Re: gtk_clipboard_wait_for_contents is evil.

From: Dom Lachowicz (domlachowicz@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Nov 21 2002 - 15:09:00 EST

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    And request_contents is 10x more evil. As far as I can
    see, there's no good way to fix this from a clipboard
    perspective.

    Dom

    --- Martin Sevior <msevior@physics.unimelb.edu.au>
    wrote:
    > HI everyone,
    > In our current clipboard in unix we have a
    > method
    >
    > XAP_UnixClipboard::_getDataFromServer((T_AllowGet
    > tFrom, const char**
    > formatList,
    > void ** ppData,
    > UT_uint32 *
    > pLen,
    > const char **pszFormatFound)
    >
    > Which contains a call to...
    >
    > gtk_clipboard_wait_for_contents (clipboard, atom);
    >
    > This function allows the gtk event loop to cycle
    > which is really, really
    > bad.
    >
    > The method _getDataFromServer is called on almost
    > every key press
    > because it attached to toolbar listener to see if
    > there is data that can
    > be pasted.
    >
    > Have calls to a method which cycle the main loop in
    > an uncontrolled way
    > during the processing of events called out of the
    > main loop is just
    > asking for trouble. Try this.
    >
    > Fire up abiword within gdb. Open an existing
    > document which paragraph
    > breaks and hold down the delete key. Eventually you
    > hit an assert.
    >
    > **** (1) Assert ****
    > **** (1) pR at
    >
    ../../../../../abi-unstable/src/text/fmt/xp/fl_BlockLayout.cpp:1393
    > ****
    > **** (1) Continue ? (y/n) [y] : n
    >
    > If you follow the stack trace up through the gtk-*
    > loop propagation you
    > eventually get to
    >
    >
    >
    XAP_UnixClipboard::_getDataFromServer(XAP_UnixClipboard::_T_AllowGet,
    > char const**, void**, unsigned*, char const**)
    > (this=0x856ac48,
    > tFrom=TAG_ClipboardOnly, formatList=0x840e4c0,
    > ppData=0xbfffea60,
    > pLen=0xbfffea5c, pszFormatFound=0xbfffea64)
    > at
    >
    ../../../../../abi-unstable/src/af/xap/unix/xap_UnixClipboard.cpp:254
    > 254 GtkSelectionData* selection =
    > gtk_clipboard_wait_for_contents (clipboard, atom);
    >
    >
    > So this function caused us to process a new event
    > before the previous
    > event had been finished.
    >
    > This is really bad and is the root cause of a number
    > of the races we've
    > had recently.
    >
    > So we have to find a way to not call this function
    > or to block the
    > processing of gtk events while we're waiting for an
    > answer from this
    > function.
    >
    > Dom was working on this a little while ago but I
    > thought I'd tell
    > everyone what the issue is. The good news is that
    > once this is fixed abi
    > will be stabler than ever since we've really been
    > stressing it in an
    > unkind way.
    >
    > Cheers
    >
    > Martin
    >
    >
    >
    >

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