After upgrading libdex-1-1 to version 1.2~beta-1, manuals can no longer
launch:

(process:1470144): GLib-GObject-ERROR **: 17:18:22.686: cannot create new instance of invalid (non-instantiatable) type '<invalid>'

Thread 1 "manuals" received signal SIGTRAP, Trace/breakpoint trap.
0x00007ffff6f058aa in ?? () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0
(gdb) bt
#0  0x00007ffff6f058aa in ??? () at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0
#1  0x00007ffff6f0769e in g_log_default_handler () at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0
#2  0x00007ffff6f07a07 in g_logv () at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0
#3  0x00007ffff6f07d83 in g_log () at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0
#4  0x00007ffff7d00479 in g_type_create_instance () at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgobject-2.0.so.0
#5  0x00007ffff68654b5 in foundry_init () at ../libfoundry/foundry-init.c:173
#6  0x000055555555f9e4 in main ()

foundry-init.c:173 is the call to dex_promise_new() here:

DexFuture *
foundry_init (void)
{
  FOUNDRY_ENTRY;

  if (g_once_init_enter (&init_promise))
    {
      g_once_init_leave (&init_promise, dex_promise_new ());
      _foundry_init ();
    }

  FOUNDRY_RETURN (dex_ref (DEX_FUTURE (init_promise)));
}

Possibly caused by this:

+ * Dropped the gconstructor for `dex_init()` which means applications must
+   call `dex_init()` at startup themselves from `main()`.

which is an incompatible change.

If it's that, then we'll need to update packages that use libdex to have
that initialization call, and then give libdex a versioned Breaks on the
older versions.

Reporting this as RC to prevent the new libdex from migrating before
we're ready for it.

    smcv

Should we ask libdex upstream to increase the soname?

Thank you,
Jeremy Bícha

Control: affects -1 + foundry gnome-builder

It's probably worth asking - it *is* an incompatible change, so strictly
speaking they should only do this in conjunction with a SONAME bump. But
they might refuse.

There are only a few affected apps, so we might be able to just fix them
all (in progress) and add versioned Breaks
(https://salsa.debian.org/gnome-team/libdex/-/merge_requests/3), and it
certainly seems like it would be worthwhile to stop the bleeding in the
short term.

I assume you and Dawid only tested with apps that were already
unaffected by this in testing, like bazaar, d-spy and sysprof?

     smcv

Hello,

Bug #1145038 in libdex reported by you has been fixed in the
Git repository and is awaiting an upload. You can see the commit
message below and you can check the diff of the fix at:

https://salsa.debian.org/gnome-team/libdex/-/commit/6b21a5d637fdc773517b70fa171e5be3e3ed0bf0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
d/control: Add versioned Breaks on apps that don't call dex_init()

This used to be done automatically, but the libdex 1.2 branch requires
an explicit call to the initialization function from main().

Closes: #1145038
------------------------------------------------------------------------

(this message was generated automatically)
-- 
Greetings

https://bugs.debian.org/1145038

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
libdex, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 1145038@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org> (supplier of updated libdex package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 18:43:08 +0100
Source: libdex
Architecture: source
Version: 1.2~beta-2
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Debian GNOME Maintainers <pkg-gnome-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Changed-By: Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>
Closes: 1145038
Changes:
 libdex (1.2~beta-2) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * Team upload
   * d/control: Add versioned Breaks on apps that don't call dex_init().
     This used to be done automatically, but the libdex 1.2 branch requires
     an explicit call to the initialization function from main().
     (Closes: #1145038)
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Git-Tag-Info: tag=9a0dfcabaf96496d6295d994b9d5061413171ce6 fp=7a073ad1ae694fa25bff62e5235c099d3eb33076
Git-Tag-Tagger: Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>
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