#1053199 liferea does not show feed item contents after 1.15.2-1->1.15.3-1 update

Package:
liferea
Source:
liferea
Description:
feed/news/podcast client with plugin support
Submitter:
Paul Seyfert
Date:
2026-05-09 09:47:02 UTC
Severity:
normal
Tags:
#1053199#5
Date:
2023-09-29 07:47:27 UTC
From:
To:
Dear Maintainer,

    * What led up to the situation?

I upgraded liferea and liferea-data 1.15.2-1 → 1.15.3-1, along with a
bunch of other updates (e.g. libwebkit2gtk 2.40.5-1 → 2.42.0-1)

    * What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
      ineffective)?
    * What was the outcome of this action?
    * What outcome did you expect instead?

The liferea window is divided into 3 parts:
  1) the list of all my feeds
  2) the list of all news items in the selected feed
  3) the content a news item

Usually, when selecting a news item in 2, it gets shown in 3.

Since the upgrade, window 3 remains gray and does not show.
E.g. in Debian News (http://www.debian.org/News/news) there is the
following news item
```
<item rdf:about="https://www.debian.org/News/2023/20230918">
   <title>DebConf23 closes in Kochi and DebConf24 location announced</title>
   <link>https://www.debian.org/News/2023/20230918</link>
   <description>
Yesterday, Sunday 17 September 2023, the annual Debian Developers and
Contributors Conference came to a close.
   </description>
   <dc:date>2023-09-18</dc:date> </item>
```
And the test `Yesterday, Sunday `… should get shown.

For news feeds with attachement (e.g.
https://cppcast.com/episode/index.xml) the attachments still get shown
at the bottom of window 3 to be downloaded.

Regards,
Paul

#1053199#10
Date:
2023-09-30 18:33:11 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,

Thanks for reporting issues you encounter.


Agreed (I use liferea myself).

It works for me. So, what could be different (non-default) in your
environment?

Paul

#1053199#15
Date:
2023-10-10 12:49:56 UTC
From:
To:
Dear maintainer,

I am affected by the same error as the opener.

If I start liferea by terminal I get following errors/messages by
clicking on an message to show it in window 3:


LANG=C && liferea
sys:1: Warning: g_atomic_ref_count_dec: assertion 'old_value > 0'
failed
KMS: DRM_IOCTL_MODE_CREATE_DUMB failed: Permission denied
Failed to create GBM buffer of size 469x199: Permission denied
KMS: DRM_IOCTL_MODE_CREATE_DUMB failed: Permission denied
Failed to create GBM buffer of size 469x199: Permission denied
KMS: DRM_IOCTL_MODE_CREATE_DUMB failed: Permission denied
Failed to create GBM buffer of size 469x199: Permission denied
Failed to create EGL images for DMABufs with file descriptors -1, -1
and -1
sys:1: Warning: g_bytes_get_size: assertion 'bytes != NULL' failed
sys:1: Warning: g_bytes_get_data: assertion 'bytes != NULL' failed
sys:1: Warning: g_uri_is_valid: assertion 'uri_string != NULL' failed

Maybe that help you to find the error. If it is important: I'm using an
nvidia-card in the system with the proprietary driver.

Kind regards
Thorsten

#1053199#20
Date:
2023-10-10 16:44:44 UTC
From:
To:
Hi.

Same error here.

$ liferea
eglExportDMABUFImageMESA failed
eglExportDMABUFImageMESA failed
eglExportDMABUFImageMESA failed
sys:1: Warning: g_atomic_ref_count_dec: assertion 'old_value > 0' failed
sys:1: Warning: g_uri_is_valid: assertion 'uri_string != NULL' failed

I'm also using the nvidia proprietary driver (525.125.06-2). Window
manager is Fluxbox. Downgrading liferea to the previous version doesn't
fix the error though.

I also tested downgrading all libwebkit2gtk related packages to version
2.40.5-1. After that the content window works again.

~Tim

#1053199#25
Date:
2023-10-10 18:55:46 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,

I spotted upstream bug 1308 [1]. Does it help to set
WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 before calling liferea?

Paul

[1] https://github.com/lwindolf/liferea/issues/1308

#1053199#30
Date:
2023-10-10 22:05:28 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,

you got it!

when I start liferea on the command line with

WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1  liferea

then it works as expected.

#1053199#35
Date:
2023-10-11 11:35:00 UTC
From:
To:
Am Dienstag, dem 10.10.2023 um 20:55 +0200 schrieb Paul Gevers:


Hello Paul,

yes, indeed that helps.

Kind regards
Thorsten

#1053199#40
Date:
2024-10-05 09:10:50 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,
I just spotted bug 1082139 [1], and bug 1039720. I assume the problem is
fixed for some time already.

Can this be confirmed?

Paul

https://bugs.debian.org/1082139

#1053199#49
Date:
2025-06-08 13:11:00 UTC
From:
To:
Hello Paul,

unfortunately problem still exists. The browser window SEEMS to be
empty but in reality it is not.

If I try to copy the (not showing) text in it, by left-mouse-button
pressed and drag, nothing will be highlighted but when I click with
middle-mouse-button in an editor text will appear.

I can't tell you if it was like this from the beginning.

#1053199#54
Date:
2025-06-08 19:35:33 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,


Can you confirm that the "WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1" solution
still works for you?

Now I think of it, maybe we could add it to
/usr/share/applications/net.sourceforge.liferea.desktop

Are you in the position to try and add it on the line that has
Exec=liferea %U
like so:
Exec=WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 liferea %U
? According to some resources [1], you also need to comment out the next
line (or set it to false).

Paul

[1]
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Desktop_entries#Modify_environment_variables

#1053199#59
Date:
2025-06-09 07:24:23 UTC
From:
To:
Hello Paul,

Am Sonntag, dem 08.06.2025 um 21:35 +0200 schrieb Paul Gevers:

Yes, it still works on console
"Exec=WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 liferea %U
### DBusActivatable=true"

The liferea entry in xfce4 menu disappears, also with

"Exec=WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 /usr/bin/liferea %U
### DBusActivatable=true"

In both cases I see in menuLibre a message like this:

"/usr/share/applications/net.sourceforge.liferea.desktop
Exec Das Programm 'WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 /usr/bin/liferea
%U' wurde im Pfad nicht gefunden"

The program couldn't be found in path. Also if I set the whole command
in single quotes or in backticks

It doesn't seem to work this way.

Kind regards
Thorsten

#1053199#64
Date:
2025-06-09 07:47:22 UTC
From:
To:
Hi


Thanks for trying.


Maybe we can point the desktop file to a wrapper script that does the above.

Paul

#1053199#69
Date:
2025-06-09 08:38:53 UTC
From:
To:
Hello Paul,

maybe I've found a solution.

If I use instead of
"Exec=WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 liferea %U"

"Exec=env WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 liferea %U"

it works for me.
Maybe for others also...

Kind regards
Thorsten



Am Montag, dem 09.06.2025 um 09:47 +0200 schrieb Paul Gevers:

#1053199#74
Date:
2025-06-12 09:53:50 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,


Reading bug 1082139 again I wonder, do you have the latest version of
webkit2gtk installed? If yes, maybe we should reassign this bug to
webkit2gtk as another instance where this goes wrong. For the webkit2gtk
maintainers to investigate.

I don't like adding this hack to bookworm. I'm not sure we need it for
trixie.

Paul

#1053199#79
Date:
2025-06-14 17:59:41 UTC
From:
To:
Hello Paul,

Am Donnerstag, dem 12.06.2025 um 11:53 +0200 schrieb Paul Gevers:

ii libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0:amd64     2.48.3-1
ii libwebkitgtk-6.0-4:amd64      2.48.3-1

That was and is the latest version in debian sid

Ok, will you do so?

It's not just liferea that is affected. rednotebook has the same
problem, there it is the word-cloud that's not visible.

Kind regards
Thorsten

#1053199#84
Date:
2025-06-14 18:16:34 UTC
From:
To:
Hi Thorsten, hi webkitgtk maintainers,

This issue seems to be about a reintroduction of bug 1082139 in trixie:
DMABuf regression with the proprietary NVIDIA driver


Wait, what? I thought you were on bookworm. And I intended to ask if
this bug was fixed in bookworm. Now, maybe the bug is back (or was never
fixed), but it's very relevant that you report this on trixie.


Doing so now.


Added that to the affects line.

Paul

#1053199#99
Date:
2025-06-17 11:09:52 UTC
From:
To:
Hmmm, we specifically carry a patch to disable DMABUF with NVIDIA, can
you try what happens with WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 ?

(you can also try with WEBKIT_FORCE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 to force using
the DMABuf renderer, this should fail if the problem is really there)

Berto

#1053199#104
Date:
2025-06-22 06:45:56 UTC
From:
To:
Hi Alberto,


In the recent history of this bug Thorsten explicitly confirmed [1] that
setting WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 prevents the bug (and in
message 79 he explicitly says this applies to sid/trixie).

Paul

[1] https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1053199#59

#1053199#109
Date:
2025-06-25 11:43:19 UTC
From:
To:
Oh I see, sorry I missed the backlog before the bug was reassigned.

The interesting thing is that we're carrying a downstream patch
to disable the dmabuf rendered in NVIDIA cards so it shold not be
necessary to set WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1.

If you run 'glxinfo', what's the value of the OpenGL vendor string?

Berto

#1053199#114
Date:
2025-06-27 17:30:57 UTC
From:
To:
On Wed, 25 Jun 2025 13:43:19 +0200 Alberto Garcia <berto@igalia.com> wrote:
[...]


Vendor string an renderer string are as follow:

Kind regards
Thorsten

#1053199#119
Date:
2025-06-30 11:15:58 UTC
From:
To:
Then there's something odd going on. WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1
prevents the bug but WebKit should already disable the DMABUF renderer
automatically if you have an NVIDIA card (OpenGL vendor string
containing the 'NVIDIA' word).

So the check is somehow not working.

If I prepare a modified build for trixie with additional debug
messages would you be able to give it a try?

Berto

#1053199#124
Date:
2025-06-30 17:53:06 UTC
From:
To:
Am Montag, dem 30.06.2025 um 13:15 +0200 schrieb Alberto Garcia:

If there is more than install the .deb, reboot and start liferea by
terminal then I need advice. I'm not a developer and not used to use
tools like dbg or so...

Kind regards
Thorsten

#1053199#129
Date:
2025-07-01 15:40:12 UTC
From:
To:
No need to do anything like that, simply install the packages from
here, run liferea from a terminal and send me the output:

https://people.debian.org/~berto/webkit2gtk-2.48.3-1+nvidiadbg/

I uploaded the complete build but in principle you only need to
install the *-4.1*.deb packages (especially libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 and
libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1-0).

Thanks,

Berto

#1053199#134
Date:
2025-07-01 16:26:28 UTC
From:
To:
Hello Alberto,

Am Dienstag, dem 01.07.2025 um 17:40 +0200 schrieb Alberto Garcia:
Here we go:

$ LANG=C && liferea
glGetString(GL_VENDOR) returned 'Mesa'
NVIDIA card not detected
AcceleratedBackingStoreDMABuf::checkRequirements() returned true
AcceleratedBackingStoreDMABuf::checkRequirements() returned true
<sys>:0: Warning: g_atomic_ref_count_dec: assertion 'old_value > 0'
failed
KMS: DRM_IOCTL_MODE_CREATE_DUMB failed: Permission denied
KMS: DRM_IOCTL_MODE_CREATE_DUMB failed: Permission denied
Failed to create GBM buffer of size 469x186: Permission denied


Hope that help you.
I will return to the "normal" packages because the update deinstalled

gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-4.1
gir1.2-webkit2-4.1
rednotebook

If you want me to do more tests, don't hesitate to ask.

Kind regards
Thorsten

#1053199#139
Date:
2025-07-01 16:32:08 UTC
From:
To:
Oh, so glxinfo returns 'NVIDIA Corporation' but WebKit sees 'Mesa'
instead.

Thanks, it seems that we need to update the patch to detect NVIDIA
cards.

Berto

#1053199#144
Date:
2025-07-01 21:18:27 UTC
From:
To:
How many cards do you have in /dev/dri/card*?

Can you paste the output of the 'drmdevice' program?

If you have many devices you can also run liferea with
WEBKIT_WEB_RENDER_DEVICE_FILE=/dev/dri/cardX once with each one of
them.

Berto

#1053199#149
Date:
2025-07-01 21:29:15 UTC
From:
To:
Am Dienstag, dem 01.07.2025 um 23:18 +0200 schrieb Alberto Garcia:

Only one

# ls /dev/dri/
by-path  card0  renderD128

# drmdevice
--- Checking the number of DRM device available ---
--- Devices reported 1 ---
--- Retrieving devices information (PCI device revision is ignored) ---
device[0]
+-> available_nodes 0x05
+-> nodes
|   +-> nodes[0] /dev/dri/card0
|   +-> nodes[2] /dev/dri/renderD128
+-> bustype 0000
|   +-> pci
|       +-> domain 0000
|       +-> bus    0f
|       +-> dev    00
|       +-> func   0
+-> deviceinfo
    +-> pci
        +-> vendor_id     10de
        +-> device_id     0fff
        +-> subvendor_id  103c
        +-> subdevice_id  094a
        +-> revision_id   IGNORED
--- Opening device node /dev/dri/card0 --- --- Retrieving device info, for node /dev/dri/card0 --- device[0] +-> available_nodes 0x05 +-> nodes | +-> nodes[0] /dev/dri/card0 | +-> nodes[2] /dev/dri/renderD128 +-> bustype 0000 | +-> pci | +-> domain 0000 | +-> bus 0f | +-> dev 00 | +-> func 0 +-> deviceinfo +-> pci +-> vendor_id 10de +-> device_id 0fff +-> subvendor_id 103c +-> subdevice_id 094a +-> revision_id a1
--- Opening device node /dev/dri/renderD128 --- --- Retrieving device info, for node /dev/dri/renderD128 --- device[0] +-> available_nodes 0x05 +-> nodes | +-> nodes[0] /dev/dri/card0 | +-> nodes[2] /dev/dri/renderD128 +-> bustype 0000 | +-> pci | +-> domain 0000 | +-> bus 0f | +-> dev 00 | +-> func 0 +-> deviceinfo +-> pci +-> vendor_id 10de +-> device_id 0fff +-> subvendor_id 103c +-> subdevice_id 094a +-> revision_id a1 Kind regards Thorsten
#1053199#154
Date:
2025-07-14 15:50:22 UTC
From:
To:
Can you export GBM_BACKEND=nvidia-drm and try again?

Does it make a difference?

Berto

#1053199#159
Date:
2025-07-14 16:32:02 UTC
From:
To:
Do you have libnvidia-allocator1 and libnvidia-egl-gbm1 installed?

If not, install them and try again (with and without setting
GBM_BACKEND).

Berto

#1053199#164
Date:
2025-07-17 07:37:17 UTC
From:
To:
Does exporting GBM_BACKENDS_PATH=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/current
make a difference?

Berto

#1053199#169
Date:
2025-07-17 13:56:32 UTC
From:
To:
Hello Alberto,

Am Donnerstag, dem 17.07.2025 um 09:37 +0200 schrieb Alberto Garcia:
gnu/nvidia/current && liferea
Could not create GBM EGL display: EGL_NOT_INITIALIZED. Aborting...
Aborted (core dumped)

Liferea doesn't even start

Kind regards
Thorsten

#1053199#174
Date:
2025-07-17 15:15:28 UTC
From:
To:
Set also GBM_BACKEND=nvidia-drm in addition to GBM_BACKENDS_PATH

Berto

#1053199#179
Date:
2025-07-17 16:00:44 UTC
From:
To:
Am Donnerstag, dem 17.07.2025 um 17:15 +0200 schrieb Alberto Garcia:
LANG=C && GBM_BACKENDS_PATH=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/current &&
GBM_BACKEND=nvidia-drm && liferea
<sys>:0: Warning: g_atomic_ref_count_dec: assertion 'old_value > 0'
failed
KMS: DRM_IOCTL_MODE_CREATE_DUMB failed: Permission denied
KMS: DRM_IOCTL_MODE_CREATE_DUMB failed: Permission denied
Failed to create GBM buffer of size 469x199: Permission denied

Liferea starts but the third window is empty

Regards
Thorsten

#1053199#184
Date:
2025-07-17 16:24:57 UTC
From:
To:
I think that you need to remove those '&&', otherwise liferea won't
get those variables.

$ COLOR=green && SHAPE=circle && sh -c 'echo $COLOR $SHAPE'


$ COLOR=green SHAPE=circle sh -c 'echo $COLOR $SHAPE'
green circle

Berto

#1053199#189
Date:
2025-07-17 16:34:09 UTC
From:
To:
Am Donnerstag, dem 17.07.2025 um 18:24 +0200 schrieb Alberto Garcia:
GBM_BACKEND=nvidia-drm && liferea
<sys>:0: Warning: g_atomic_ref_count_dec: assertion 'old_value > 0'
failed
KMS: DRM_IOCTL_MODE_CREATE_DUMB failed: Permission denied
KMS: DRM_IOCTL_MODE_CREATE_DUMB failed: Permission denied
Failed to create GBM buffer of size 469x199: Permission denied

Result is the same: Liferea starts but the window is empty

Regards
Thorsten

#1053199#194
Date:
2026-05-09 09:44:34 UTC
From:
To:
Hi Thorsten, if you are still having this issue with liferea (or other
WebKit-based apps) I would like to try something else.

Can you build and run the attached program and paste the output?

It should be something like this:

  $ gcc -o drmdriver -I/usr/include/libdrm drmdriver.c -ldrm
  $ ./drmdriver
  /dev/dri/renderD128: 'i915'

Also, if you can confirm what version of Debian you're using (trixie,
testing, sid, ...) and the exact versions of the webkit packages I can
maybe prepare a test build with a possible workaround.

Thanks!

Berto