Conflict with LibreOffice/OpenOffice

[Jesper Hertel]

For a long time (many months, perhaps years, my brain really needs a memory upgrade), I have experienced a conflict between LibreOffice and Clipboard Help+Spell.

When copying something in LibreOffice, sometimes Libreoffice locks up and becomes unresponsive. Every time this happens, I notice that Clipboard Help+Spell is also unresponsive, and my only option is to kill its process . And the very second I kill the Clipboard Help+Spell process, LibreOffice becomes responsive again.

This has happened countless times to me.

I can not reproduce it as it only happens sometimes. But my guess is that some kind of deadlock occurs, where both programs are waiting for eachother to release an open handle or something. So I guess it would be possible to look at the source code of Clipboard Help+Spell and see if it is made in a way that could provoke a deadlock with another program accessing the clipboard. And maybe then a timeout could be introduced in the waiting in Clipboard Help+Spell so the deadlock would only last a few seconds (or less) at max and then give up and possibly give a tray balloon tip about its unability to get clipboard contents or so. I think it is much better to avoid the deadlock and miss the copied text than to lock up both programs waiting to get a copy of the clipboard.

I am 99% sure the same happened in the past when I used OpenOffice instead of LibreOffice. But I have never experienced that deadlock with any other programs. Only in the combination LibreOffice/OpenOffice and Clipboard Help+Spell. So I am quite sure there is some kind of bug in LibreOffice in the way it handles the clipboard. On the other hand, I would prefer if Clipboard Help+Spell didn't lock up just because of that. It would be nice if it could gracefully be a little more accepting towards LibreOffice's possibly rude behaviour.

Just now it occurred to me that I could probably circumvent the problem and avoid the deadlocks by putting LibreOffice (soffice.bin and/or soffice.exe) on the ignore list in Clipboard Help+Spell. But it would be nice if the two applications could peacefully coexist and Clipboard Help+Spell would also work with LibreOffice.

[f0dder]

For what it's worth: this also happens to me with ClipX, and has happened in both OpenOffice and LibreOffice. I've only had it happen in calc, and I haven't found out how to reproduce it - happens rarely enough that I haven't bothered /actively/ trying to reproduce, and it happens under different conditions (both when dealing with text-only cells as well as formula cells).

Once, I was able to resuscitate OpenOffice, but that was blind luck and I haven't been able to repeat that - involved the window system menu (upper left corner), and attempting a bunch of restore/maximize/move operations. Also, FWIW, ClipX seems to keep on trucking when OOo/LO locks up.

[mouser]

I have to track down another reported (and confirmed) incompatibility with CHS, so i'll try to look at this at the same time and report what i see.

[40hz]

I was able to resuscitate OpenOffice,

-f0dder (May 08, 2013, 02:40 PM)

Don't bother next time. Just go with Libre and allow 'Open' to be put out of its misery once and for all.

-------------------------

@mouser - I'll see if I can get that problem to replicate with my copy of LibreOffice4 when I get a chance.

[Jesper Hertel]

i'll try to look at this at the same time and report what i see

-mouser (May 09, 2013, 11:24 AM)

Thanks, mouser!

[mouser]

Some research has revealed that this is a longstanding bug caused by Open Office / Libre Office.. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but more about the bug here:

• http://forum.openoff...php?f=15&t=29513
• https://issues.apach...how_bug.cgi?id=49907

[mouser]

It seems to me that a workaround is that AFTER the open-office (libre-office) application is launched, use the right-click tray of CHS and say to "re-establish the clipboard chain".. The question is whether i can figure out a way to do that automatically so user doesn't have to worry.

[mouser]

Ok I have a preliminary possible fix for this.. I'll upload a beta and we can see if it helps.

[mouser]

See how this beta performs for you:

• https://www.donation...elpAndSpellSetup.exe
• or https://www.donation...AndSpellPortable.zip

What I've done:
I added code to CHS to have it automatically re-establish the clipboard chain when it sees a new Open Office / Libre Office process.  In fact as a test I'm having CHS re-establish the clipboard chain any time you try to capture from a new process.  Let's see what effect that has.

This should solve the 5-second delay when copying clips within Open Office / Libre Office, and I hope the related occasional hanging that you've experienced.

[Jesper Hertel]

  so much, mouser! You are awesome!

I have installed the beta now and will see how it goes. I tried some wild copying in LibreOffice with the new beta running, and so far everything seems to work perfectly.

Thank you again!

[mouser]

Happy to be of service.. Let me know if it holds up over time.

[Jesper Hertel]

I will!

[Jesper Hertel]

Hm... It happened again... 

LibreOffice locked up, and Clipboard Help+Spell was inaccessible. Nothing happened when I clicked the Clipboard Help+Spell icon, neither a left nor a right click had any effect – I tried about 30 times over a period of perhaps 30 to 45 seconds... The exact moment I killed the Clipboard Help+Spell process, LibreOffice became fully responsive again.

And I did no clipboard thing in LibreOffice. I just initiated a document compare. Well, I actually pasted the name of the second file to compare into the file open dialog from LibreOffice (that was a clipboard thing) and then started the compare. And LibreOffice did do the comparison and showed the results, but then it locked up (within a second from the paste command).

I tried to do the exact same thing again. Started LibreOffice and did the same compare in the same way as before, and made my actions in about the same speed. But this time nothing locked up.

Can I help with any kind of system snapshot, log file or similar from when it happens again? Can I break into Clipboard Help+Spell and see where it is locked? Perhaps I can go to Process Explorer and have a look at the stack of Clipboard Help+Spell in the Threads tab of its process – and maybe even have a look at the stacks of the various threads to see where it is locked? Anything in particular to look for?

In any case, I will try to analyze both Clipboard Help+Spell and LibreOffice with Process Explorer next time the deadlock happens. Even though I don't understand much of it, perhaps I can get some idea of what is happening so I can give you a clue.

I'll return.

[mouser]

Email me ([email protected]) and I'll send you a debug version which will log what's going on as it happens and we can see if we can catch this hang in action.

[f0dder]

I was able to resuscitate OpenOffice,

-f0dder (May 08, 2013, 02:40 PM)

Don't bother next time. Just go with Libre and allow 'Open' to be put out of its misery once and for all.

-40hz (May 09, 2013, 03:00 PM)

Oh, I'm using Libre these days (and think it's pretty much as shitty as Open, but even though it doesn't run as well as old MSOffice versions, at least it's gratis). It's just that I was able to resuscitate OOo, not Libre. And only once or twice, anyway.

[mouser]

New beta version is up at url listed above; hopefully it will work better.

[mouser]

any reports?

[Jesper Hertel]

Oh, I cannot keep up! I answered now by email. I cannot make LibreOffice crash now, which is good . I will see what happens in the time to come when I work with LibreOffice.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[f0dder]

In case the problem ends up being fixed, can you detail your changes, mouser? Might be suitable for ClipX as well