Segmentation fault while executing dvdauthor

[mmasroorali]

Dear All,
I am getting segmentation fault while executing dvdauthor (from qdvdauthor). I have tried this repeatedly, even reencoding some input files without any avail. I tried also running the commands from command line with the same result.

I am completely clueless here. I have been authoring dvd for several months. But this is the first time something like this has happened.

The output I get is,

/tmp/execute.sh: line 3: 8364 Segmentation fault /usr/bin/dvdauthor -x "/tmp/ABCD/dvdauthor.xml"

Thanks in advance.

Below is my execute.sh
#!/bin/bash

/usr/bin/dvdauthor -x "/tmp/ABCD/dvdauthor.xml"

Here is my dvdauthor.xml

<dvdauthor dest="/home/masroor/Videos/movies/ABCD/dvd/" >
 <vmgm>
  <menus>
   <video format="ntsc" aspect="4:3" resolution="720x480" />
   <pgc entry="title" >
    <pre> { if ( g4 gt 0 ) button=g4; 
           if ( g2 gt 0 )  { 
                if ( g2 eq 1 ) jump titleset 1 menu entry root;
                jump title 1;           }
        } </pre>
    <vob file="/tmp/ABCD/Main Menu VMGM_menu.mpg" pause="inf" />
    <button name="01_Button_1" > { g4=1024;  g3=1; jump titleset 1 menu entry root; } </button>
    <button name="02_Button_2" > { g4=2048;  g3=2; jump titleset 1 menu entry root; } </button>
    <button name="03_Button_3" > { g4=3072;  g3=3; jump titleset 1 menu entry root; } </button>
    <button name="04_Button_4" > { g4=4096;  g3=4; jump titleset 1 menu entry root; } </button>
    <post> { g4=button; g2=0; jump vmgm menu 1; } </post>
   </pgc>
  </menus>
 </vmgm>
 <titleset>
  <menus>
   <pgc entry="root" >
    <pre> {   if ( g3 gt 0 )  {
                if ( g3 eq 1 ) { g3=0; jump title 1  chapter 1; }
                if ( g3 eq 2 ) { g3=0; jump title 2  chapter 1; }
                if ( g3 eq 3 ) { g3=0; jump title 3  chapter 1; }
                if ( g3 eq 4 ) { g3=0; jump title 4  chapter 1; }
                jump vmgm menu entry title;
                }
        } </pre>
    <post> { g2 = 0; jump vmgm menu entry title; } </post>
   </pgc>
  </menus>
  <titles>
   <video format="ntsc" aspect="4:3" resolution="720x480" />
   <audio lang="en" />
   <subpicture lang="en" />
   <pgc>
    <vob file="/tmp/ABCD/A/subtitles.vob" pause="0" chapters="00:00:00.000,00:05:00.000,00:10:00.000,00:15:00.000,00:20:00.000,00:25:00.000,00:30:00.000,00:35:00.000,00:40:00.000,00:45:00.000,00:50:00.000,00:55:00.000,01:00:00.000,01:05:00.000,01:10:00.000,01:15:00.000,01:20:00.000,01:25:00.000,01:30:00.000,01:35:00.000,01:40:00.000,01:45:00.000,01:50:00.000,01:55:00.000" />
    <post> call vmgm menu 1;</post>
   </pgc>
   <pgc>
    <vob file="/tmp/ABCD/B/subtitles.vob" pause="0" chapters="00:00:00.000,00:05:00.000,00:10:00.000,00:15:00.000,00:20:00.000,00:25:00.000,00:30:00.000,00:35:00.000,00:40:00.000,00:45:00.000,00:50:00.000,00:55:00.000,01:00:00.000,01:05:00.000,01:10:00.000,01:15:00.000,01:20:00.000,01:25:00.000,01:30:00.000,01:35:00.000,01:40:00.000,01:45:00.000,01:50:00.000,01:55:00.000,02:00:00.000,02:05:00.000" />
    <post> call vmgm menu 1;</post>
   </pgc>
   <pgc>
    <vob file="/home/masroor/Videos/movies/ABCD/encode/C.mpg" pause="0" chapters="00:00:00.000,00:05:00.000,00:10:00.000,00:15:00.000,00:20:00.000,00:25:00.000,00:30:00.000,00:35:00.000,00:40:00.000,00:45:00.000,00:50:00.000,00:55:00.000,01:00:00.000,01:05:00.000,01:10:00.000,01:15:00.000,01:20:00.000,01:25:00.000,01:30:00.000,01:35:00.000,01:40:00.000,01:45:00.000,01:50:00.000,01:55:00.000,02:00:00.000,02:05:00.000,02:10:00.000,02:15:00.000,02:20:00.000,02:25:00.000,02:30:00.000,02:35:00.000,02:40:00.000,02:45:00.000,02:50:00.000,02:55:00.000,03:00:00.000" />
    <post> call vmgm menu 1;</post>
   </pgc>
   <pgc>
    <vob file="/tmp/ABCD/D/subtitles.vob" pause="0" chapters="00:00:00.000,00:05:00.000,00:10:00.000,00:15:00.000,00:20:00.000,00:25:00.000,00:30:00.000,00:35:00.000,00:40:00.000,00:45:00.000,00:50:00.000,00:55:00.000,01:00:00.000,01:05:00.000,01:10:00.000,01:15:00.000,01:20:00.000,01:25:00.000,01:30:00.000,01:35:00.000,01:40:00.000,01:45:00.000,01:50:00.000,01:55:00.000,02:00:00.000" />
    <post> call vmgm menu 1;</post>
   </pgc>
  </titles>
 </titleset>
</dvdauthor>

[tomlee59]

I'm pretty clueless about this, too, but no one else has posted a reply yet, so I'll share what little I have to offer. The few times that I've been able to fix a segfault error, it's been due to a file with an odd filename (maybe containing strange or illegal characters). If any of the assets you are authoring happens to have a strange filename, or has a pathname containing odd characters, try renaming first and try again.

The other times I've gotten stubborn segfaults have been due to a hardware error (bad ram, bad HD). Run whatever diagnostic tools you have that might be able to detect and repair any such errors.

Beyond that, all I can say is good luck!

[mmasroorali]

Thanks a lot for the tips.

The problem is solved. I am putting forth the steps in detail with the hope that it will be useful to others.

Renaming the files (video and subtitles) did not work.

Out of the four titles, three had subtitles (srt files). When I turned off (excluded) all the three, things went on smoothly. Then I took them out one at time by trial and error, and know what, of the three I tried, the last one was the culprit (let us call this A.srt).

Now again I was clueless. The srt files are converted to images before they are included. I tried renaming them, which did not work, so the contents were to blame. The conversion to image went without any error. Things fall apart during the final run.

Gnome subtitles failed to open A.srt claiming the format to be unknown. Strange strange world, because the contents looked like any other srt file.

Then KSubtitle had a message like this for A.srt

Some subtitles are not included because
their timing overlapped with other
subtitles! Do you want to add them anyway,
but of course with their timings
altered so they fit in. Include anyway?

I said Yes (with elation), and saved it (as Amodified.srt).

Gnome subtitles was able to open it successfully.

The dvd generation went without any error.

(Special instruction: for most of the dvd authoring software, the srt files are not read at generation time, they are read and get included at the start. So, you may need to exclude/delete and then include the srt file.)

Thanks again for everything and the good luck wishes.

[tomlee59]

Congratulations on your persistence and sleuthing expertise.

Well done!