Crash importing files from Unicode paths

[Gale Andrews]

A user has reported a bug in 1.3.13 on an unknown version of OS X where opening an MP3 file in the Finder from a directory that contains Chinese characters makes Audacity crash. An example of a reported path that fails is

Code: Select all

~/Desktop/China/Mandarin/Methods/BLCU/汉语十日通·练习册_1/a.mp3. 

There is no problem with an MP3 that contains those Chinese characters in the file name. I have asked the user for the file but he hasn't replied to date.

If this problem is true it would be a reversion to 1.2/early 1.3 days. If true I am guessing it could be OS X 10.7 specific.

Can as many people as possible try in the Nightly Build please? Also please state your version of OS X.

Thanks for your help.


Gale

[bgravato]

I created a folder named 汉语十日通·练习册_1 and put an mp3 file in there.

I tried to open (through File->Open) that mp3 in Audacity 1.3.13-beta and it crashed.
Same result in Audacity 1.3.14-alpha-Aug-27.

If I import (File->Import->Audio) instead it works fine. No crash and the mp3 is correctly imported into a new track.

MacOS-X 10.6.8 on a MacBookPro.

[Gale Andrews]

I created a folder named 汉语十日通·练习册_1 and put an mp3 file in there.

I tried to open (through File->Open) that mp3 in Audacity 1.3.13-beta and it crashed.
Same result in Audacity 1.3.14-alpha-Aug-27.

If I import (File->Import->Audio) instead it works fine. No crash and the mp3 is correctly imported into a new track.

MacOS-X 10.6.8 on a MacBookPro.

Many thanks, Bruno. So something to do with opening a new project window? How about dragging the file in (which I assume won't crash) and opening the file from Finder with Audacity (Open with or whatever Mac land has, which could crash if it opens a new window)?

Also, are your Extended Import Preferences default (in 1.3.14 that means no rules, and "Attempt to use..." checked)?



Gale

[bgravato]

I found some and erratic behaviour... I was testing dragging the file from finder (mac's file manager) to an empty audacity project and also right clicking the file in finder and selecting "open with...". Most of the times both operations crash Audacity. But when looking for repeatability I found that sometimes I could successfully drag or "open with..." without crashing...

I'm still trying to find the pattern that makes it have different behaviour some times...

When I restart audacity after a crash sometimes I get the option to recover the project, sometimes I don't... Whether the starting point is a fresh new project or a previously existing one or a recovered one might be the key here, but I'll try to run some more tests and see if I can find a repeatable pattern...

Edit: I forgot to say that all these tests were on 1.3.13-beta

[bgravato]

I never touched Extended Import so I suppose it's the default, which in 1.3.13 means no filters and "Filter chosen in..." unchecked.

[bgravato]

This is getting weirder...

Steps:
1) start audacity
2) close any open project window
3) open a new project window
4) drag and drop the mp3 file in the bogus folder into the new project window

Result: sometimes is crashes, sometimes it doesn't...
If it doesn't crash and if I keep dragging and dropping the same file into the same project window it will keep importing the file into new tracks until one of the times it crashes. It has crashed on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th... import... I can't seem to find a repeatable pattern on this... Sometimes it crashes on the first drag, sometimes it lets me repeat it 2, 3, 4... times until it crashes...

[Gale Andrews]

Thanks, Bruno. I would do the tests in 1.3.14 if it's equally likely to crash. Sounds as if it's some natural variability that decides if it crashes? Or does importing so that a new project window is opened still always crash?

Is there the same issue if an AIFF, WAV or OGG is in that Chinese folder?


Gale

[bgravato]

I did some more tests.

I didn't find any noticeable difference between 1.3.13-beta and 1.3.14-alpha-Aug-27

I also tried with .ogg and .wav files, but the results are similar to the ones with .mp3 files.

I tried to open/import the files from either File->Open, File->Import->Audio or drag'n'drop. I now found the same erratic behaviour in all 3 options.

When a new project window is created (file->open) it seems that it crashes more often, but there has been also a couple of times in which it didn't crash and I could successfully open the file.
When importing into the same project window (either file->import or dragging) it seems to take longer to crash... Most of the times it's only after a few imports that it crashes.