KDENLIVE crashing because of permissions issue

Ask Fedora
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1

For about a week, since last update, I cannot start the application at all. I am running Fedora 38 but this also happens on 37.
This is the trace when I start it from terminal:

profilePath from appDir/…/share: “/usr/share/mlt-7/profiles”
meltPath from KdenliveSetting::rendererPath: “”
meltPath from profilePath/…/…/…/bin: “/usr/bin/melt-7”
Empty metadata for “audiochannels”
Empty metadata for “audioconvert”
Empty metadata for “imageconvert”
Empty metadata for “glsl.manager”
Empty metadata for “telecide”
QQmlEngine::setContextForObject(): Object already has a QQmlContext
QQmlEngine::setContextForObject(): Object already has a QQmlContext
QQmlEngine::setContextForObject(): Object already has a QQmlContext
QQmlEngine::setContextForObject(): Object already has a QQmlContext
QQmlEngine::setContextForObject(): Object already has a QQmlContext
qrc:/qml/timeline.qml:497: ReferenceError: proxy is not defined
qrc:/qml/timeline.qml:478: ReferenceError: proxy is not defined
QGradient::setColorAt: Color position must be specified in the range 0 to 1
QGradient::setColorAt: Color position must be specified in the range 0 to 1
QGradient::setColorAt: Color position must be specified in the range 0 to 1
QGradient::setColorAt: Color position must be specified in the range 0 to 1
QGradient::setColorAt: Color position must be specified in the range 0 to 1
QGradient::setColorAt: Color position must be specified in the range 0 to 1

This clearly is a permissions issue because if i change user ID for current user to “0” (root) or run KDENLIVE with sudo, the application works fine. There are some issues in the traceback, but I have no problem opening, creating or editing projects. Naturally I do not want to be logged in to GUI as root and run applications.

2

Could you explain when Kdenlive crashes to understand the issue correctly?

3

When I am logged in as a normal user, I try starting KDENLIVE and it doesn’t start. It will just hang on the flash screen. If I start it from CLI, it will produce the error I attached. Interesting thing is also that it seems to complain about: “qrc:/qml/timeline.qml:497: ReferenceError: proxy is not defined”
timeline.qml is a part of SHOTCUT installation, not KDENLIVE.
As I said, if I start KDENLIVE as root, it runs fine, but I do not want to run any applications as root.

4

Need a bit more input from you to identify issues.

  1. Can you share debug information from help menu (screenshot below)?

kdenlive-debug
kdenlive-debug961×516 56.8 KB

  1. Did you enable proxy edit and use it before update?
  2. Did you enable hardware acceleration and use it before update?
5
  1. I cannot give you debug information, because the application is not starting under normal user at all. It just hangs on the splash screen. If I start with existing file (not an empty session), it will open the interface, but nothing can be used. It just hangs.
    Do you want the debug info from super user session? That starts OK, but as I said, that is not what should be done.
  2. Yes, I am using proxy clips.
  3. No, I did not enable hardware acceleration.

As I said before, KDENLIVE opens and works with sudo or root user. It could be related to the video driver. I have a radeon card. KDENLIVE does not work on either X server or Wayland.

6

By The way I tried both, appimage and flatpack with the same result. My original application was installed from RPM and worked for years.

7

Thanks for taking time to share details.

I add video tag to this thread, so it can reach to someone who is more experienced on AV debugging than me.

Flatpak is a recommended way to install kdenlive in Fedora. I’ve been using flatpak from the first time I installed.

8

I would only go for the permission denied conclusion if no user except root can run the program. With gui tools or “useradd” and “userdel” + “passwd” it’s easy to add and delete a temporary user. What happens if such a user runs kdenlive from scratch?

It’s always possible that after upgrade a program does not understand it’s own configuration files any more. In home dir’s subdirectory “.config” (dot config) are some kdenlive related files. What happens if you temporary rename them or move them to another location? There is some horrible magic in those files, so if the problem is in there I’m afraid you have to configure from zero.

1 Like
9

I tested those scenarios. I created a new user and tried running KDENLIVE. Same result. I also deleted the “.local/share/kdenlive” directory. It did not help. When I start a new session (no input file) as a regular user, it will just hang with the errors listed here.
If I start an existing project (double click the .kdenlive file or from CLI), it will open the interface, but splash screen hangs on “Loading Project Clips…”. I cannot click anything in GUI and whenever I try, it just says that KDENLIVE is unresponsive.
When I run KDENLIVE with sudo or log in as root, everything works just fine.

10

Sometimes things need a bigger hammer.

Maybe one could try uninstalling kdenlive at the same time as they remove the config file in the users directory. Then reinstall new (after a restart) and try again.

It also may be related to SELinux rules. Have you looked at the logs to see if selinux may be denying access for the regular user but allowing access for root?

11

@computersavvy I tried reinstalling a few times. By the way, I also tried downgrading to the previous version of KDENLIVE, and that works fine. Unfortunately all my projects have been upgraded when I opened them with the new version (as root). I will have to look at the SELinux logs.