Libreoffice crashes when clicking on insert citation

Abdessamadd
Hello,

I have Libreoffice 5.3.4 and recently upgraded to zotero 5 after a clean install of bunsenlabs linux, libreoffice writer crashes each time I click insert citation from the zotero libreoffice plugin. First time this happens with zotero.

Any advices on how I can solve this issue ?

Thanks in advance.
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  • adomasven
    Does this occur in a new document?
  • Abdessamadd
    Yes it does, on a new blank page it does the same thing.
  • adomasven
    Could you submit a Debug ID for attempting a citation insert?
  • Abdessamadd
    Here it is: D1627781957
  • adomasven
    Does LibreOffice crash with Zotero closed?
  • tombola
    I've had the same problem - it's reported at https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/66609/libreoffice-v5-crashes-when-used-with-zotero-v5?new=1. The crashes occur when any button on the Zotero toolbar in LibreOffice is used, EVEN WHEN ZOTERO IS CLOSED.
  • adomasven
    What version of JDK/JRE is installed? You should update to the latest JRE and make sure it's selected under LO Preferences -> Advanced
  • Abdessamadd
    @adomasven yes it does crash with zotero closed (sorry for being late)
    @tombola yep, what you said.
    @adomasven it took me a while but finally updated jdk. Did what you said, enabled it in libreoffice advanced. The problem still persists.
  • Guillem Farres
    Hello,
    I have the same issue. In fact, it started with Zotero 4, and following some posts on this forum i installed Zotero 5 to fix it, but the problem persists.
    I am using the default version of Ubuntu 16.04 (actualized): Libreoffice 5.1.6.2 who uses JRE Oracle 1.8.0_131
    Thank you very much for your help in solving the issue.
  • Abdessamadd
    The output of java -version is :

    java version "1.8.0_141"
    Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_141-b15)
    Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 25.141-b15, mixed mode)
  • tombola
    I too have updated to Java 8 (1.8.0_131) and selected this version of Java in LO Preferences -> Advanced. As it did for @Abdessamadd , the problem persists.
  • tombola
    I noticed and installed updates to Zotero 5, bringing my installation up to Zotero 5.06. After these updates I was able to open a new LO document, do several citation insertions and edits, add a bibliography, save close and reopen the document, and edit citations again. I then tested a large document with many existing Zotero citations. I was able to add two citations and do one edit before LO crashed. Since then I can no longer do any Zotero functions in LO, even in a new document, without it crashing.
  • adomasven
    edited July 21, 2017
    That's very weird. Make sure there are no leftover libreoffice processes running. A restart would clear those if you can't find any.

    LO has a tendency to crash for certain Zotero operations, which we have worked around as best as we can, but if restart/clearing leftover processes helps, then this is fundamentally a LibreOffice issue.
  • tombola
    I have tried restarting, twice now. It makes no difference; the problem persists.
  • adomasven
    I wonder if we can find a way to make the extension to function again. If you remove it in LibreOffice -> Tools -> Extension Manager, close LO, install the extension from Zotero Preferences -> Cite -> Word Processor Plugins, does it begin working again?
  • tombola
    @adomasven I followed your suggestion, completing it with a computer restart. LO still crashes immediately when inserting a Zotero citation into a new document.
  • adomasven
    Just to confirm, you are seeing a LibreOffice crash as soon as you press the button and independently of Zotero being open or not? You don't even get the citation dialog?
  • Abdessamadd
    edited July 21, 2017
    Yes, no dialog, crashes instantly, it doesn't freeze even for half a second, did the re-installation of the plug-in before the jdk thing but nothing changes.
    I'll try installing another version of LO and be back to you in a couple of hours.
    Thanks again for your patience and time.
  • Abdessamadd
    Same went for LO 5.2.7, so I think it's not a libreoffice issue, zotero was working fine with that version for me. I tried to downgrade to zotero 4 but is says the database needs the updated version.
  • adomasven
    If you install the older version of the plugin into LibreOffice does it function properly?
  • Annagoldkind
    Hello,
    I have the exactly the same problem described here (I also use the Firefox Plugin, Ubuntu and LibreOffice). When I used the older version as you suggested it first started working again, but after two or three citations it crashed again. At one point, I got this error message: "An error occurred communicating with Zotero: com.sun.star.uno.RuntimeException: SwXFootnote: disposed or invalid" and a lot more detail. I have the screenshot of the message, but I will not type everything here, since I don't know whether it is related. Note that at the moment I received the message, LibreOffice did not crash, at that moment there was simply no reaction when I tried to click on the toolbar.
    So far my hope was that the problem will miraculously be solved with the release of LibreOffice 5.4 at the end of July but from what you write, that hope got kind of crushed.

    I am totally not a programmer, so I probably give you completely unrelated information, but just in case: a few weeks back my LibreOffice profile was corrupt, so that I couldn't even open LibreOffice anymore. I had to delete the profile file and lost all my settings. The problem seemed to be one of my extensions, either Zotero or Language Tool, I didn't install LT again and it seemed to work. Now that the problem reappears I wonder if there has been another reason.

    Thanks for helping out with this. I'll be happy to give more information if I can.
  • adomasven
    Could you submit a Report ID if you have not restarted Zotero yet? Also, could you upload the error message screenshot somewhere (dropbox, imgur, etc.) and post the link here?
  • Annagoldkind
    Here is the Report ID: D1945119163
    And this is the link for the screenshot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zc3m8bx2dlact9z/Bildschirmfoto vom 2017-07-21 14-31-58.png?dl=0
  • adomasven
    Does the older version of the plugin work right in a fresh document?
  • Annagoldkind
    No, it doesn't. When I tried to use the plugin in a new document after restarting the computer, the first time it froze first (instead of terminating right away) and Ubuntu excused itself for an error that occurred. So I tried starting it again from the terminal, to see if there were any other information.
    That's what it said:
    (soffice:3020): Gdk-WARNING **: gdk_window_set_icon_list: icons too large

    (soffice:3020): Gdk-WARNING **: gdk_window_set_icon_list: icons too large

    (soffice:3020): Gdk-WARNING **: gdk_window_set_icon_list: icons too large

    (soffice:3020): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: /build/glib2.0-RnwmWL/glib2.0-2.48.2/./gobject/gsignal.c:3486: signal name 'selection_changed' is invalid for instance '0xa939d00' of type 'OOoAtkObjCompTxt'

    (soffice:3020): Gdk-WARNING **: gdk_window_set_icon_list: icons too large

    That was while starting LibreOffice, it did start nevertheless, but I hadn't yet used the Zotero plugin.

    This time, LibreOffice crashed right away as soon as I hit the citation button.
    (Sorry again for all unnecessary information)
  • tombola
    I've tried two tactics to repair/assess the problem.

    Firstly: REINSTALL PLUGIN. Remove new Integration plugin in LibreOffice -> Tools -> Extension Manager, close LO, install the extension from Zotero Preferences -> Cite -> Word Processor Plugins, then restart computer. LO still crashes for citations in new documents regardless of whether Zotero Standalone is open or not.

    Secondly: TRY OLD PLUGIN. Remove new Integration plugin in LibreOffice -> Tools -> Extension Manager, close Zotero Standalone and restart LO, install the older version of the plugin (see @adomasven message July 21 at 9:19pm). LO still crashes for citations in new documents regardless of whether Zotero Standalone is open or not.
  • adomasven
    @tombola could you try resetting your LibreOffice profile and try the old plugin again?
  • tombola
    @adomasven I reset my LibreOffice (LO) profile (by renaming the original profile) and then installed the current (v5) integration plugin by going to Edit > Preferences > Cite Pane > Word Processors Tab > Reinstall LibreOffice Add-In Button. I then closed Zotero, opened LO and clicked the Add Citation button. This resulted in a message asking me to open Zotero which I did. Then, in LO, I clicked the Add Citation button again and got the Document Settings window (great!) but without any styles listed (not so great!). Without being able to select a style, I couldn't go beyond this window to actually add a citation. I did try to add styles but got an error message.

    Next, I installed the old integration plug-in as provided/linked above. I did this by closing Zotero, and then I opened LO > Tools > Extension Manger, removed current plugin and loaded old plugin. I then restarted LO. I clicked the document settings button and LO crashed immediately. I then restarted LO and removed the old plugin, then reinstalled the new plugin using the method above. After doing this, LO crashed instantly when I clicked the Add Citation button, whether Zotero was closed (as it was at first) or open. This suggested to me that the process described up to here had corrupted my new LO profile.

    Things I tried next:
    RESTART COMPUTER: This made no difference; LO still crashed.

    RESET MY LO PROFILE AGAIN AND TRY NEW PLUGIN AGAIN: I used the procedure described above to reinstall the current version of the integration plugin and then restarted computer before using LO. With Zotero closed, I clicked the Add Citation button; LO crashed instantly. I'm now unsure whether profile corruption is the issue.

    RESETTING MY LO PROFILE AGAIN AND TRY OLD PLUGIN IMMEDIATELY: After installing the old plugin and restarting LO, I clicked on the Add Citation button and LO crashed instantly, regardless of Zotero being closed/open.

    Unfortunately now, I have deadlines to meet and won't be able to do much Zotero testing for a while. I'm wondering if other users of LibreOffice are generally having this problem? If someone has a workaround, please let me know!
  • adomasven
    edited August 21, 2017
    Thanks for doing all this testing @tombola . I don't think we've seen something like this before, but the fact that the old extension crashes LO makes me think, that this may be an issue related to a library LO uses, since there are reports from multiple people with different versions of Linux.

    Running LO from the terminal might print some debug information, during the crash. That might clue us onto something. Otherwise, it might be worthwhile to take this to the document foundation bugtracker.
  • tombola
    Hi @adomasven - I ran libreoffice writer from a terminal. Output shown below. The GTK error message appears as soon as writer starts. There is no other output to terminal generated before, during or after the crash.

    ------Terminal Output------------------
    tom@tom-ThinkPad-T510:~$ libreoffice --writer

    ** (process:4222): WARNING **: require a newer gtk than 3.10 for theme expectations
    tom@tom-ThinkPad-T510:~$
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