Unable to locate action NextPhoto

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.602: Page.vala:280: Page theme_10_08.jpg: Unable to locate action FlipHorizontally

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.602: Page.vala:280: Page theme_10_08.jpg: Unable to locate action FlipVertically

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:02.602: Page.vala:280: Page theme_10_08.jpg: Unable to locate action SetBackground

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:09.900: PhotoMetadata.vala:557: Unable to read date/time Xmp.xmp.CreateDate from source theme_10_08.jpg: 2008-10-12T16:31+02:00 is not XMP format date/time

** (io.elementary.photos:3728934): WARNING **: 18:09:09.901: PhotoMetadata.vala:557: Unable to read date/time Xmp.xmp.CreateDate from source theme_10_08.jpg: 2008-10-12T16:31+02:00 is not XMP format date/time

---

Photos 2.7.3
NixOS 21.11.334797.6979c0e49bb