Chromium not starting on Ubuntu 20.04

Question

I am running Ubuntu 20.04 x86_64 and using chromium installed with snap:

$ snap list 
Name               Version          Rev   Tracking       Publisher   Notes
chromium           84.0.4147.89     1229  latest/stable  canonical✓  -
core18             20200707         1880  latest/stable  canonical✓  base
gtk-common-themes  0.1-36-gc75f853  1506  latest/stable  canonical✓  -
snapd              2.45.2           8542  latest/stable  canonical✓  snapd

It all seems up-to-date, but chromium can not start. If I launch it, it aborts the execution. In both /var/log/syslog and /var/log/kern.log, the following line is generated:

kernel: [ 1590.847960] traps: chrome[5324] trap int3 ip:557cd4d7b152 sp:7fffde23a9c0 error:0 in chrome[557cd1a59000+7234000]

Also, in /var/log/apport.log, for each execution attempt, this line appears:

ERROR: apport (pid 5556) Thu Jul 16 10:32:47 2020: host pid 5324 crashed in a separate mount namespace, ignoring

What could it be the problem?

---

Note that the program is chromium, but despite this, the log lines automatically report the name chrome, for reasons I do not know (maybe because chromium is anyway based on chrome).

---

Update: when launched from a terminal, according to a suggestion in an answer, I get:

$ chromium-browser --disable-extensions
[11036:11036:0716/152514.953429:ERROR:sandbox_linux.cc(374)] InitializeSandbox() called with multiple threads in process gpu-process.
WARNING: Kernel has no file descriptor comparison support: Operation not permitted
Trace/breakpoint trap (core dumped)

With chromium --disable-extensions, the message is the same.

---

Update 2:

$ chromium-browser --disable-gpu --disable-software-rasterizer
MESA-LOADER: failed to retrieve device information
MESA-LOADER: failed to open i915 (search paths /snap/chromium/1229/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri)
failed to load driver: i915
MESA-LOADER: failed to open kms_swrast (search paths /snap/chromium/1229/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri)
failed to load driver: kms_swrast
MESA-LOADER: failed to open swrast (search paths /snap/chromium/1229/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri)
failed to load swrast driver
Trace/breakpoint trap (core dumped)

and the same with chromium --disable-gpu --disable-software-rasterizer. I did not intentionally install any graphic driver, so I guess I'm using the default ones shipped with Ubuntu 20.04. I use the CPU integrated graphic card, CPU is Intel Core i5 4670.

I also tried to run chromium-browser --disable-gpu --disable-software-rasterizer after export MESA_GLSL_CACHE_DISABLE=true, but the error messages are the same as above.

Solution 1

Thanks to the fundamental observations from the Antoine Pintout answer, I recalled that I had installed several new fonts, not included in the Ubuntu base system.

A first effect was that the "Save page" window in Chromium was no more able to use any font, displaying instead a vertical empty rectangle ▯ for each letter. It is exactly the same issue as in the Antoine Pintout linked report.

However, Chromium was still working. Then, after some days, it presented the issue of my question.

Yesterday and today, Ubuntu deployed several updates that I applied: between them, snapd and xorg-* (but not xserver-xorg-video-intel). After the updates, Chromium still didn't start.

Instead of using the workaround suggested by Antoine Pintout, I simply removed the fonts I had installed, and the issue disappeared: Chromium was able again to start. I don't know if the recent updates contributed to this.

It is worth noting that I then reinstalled all the fonts that I had just removed, and Chromium was not affected by them, this time: it works. Again, I don't know if the updates brought some fixes.

By the way, the integration between Chromium, snap and Ubuntu still requires some improvements.

Solution 2

I just got this problem, seemingly out of the blue. Turns out I may be related to a problem I already reported about fonts not loading in the Chromium Snap.

I found the following workaround :

1. First, close all instances of chromium

2. Empty global and local font cache. Erase all existing cache files and rescan. Rerun Chromium:

   sudo rm /var/cache/fontconfig/*
   rm ~/.cache/fontconfig/*
   sudo fc-cache -r -v
   rm -rf ~/snap/chromium/common/.cache/fontconfig/
   chromium-browser
   

This set of commands is a workaround for a problem I already reported here:
[chromium] File chooser is not displaying font

Solution 3

Sometimes its helpful when troubleshooting a crash if you launch the application directly from a terminal so you can see the app's output messages, instead of from the Ubuntu dash or launcher bar ... so open up a terminal ( ctrl + alt + t ) and in terminal issue

chromium  --disable-extensions             

Does it run better now ? if yes then issue is probably due to a bad extension ... if it still crashes can you update your question with a copy and paste of messages shown in the terminal

UPDATE alright now from your new crash its GPU related, so launch from terminal using

chromium  --disable-gpu --disable-software-rasterizer

and lets see if it comes up OK or not ... btw did you install graphics drivers yourself ? or are you using the default nouveau ?

UPDATE2 just googling about I see Chrome stop working after upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04 so if you are willing to destroy your Ubuntu install meaning anything of value is safely backed up ( Dropbox, or MEGA nz, or on a memory stick, cloud ...) run the suggested removal of package xserver-xorg-video-intel ... I am on a Ubuntu 20.04 laptop using the default nouveau drivers even though I have an Nvidia card yet I do have that intel package installed as per

dpkg -l | grep xserver-xorg-video-intel

which comes back with

ii  xserver-xorg-video-intel                   2:2.99.917+git20200226-1            amd64        X.Org X server -- Intel i8xx, i9xx display driver

OK so I just issued

sudo apt purge xserver-xorg-video-intel

and after a reboot can confirm the machine is fine so that may resolve your issue (as per above link) ... depending on your risk appetite try that purge and let us know (as long as your backups are current )

Comments

[BowPark]

I just edited the question with the new information. I did not intentionally install graphics drivers, so I guess I'm using the default ones.

[BowPark]

Thanks for your research. I Googled it several times, but I didn't find the solution you mentioned here. I am using Intel i915 driver, as from lshw -c video | grep driver. I think that after purging xserver-xorg-video-intel there's chance that I will have no driver at all. The problem would not be the backup, but to make such a huge modification in a system which should be as stable and "unpolluted" as possible. So, I won't try this solution. But I really would like to thank you for all the effort and contribution.

[BowPark]

Thank you so much! I installed some fonts in the system days ago. I had the exact same issue as in your linked report: no fonts in the "Save file" window. Actually I did not follow your workaround, but simply removed some of the fonts I had installed. Now chromium starts and the "Save file" window is ok. If you want, you can edit your answer mentioning, as an alternative, to remove the previously installed fonts, which worked for me. I really couldn't figure out they were the problem here.

[Antoine Pintout]

No worries, I'm working with new fonts on a daily basis, narrowing which ones are causing trouble would be a very time consuming. Consider posting your own answer. Anyways, the problem lies in how Snap is handling fonts (I would disculp Chromium in this situation as Chrome is working flawlessly, and Chromium from other packet systems is not affected...) and not which fonts we are using...

[BowPark]

An even more curious fact is that, after removing the new fonts I had installed, I tried to reinstall all of them, expecting to create again the issue. Instead, chromium still perfectly works. Yesterday and today, several updates have been deployed, including snapd and xorg-* (but not xserver-xorg-video-intel): maybe there's a relation.

[Antoine Pintout]

This fix did not survive a reboot for the first issue I had, but in this case it did. Weird.

[BowPark]

Ok! Yes, I also am persuaded that snap may be responsible for this (even if I do not know it in detail). Ubuntu should perfection this feature. Thanks!

[electrovir]

I restarted after removing the fonts to get Chromium to work. I suspect rebuilding the font cache or doing something akin to that would also work.

[golimar]

So what was the cause of the problem?