I don't know what is producing the gigabytes of error in syslog

Question

The error is showing itself like this:

Jan 11 16:39:52 pop-os org.gnome.Nautilus[1514]: [00007fa4fc465ce0] vdpau_chroma filter error: video mixer rendering failure: An invalid handle value was provided.
Jan 11 16:39:52 pop-os org.gnome.Nautilus[1514]: [00007fa4fc465ce0] vdpau_chroma filter error: video mixer features failure: An invalid handle value was provided.
Jan 11 16:39:52 pop-os org.gnome.Nautilus[1514]: [00007fa4fc465ce0] vdpau_chroma filter error: video mixer attributes failure: An invalid handle value was provided.
Jan 11 16:39:52 pop-os org.gnome.Nautilus[1514]: [00007fa4fc465ce0] vdpau_chroma filter error: video mixer rendering failure: An invalid handle value was provided.
Jan 11 16:39:52 pop-os org.gnome.Nautilus[1514]: [00007fa4fc465ce0] vdpau_chroma filter error: video mixer features failure: An invalid handle value was provided.
Jan 11 16:39:52 pop-os org.gnome.Nautilus[1514]: [00007fa4fc465ce0] vdpau_chroma filter error: video mixer attributes failure: An invalid handle value was provided.
Jan 11 16:39:52 pop-os org.gnome.Nautilus[1514]: [00007fa4fc465ce0] vdpau_chroma filter error:

It has consumed my whole SSD.

Solution 1

I think the error is caused by VLC. Try using another Media Player.

Solution 2

There is a bug filed for this large /var/log/syslog at Having a video playing/paused when switched to another user generates gigabytes of error logs. In the bug description, it is mentioned that using a video player (e.g., VLC) is a way to pop the error. It is not clear if VLC is the only player that produces the error.

The bug was not solved. But as a way to stop the output, closing VLC apparently works. As per messages in the bug thread, and my own experience, avoiding having a playing video while switching users, and perhaps workspaces, should prevent the issue from appearing. The answer by nyxee is a related workaround.

Solution 3

"Paul_Pedant, I have googled but was not able to find anything useful".

I googled "org.gnome.Nautilus[1514]: [00007fa4fc465ce0] vdpau_chroma filter error: video mixer features failure: An invalid handle value was provided" and up popped four helpful posts.

Two of them concern syslog messages about "invalid handle value", and other two about "AssertionMessage: *** Error in `nautilus': free(): invalid pointer: 0x0993d258 ***". Those are probably the same root cause, because a pointer to free() is just a handle too. If Nautilus is corrupting its own memory, no telling what junk comes out.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers-435/+bug/1846374

Having a video playing/paused when switched to another user generates gigabytes of error logs. syslog messages about "invalid handle value"

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-gnome/+bug/1238993

nautilus assert failure: *** Error in `nautilus': free(): invalid pointer: 0x00007fc7ec3a8800 ***

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-gnome/+bug/1266766

nautilus assert failure: *** Error in `nautilus': free(): invalid pointer: 0x0993d258 ***

https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/disabling-nvidia-driver-logging-errors/20258

Disabling nvidia driver logging errors

Maybe you should answer my detailed questions, or just uninstall and reinstall Nautilus, or check your versions against these bug reports, or file a bug on one of these sites. I don't have pop-os or Nautilus or Ubuntu or nvidia or a problem, so I can't investigate this further.

Solution 4

The bug is in VLC, which prints logs after resuming.
My workaround is a systemd service that kills VLC after resuming.
Here it is on the Github; this is what it looks like:

[Unit]
Description=Kills VLC on resume in order to fix logging spam

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=-/usr/bin/killall vlc
TimeoutSec=0
StandardOutput=syslog
After=suspend.target

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target sleep.target

Solution 5

It is caused by VLC if it is started by doubleclick on a file in Nautilus.

If your system suspends while VLC is still open, it will cause this problem. You can close VLC or just jump to another time location in the video then the log-spam will stop. The bug is already reported here.

Workaround

1. After Suspend, first open VLC and rewind a bit to stop the logging.
2. empty syslog and journalctl with this script:

#!/bin/bash

# deletes all but the last 1000 lines in syslog and vacuums journalctl down to 50 MB

LINES=1000
tail -n $LINES /var/log/syslog > /tmp/tmpfile
cat /tmp/tmpfile > /var/log/syslog
rm /tmp/tmpfile
service syslog restart
journalctl --vacuum-size=50M
logger syslog "emptied and service restarted; journalctl vacuumed down to 50 MB"

or download the script from my gist

Save the script in /usr/local/sbin/truncate_syslog.sh and give it executable rights

View more solutions

Comments

[karpi]

It was the same for me: -> ll ~/.local/share/sddm/xorg-session.log -> 77G -> vdpau_chroma filter error: video mixer features failure: An invalid handle value was provided. -> VLC + nvidia drivers causes this.

[cerbin]

+1. I had same problem -> had only 10GB of free space on root directory and file syslog took it all. This error was duplicating org.gnome.Nautilus[1812]: [00007f5fa8093aa0] vdpau_chroma filter error: video mixer rendering failure: An invalid handle value was provided. What caused it I had VLC with movie opened. I locked PC and went out of home, when I returned PC went sleep and after I woke it I saw a message that there is no space on root directory.

[rubo77]

Note:the ExecStart prefix "-" indicates that if the file does not exist, it will not be read and no error or warning message is logged.

[rubo77]

Wouldn't it be more wise to just empty /var/log/syslog on resume? Maybe, you want to continue watching your movie after having a tea in the kitchen? :)

[Zeiad98]

@rubo77 It wont help because the bug is that VLC constantly prints to syslog after resume. So if u clear it once, vlc will not stop printing.

[Zeiad98]

@rubo77 Also, the problem is in VLC, so I don't want to get rid of my logs because of a bug in a 3rd party software

[rubo77]

Ok. Then maybe better a dialogue after resume, that asks you if you want to close VLC and if not, warn about the logging and suggest to rewind a bit (rewinding a second fixes the bug)

[sancho.s ReinstateMonicaCellio]

There is no need to use another player, see this.

[ntg]

This is perfect. Until the bug is fixed, this should be the accepted one. Writing and then deleting Terabytes will kill SSDs