zotero crashes when indexing pdf

ccba3689

zotero 4.0.15
pdftotext 3.02
pdfinfo 3.02

I try to index the not-indexed files.


after a while zotero shuts down (stand alone)

same thing happens with zotero add on in ff

couldn't find a solution in the forum.

zotero says I have

2375 not indexed files
408 indexed
26 partly indexed

does it happen due to big amount of files?

Thank you for any support!

dstillman

Try indexing with the latest 4.0 Branch dev XPI and see if that helps. You'll need to close Standalone first, of course.

ccba3689

Hi Dan,

ff still crashes with zotero 4.0.15.r11443 when I try to index.

However, the first time I tried with the dev version it indexed some files. But I canceled because I wanted to do other work first. When I tried to start the indexing process again the crash happened nearly immediately.

474 indexed
30 partly
2300 not indexed

thanks, Nils

ccba3689

Hi,

I still face the same problem. ff crashes after I start the indexing process. I also tried on different computers, same result everywhere. It seems as if sometimes some files are indexed before the crash, because now there are more indexed files than before and these are more than the ones I recently added to my library (when I add item the indexing works well for the single nmew added items)

if I can contribute anything to solve my problem, please let me know!

now I use 4.0.16.r11451

Best, Nils

dstillman

Can you do this repeatedly until all items are indexed?

ccba3689

sorry, I found that I was wrong. ff crashes without any indexing.

I thought it is indexing, because the numbers changed compared to my previous post, but now I'm trying to run indexing (tried on two machines) and the number of indexed files is not changing before/after the crash.

Another thing I see is: The numbers on both computers are different. Shouldn't they be same when I check "sync full-text content"?

I have

632 indexed
38 partial
2228 unidexed

and

914 indexed
11 partial
1973 unidexed

I checked database integrity on both machines and no errors were found.

dstillman

Generate real-time debug output for a crash and email it to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread.

dstillman

OK, got both of those, but I'm not sure what they're supposed to show. They both seem to end normally. Did those actually cover crashes?

ccba3689

I sent you debug output with subject "https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/33322?page=1#Item_6"

I don't know if it helps much. Console crashed with ff. So I could only save after restarting ff (via console). I did it twice and got different output. I sent two emails.

Is there a way to prevent the crashing of the console?

ccba3689

ok, they do not cover crashes. How can I save the console output?

dstillman

Oh, OK, yeah, output that doesn't cover the crash won't help. Is there output going by in the console at the time of the crash? Can you copy some of it?

Is there a way to prevent the crashing of the console?

Not on Windows, which unfortunately is basically useless for debugging. If you can reproduce this on a Mac or Linux machine, the output would remain behind in the terminal (but it's also less likely that you'd get a crash, since that tends to be a Windows feature).

If Firefox is crashing, try typing about:crashes in the Firefox address bar and looking for a crash report for a recent crash (based on the timestamps). If it's being killed by the OS for memory consumption there might not be any, but if there is, click through on the most recent one and post the resulting Mozilla URL here.

dstillman

Also, can you determine the exact steps to reproduce the crash? Does disabling auto-sync make a difference? (I see a successful sync in one of your debug outputs, so maybe not.) Does it happen if you don't touch the mouse or keyboard for five seconds?

ccba3689

ok, i could save some output right before the crash. Sent it some seconds ago.

ccba3689

disabling auto sync does not make any difference. disabled it before the last try, so the last mailed output is with all synch options disabled.

ccba3689

https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/f4af8009-592c-4267-9325-14d012131128

ccba3689

After clicking the "index" button I do not enter anything via mouse nor keyboard.

dstillman

OK, so you're getting a crash in some Mozilla code we use during full-text indexing. If the numbers aren't advancing when you start the indexing of unindexed items, it likely means that there's a specific item that's causing the crash, but without retaining the debug output after a crash it's hard to know which item it is. (You can see the last item in your output by pasting 2TH3E23T into the Zotero search bar in "All Fields & Tags" mode, and you can click Reindex if that isn't indexed and see if it crashes. But my guess is that that item isn't the problem.)

You can look for unindexed items manually by expanding all items with the + key and just using the down arrow to go through each attachment, looking in the right-hand pane to see if each is indexed and indexing as you go. It's possible that way you can find one that will crash. There's currently no way to search for unindexed items.

But I'd suggest just not worrying about it for now. We're going to be replacing that Mozilla code, which is very slow anyway, in an upcoming version.

(If you have access to a Mac or Linux machine, you could also transfer your Zotero data directory to that, index unindexed items there, and then transfer that data directory back to this computer.)

ccba3689

Dear Dan,

the item wasn't indexed, caused a crash when I tried to "manually" reindex. I took it out of the storage.

Indexing is in progress now on the other machine for some minutes already without crash (but slow as you supposed). I'll leave it alone now over night. In case another crash occures I'll just wait for the next zotero versions.

Excellent support!!! Thanks a lot!!!

dstillman

OK, great. For what it's worth, that same PDF (found online) does not cause a crash for me on OS X.

ccba3689

seems as if the file I stored was corrupted somehow (however, opening and displaying works fine). Fresh from the web loaded file does not cause the crash for me on Windows, too. The old one still does. So obviously this was not really a zotero issue.