"Unexpected problem in Qiqqa" (randomly) during a quick scrolling or zooming a pdf

[NicolaBlasuttigh]

Hi.
I had an "unexpected problem in Qiqqa" but the dialogue box shows nothing: completely blank.
If I go over with the pointer, I can see that there are links and text because the pointer changes.

The only solution is to kill the process from the task manager.

It happens sometimes during a quick scroll/zoom on a pdf.

If it helps:
Windows 10 Home 64 bits
Build: 19041.685
Qiqqa version v.80s

Thanks!

[GerHobbelt]

Could you please check if this issue persists in the latest public release? (Which is available for download here: https://github.com/GerHobbelt/qiqqa-open-source/releases/tag/v82.0.7568-29227 )

Note: You can install that one over the existing Qiqqa install without harm (databases, etc. are backwards compatible across v82 - v79).

[NicolaBlasuttigh]

@GerHobbelt Thank you for your answer!
I will try for sure!

Personally, I'm not understanding the difference between the different versions of Qiqqa.
Is a "pre-release" the same as a "beta" version or not? What is the latest "stable" version of open-source Qiqqa? The one you mentioned? (v82.0.7568-29227)

Thanks!

[GerHobbelt]

Sorry for the "pre-releases" vagueness... That's me 'signalling' that these releases haven't been tested as thoroughly as I'ld like for a true "production release" as it is known in the industry.

As for "beta", "alpha", "pre-release", etc.: IMHO that's all different marketing words for the same thing: "here's the latest stuff that we're *at least somewhat confident about, but please don't be surprised if you get magical fireworks in some places".

In the case of Qiqqa, after a year+ of work on it, truth is I have more confidence in my "pre-releases" than in the last v80 "release" which is commercial Qiqqa v79 with the Qiqqa Cloud access stripped out -- at least for me, v80 is riddled with troublesome issues, some of which have been addressed by the v82 releases so that many of the PDFs one can obtain through the Internet and elsewhere don't immediately cause havoc. (Application-wise, there's still the daunting upgrade paths to do: (#215), #209, #34, #35, #23, #2, #3, #225, #155, #113)

---

[Edit] Since I've pointed several folks from different backgrounds here: while I may be focusing on the bugs, do note that the commercial releases were littered with them. That translates to this: v79 commercial was the best and as bad as v80.
(since v80 = v79 minus Cloud Access)

The point being (since someone asked): the "open source stuff" has the same or higher quality than before; definitely not worse.

I make a lot of fuss about the bugs (I strive for perfection) and that clearly has obscured that message. Apologies for that.

---

Anyhoo, the latest release I'ld advise anyone to use would indeed be build 29227: https://github.com/GerHobbelt/qiqqa-open-source/releases/tag/v82.0.7568-29227 aka v82pre11.

---

Thanks for asking that question as it pointed me at my own worrying-about-what-is-a-good-Qiqqa-release and assumed quality standards vs. geeky stuff like semantic versioning.

Bottom line for now, from a user perspective AFAICT:

Which Qiqqa releases are safe to use?

All of them (v82*, v81*, v80, commercial v79).

If you install one and it crashes = fails to work for you, you can take any other Qiqqa release in the v82 - v79 range and install it over the existing one. Your libraries will be usable by any version since v79.

Which Qiqqa release is advised?

Generally 'the latest', unless there's some very specific reason mentioned for the release.

At the time of writing that would be build 29227: https://github.com/GerHobbelt/qiqqa-open-source/releases/tag/v82.0.7568-29227 aka v82pre11.

Counter examples?!

Examples of such 'not for the general public' releases are

• https://github.com/GerHobbelt/qiqqa-open-source/releases/tag/v82.0.7579.33985 and
• https://github.com/GerHobbelt/qiqqa-open-source/releases/tag/v82.0.7578.6369

as these target specific users and their problems, hence these are specifically targeted problem diagnosing / solving releases, which are expected not to give a smooth user experience throughout as they are focused on problem-solving: this software is like having a plumber around in your house: I'm fine with it if you are 😄 but generally one wants the guy (and the problem he's here to fix) gone, unless, perhaps, you're married to him. 😉

You get the drift: you can use this software without harm, but you might experience more diagnostic dialog boxes and larger logfiles or other 'developer stuff happening' than you would tolerate, perhaps.

@nikilito I hope this helps clear up the mist around the Qiqqa releases. Again thanks for asking as you may notice this is still a process -- which has come to a conclusion today, thanks to your asking. (To be acted on with the next 'for the general public'' release.)

[NicolaBlasuttigh]

Thank you very much @GerHobbelt!
Now it's clear!

I've been using Qiqqa for a while now and there is no other free reference manager like it: seriously. It has everything you need.
A few bugs here and there doesn't kill the desire to use it.

Since I personally believe in the future of this project is it possible to propose small improvements? Is there a special section for this or do you always write a new "issue"?

Thanks again for this super powerful program!

[GerHobbelt]

is it possible to propose small improvements? Is there a special section

for this or do you always write a new "issue"? Always file a new 'issue' please. As you can see in the github web interface, these are then tagged as 'bug', 'feature', etc. when I have read them; one can also use the github issue tracker web interface to filter on these tags, e.g. https://github.com/jimmejardine/qiqqa-open-source/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%F0%9F%90%9Bbug by clicking on the red 'bug' tag in the issue list at https://github.com/jimmejardine/qiqqa-open-source/issues Met vriendelijke groeten / Best regards, Ger Hobbelt

…

-------------------------------------------------- web: http://www.hobbelt.com/ http://www.hebbut.net/ mail: ger@hobbelt.com mobile: +31-6-11 120 978 --------------------------------------------------

On Tue, Dec 29, 2020 at 2:44 PM nikilito ***@***.***> wrote: Thank you very much @GerHobbelt <https://github.com/GerHobbelt>! Now it's clear! I've been using Qiqqa for a while now and there is no other free reference manager like it: seriously. It has everything you need. A few bugs here and there doesn't kill the desire to use it. Since I personally believe in the future of this project is it possible to propose small improvements? Is there a special section for this or do you always write a new "issue"? Thanks again for this super powerful program! — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#280 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AADCIHXA37GBY4LRKYV6R6DSXHMLZANCNFSM4VMKIOUA> .

[NicolaBlasuttigh]

Thank you Ger!

Anyway, the problem persists! Now without error window: it stops working and closes without any warning!

[GerHobbelt]

Does this happen with a particular PDF? Can you email me a ZIPped collection of your logfiles. Maybe there's something in there that might give a hint. For guidance about collecting the logfiles, the comments in #264 <#264> are hopefully sufficient to make that a doable task. Met vriendelijke groeten / Best regards, Ger Hobbelt

…

-------------------------------------------------- web: http://www.hobbelt.com/ http://www.hebbut.net/ mail: ger@hobbelt.com mobile: +31-6-11 120 978 --------------------------------------------------

On Wed, Dec 30, 2020 at 12:42 PM nikilito ***@***.***> wrote: Thank you Ger! Anyway, the problem persists! Now without error window: it stops working and closes without any warning! — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#280 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AADCIHTQ6QPC7JKITGTE7TTSXMGY5ANCNFSM4VMKIOUA> .

[GerHobbelt]

Also when it happens for particular PDFs only, I'm interested in a copy of that/those PDF(s). Met vriendelijke groeten / Best regards, Ger Hobbelt

…

-------------------------------------------------- web: http://www.hobbelt.com/ http://www.hebbut.net/ mail: ger@hobbelt.com mobile: +31-6-11 120 978 --------------------------------------------------

On Wed, Dec 30, 2020 at 2:08 PM Ger Hobbelt ***@***.***> wrote: Does this happen with a particular PDF? Can you email me a ZIPped collection of your logfiles. Maybe there's something in there that might give a hint. For guidance about collecting the logfiles, the comments in #264 <#264> are hopefully sufficient to make that a doable task. Met vriendelijke groeten / Best regards, Ger Hobbelt -------------------------------------------------- web: http://www.hobbelt.com/ http://www.hebbut.net/ mail: ***@***.*** mobile: +31-6-11 120 978 -------------------------------------------------- On Wed, Dec 30, 2020 at 12:42 PM nikilito ***@***.***> wrote: > Thank you Ger! > > Anyway, the problem persists! Now without error window: it stops working > and closes without any warning! > > — > You are receiving this because you were mentioned. > Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub > <#280 (comment)>, > or unsubscribe > <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AADCIHTQ6QPC7JKITGTE7TTSXMGY5ANCNFSM4VMKIOUA> > . >

[NicolaBlasuttigh]

No, it happens with different PDF!
I noticed that the GPU usage percentage can reach 80% during zooming or scrolling.
It is an Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 with 8GB memory if it can help.

Logs sent!

[GerHobbelt]

A quick look at the logs didn't uncover anything special yet, BUT I did have a suspicion, given that it happened while rendering arbitrary PDFs.
😢 When there's PDF rendering crap happening, Suspect Numero Uno is the SORAX library used by Qiqqa. (issue tracker:sorax)

After a while I got something similar to your issue (these rendering and outofmemory issues are hard to reproduce precisely anyway); at least over here the effect is the same after some "wild scrolling": a fatal Qiqqa error and termination:

That's a screenshot of the memory consumption by the qiqqa .NET code in DevStudio just after the crash and before Qiqqa ultimately dies on me: the "wild scrolling" caused the memory usage to go up to about/over 1.5GB (which is an important ceiling for 32-bit .NET applications), resulting in an out-of-memory failure fired by the SORAX PDF page rendering library:

The SORAX code will not recover from this; on another test run it locked up the Qiqqa application instead of mere crashing the app, after which I had to kill the application by hand.

Sounds like it's number #280! 🤡

The important bit: what can we do about it?

😭 Not much. Not right now anyway.

SORAX is a discontinued commercial library (issue 209 & comment) and while preliminary work has been done to find and integrate a viable alternative (MuPDF; work on it happens here: https://github.com/GerHobbelt/mupdf), it will take a while before SORAX is finally gone.

And... this 1.5GB ceiling? What if I've got 16+GB RAM? 🥳

For anyone who noted that line about 32-bit and 1.5GB: tough luck for now. Qiqqa is currently limited to 32-bit builds because of the use of SORAX and, as important!, the old Mozilla XULrunner 3.x library, which is only available for 32bit .NET. The XULrunner stuff is used for the "embedded web browser" which makes the Qiqqa Sniffer do what it does and that one comes with yet another set of issues that I'ld rather get rid of, but upgrading that one to CEF/CEFSharp/YouNameEm is also no sine cure: issue tracker::xulrunner & issue tracker::sniffer tell that story.

Of course, if anyone wants to pitch in and help out with migrating the code, welcome! 😉

---

More info in-depth:

• Towards migrating the PDF viewer / renderer ( / text extractor)
• Technology areas and their function in Qiqqa
• Essential yet hard(er) to port UI features
• Qiqqa Sniffer - or how to access Google Scholar et al in 2021
  • and veering off there into the wild country of Google Scholar for the most part in there: Full Text Search Engines

[NicolaBlasuttigh]

Thank you very much Ger! Nice job!

So, it will be better to scroll gently for now.... :)