[Bug]: Clicking a link crashes `signal-desktop`, it won't start again.

[PierreQuinton]

What happened?

Several times during the last year, when clicking a link, the app would crash and cannot start again. when I prompt signal-desktop, I get

Content snap command-chain for /snap/signal-desktop/590/gnome-platform/command-chain/desktop-launch not found: ensure slot is connected

The only solve I could find was to reinstall the app and then repairing with my phone but this is very annoying since it will delete all of my history.

Output of snap info $snap_name

name:      signal-desktop
summary:   Speak Freely - Private Messenger
publisher: Snapcrafters✪
store-url: https://snapcraft.io/signal-desktop
contact:   https://github.com//snapcrafters/signal-desktop/issues
license:   AGPL-3.0-only
description: |
  **Note: To use the Signal desktop app, you must first install Signal on
  your phone.**

  Millions of people use Signal every day for free and instantaneous
  communication anywhere in the world. Send and receive high-fidelity
  messages, participate in HD voice/video calls, and explore a growing set of
  new features that help you stay connected. Signal's advanced
  privacy-preserving technology is always enabled, so you can focus on
  sharing the moments that matter with the people who matter to you.

  - Say anything - State-of-the-art end-to-end encryption (powered by the
  open source Signal Protocol™) keeps your conversations secure. Privacy
  isn't an optional mode; it's just the way that Signal works. Every message,
  every call, every time.
  - Go fast - Messages are delivered quickly and reliably, even on slow
  networks. Signal is optimized to operate in the most constrained
  environment possible.
  - Feel free - Signal is a completely independent 501c3 nonprofit.
  Development is supported by users like you. No advertisements. No trackers.
  No kidding.
  - Be yourself - You can use your existing phone number and address book to
  securely communicate with your friends.
  - Speak up - Whether they live across town or across the ocean, Signal's
  enhanced audio and video quality will make your friends and family feel
  closer.
  - Whisper in the shadows - Switch to the dark theme if you refuse to see
  the light.

  **Minimize to tray**

  Per the request of the Signal developers, this snap does not use the system
  tray by default. This is disabled by default per the request of the Signal
  developers, because system tray support is not stable. Set to `false`,
  Signal will stop when you close it and will not have a system tray icon.
  You can enable it by running the following command.

      snap set signal-desktop tray-icon=true

  **Are you having issues?**

  Let us know by creating a new issue here:
  https://github.com/snapcrafters/signal-desktop/issues

  **Authors**

  This snap is maintained by the Snapcrafters community, and is not
  necessarily endorsed or officially maintained by the upstream developers.
commands:
  - signal-desktop
snap-id:      r4LxMVp7zWramXsJQAKdamxy6TAWlaDD
tracking:     latest/stable
refresh-date: today at 13:32 CET
channels:
  latest/stable:    6.41.0 2023-12-07 (590) 181MB -
  latest/candidate: 6.41.0 2023-12-07 (590) 181MB -
  latest/beta:      ↑                             
  latest/edge:      ↑                             
installed:          6.41.0            (590) 181MB -

Output of snap connections $snap_name

Interface               Plug                                   Slot                            Notes
audio-playback          signal-desktop:audio-playback          :audio-playback                 -
audio-record            signal-desktop:audio-record            :audio-record                   -
browser-support         signal-desktop:browser-support         :browser-support                -
camera                  signal-desktop:camera                  :camera                         -
content[gnome-42-2204]  signal-desktop:gnome-42-2204           gnome-42-2204:gnome-42-2204     -
content[gtk-3-themes]   signal-desktop:gtk-3-themes            gtk-common-themes:gtk-3-themes  -
content[icon-themes]    signal-desktop:icon-themes             gtk-common-themes:icon-themes   -
content[sound-themes]   signal-desktop:sound-themes            gtk-common-themes:sound-themes  -
desktop                 signal-desktop:desktop                 :desktop                        -
desktop-legacy          signal-desktop:desktop-legacy          :desktop-legacy                 -
gsettings               signal-desktop:gsettings               :gsettings                      -
home                    signal-desktop:home                    :home                           -
network                 signal-desktop:network                 :network                        -
opengl                  signal-desktop:opengl                  :opengl                         -
removable-media         signal-desktop:removable-media         -                               -
screen-inhibit-control  signal-desktop:screen-inhibit-control  :screen-inhibit-control         -
unity7                  signal-desktop:unity7                  :unity7                         -
wayland                 signal-desktop:wayland                 :wayland                        -
x11                     signal-desktop:x11                     :x11

Output of snap version

snap    2.58.3-1.fc38
snapd   2.58.3-1.fc38
series  16
fedora  38
kernel  6.3.8-200.fc38.x86_64

Relevant log output

No response

Teminal output of app

No response

[merlijn-sebrechts]

Hey @PierreQuinton

This honestly looks like there is disk corruption. Are you having other strange issues with this computer? Other software that suddenly stops working?

What specific links are you talking about. Do you have an example?

I'm asking internally what might cause this, but this is an incredibly strange error to get.

[PierreQuinton]

Hello @merlijn-sebrechts Thank you for the answer. The links points to various websites, could be youtube, github or other, but again it happened around 5-6 times during the last year so I cannot really the exact sources. I do not get this behavior with other apps but if it is disk corruption then is it related to snap itself or you would guess from another source ?

BTW I had seen that some people would get signal to crash when they open a link when signal was updated while it was still open. I think for most of them they installed it using apt and when they started signal-desktop again it would work.

Also if you have any idea on how to proceed that is an improvement over reinstall + repair, I would be really glad, especially if I would not lose the history.

[popey]

Given it also happens for multiple people when the package updates, I don't think there's anything we can do, as it feels like an acknowledged upstream Signal issue. So I am going to close this as it's not unique to the snap.

[merlijn-sebrechts]

@popey I think this is a different bug.

• Refresh app awareness ensures we can't update the app while running, so the bug you link to shouldn't affect us.
• The content snap gets disconnected when this happens, so that's another bug specific to the snap.