Re: 2026Q1 x11/xephem segfaults amd64

["Jonathan A. Kollasch" <jakllsch%kollasch.net@localhost>]

On Fri, Jun 26, 2026 at 07:41:06PM +0200, Ramiro Aceves wrote:
> 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?

Could you see if it's a ctype(3) abuse issue?