2026Q1 x11/xephem segfaults amd64

[Ramiro Aceves <ea1abz%gmail.com@localhost>]

Hello,


The great legendary XEPHEM astronomical program segfaults on amd64.


netbsd-x260$ uname -a
NetBSD netbsd-x260.remigio 11.0_RC5 NetBSD 11.0_RC5 (GENERIC) #0: Tue Jun 16 15:48:07 UTC 2026 
mkrepro%mkrepro.NetBSD.org@localhost:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC amd64

netbsd-x260$ cat /usr/pkg/etc/pkgin/repositories.conf

#
# Pkgin repositories list
#
# Simply add repositories URIs one below the other
#
# WARNING: order matters, duplicates will not be added, if two
# repositories hold the same package, it will be fetched from
# the first one listed in this file.
#
# This file format supports the following macros:
# $arch to define the machine hardware platform
# $osrelease to define the release version for the operating system
#
# Remote ftp repository
#
# ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/pkgsrc/packages/NetBSD/$arch/5.1/All
#
# Remote http repository
#
# http://mirror-master.dragonflybsd.org/packages/$arch/DragonFly-$osrelease/stable/All
#
# Local repository (must contain a pkg_summary.gz or bz2)
#
# file:///usr/pkgsrc/packages/All
# NetBSD OS release can look like 6.0_STABLE, do not use it as-is
#https://cdn.NetBSD.org/pub/pkgsrc/packages/NetBSD/amd64/10.0_2025Q4/All
https://cdn.NetBSD.org/pub/pkgsrc/packages/NetBSD/amd64/11.0_2026Q1/All
netbsd-x260$


netbsd-x260$ pkgin se xephem
xephem-4.2.0 =       Interactive astronomical ephemeris program

=: package is installed and up-to-date
<: package is installed but newer version is available
>: installed package has a greater version than available package
netbsd-x260$


netbsd-x260$ xephem
[1]   Segmentation fault (core dumped) xephem
netbsd-x260$


I have compiled it with debugging symbols

netbsd-x260$ gdb /usr/pkg/bin/xephem
GNU gdb (GDB) 15.1
Copyright (C) 2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Type "show copying" and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "x86_64--netbsd".
Type "show configuration" for configuration details.
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
<https://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/>.
Find the GDB manual and other documentation resources online at:
    <http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/documentation/>.

For help, type "help".
Type "apropos word" to search for commands related to "word"...
Reading symbols from /usr/pkg/bin/xephem...
(gdb) run
Starting program: /usr/pkg/bin/xephem
[New process 26168]

Thread 2 received signal SIGPIPE, Broken pipe.
[Switching to process 26168]
0x000072706af9a01a in write () from /usr/lib/libc.so.12
(gdb) bt
#0  0x000072706af9a01a in write () from /usr/lib/libc.so.12
#1  0x000072706ae5c575 in write () from /usr/lib/libpthread.so.1
#2  0x000072706b0e75b2 in __sflush () from /usr/lib/libc.so.12
#3  0x000072706b0e7625 in fflush () from /usr/lib/libc.so.12
#4  0x000072706b0c52fc in __vfprintf_unlocked_l () from /usr/lib/libc.so.12
#5  0x000072706b0c93e1 in vfprintf () from /usr/lib/libc.so.12
#6  0x0000000000618ec6 in splashMsg (fmt=fmt@entry=0x6865a2 "Reading X resources\n") at splash.c:107
#7  0x000000000067710c in main (argc=<optimized out>, argv=<optimized out>) at xephem.c:167
(gdb) list
125    static XrmOptionDescRec options[] = {
126        {"--help",   ".help",    XrmoptionIsArg, NULL},
127        {"-help",    ".help",    XrmoptionIsArg, NULL},
128        {"-install", ".install", XrmoptionSepArg, NULL},
129        {"-log",     ".log",     XrmoptionIsArg, NULL},
130        {"-nowin",   ".nowin",   XrmoptionIsArg, NULL},
131        {"-prfb",    ".prfb",    XrmoptionIsArg, NULL},
132        {"-resfile", ".resfile", XrmoptionSepArg, NULL},
133    };
134
(gdb) frame 1
#1  0x000072706ae5c575 in write () from /usr/lib/libpthread.so.1
(gdb) list
135    int
136    main(argc, argv)
137    int argc;
138    char *argv[];
139    {
140        Arg args[10];
141        int n;
142
143        /* set up signal handling */
144        setup_sigs();
(gdb) frame 2
#2  0x000072706b0e75b2 in __sflush () from /usr/lib/libc.so.12
(gdb) list
145
146        /* check for -nosplash or nosplash file .. can't wait for resources */
147        splashOpen (&argc, argv, options, XtNumber(options));
148
149        /* check for alternate env before starting toolkit.
150         * (don't even ask why this is here)
151         */
152        newEnv(&argc, argv);
153
154        /* set this before using fallbacks[] */
(gdb)


Surprisingly it works fine on a RaspberryPi4 under VNC XFCE4 session.

Any help will be appreciated. Should I fill a PR?


Regards.

Ramiro.