Calibre often crashes in macOS

[.tycho]

Hi everyone!

I was hoping to report an issue I'm having in the latest version of calibre (7.15) on the lastest version of macOS (Sonoma 14.5 (23F79)) on a M2 MacBook Pro (Mac14,10). I'll add, this isn't specific to 7.15, as it's been happening for several weeks now.

While this crash isn't consistently reproducible, when it does happen, it always seems to be under the same circumstances. Specifically, when I'm in the main library mode, I'll search for something, whether it be author, series, etc. I'll select a row of the results, and then scroll up or down using the arrow keys on my keyboard to different rows. Boom -- crash to desktop.

I wish I could more reliably reproduce the crash, but alas, I cannot. I've checked, and all my installed plug-ins are the latest version, according to the User plugins window. I've also run Library Maintenance, and it says it found no errors in the library DB.

I use Calibre several times a week, and so any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for making such an awesome program!

[KevinH]

I have no idea what version of Qt Calibre is using but if it is Qt 6.5.x series, Qt had a large number of bugs related to Accessibility only on macOS. The issues were not fixed fully until the Qt 6.6.2 series. Many mac users have macOS Accessibility tools installed like VoiceOver, and Rectangle, and etc. This causes lots of segfaults on macOS just navigating lists, tables, and things. We (Sigil) finally moved to Qt 6.6.2 just to get all the fixes. Sigil now uses Qt 6.7.2 and it is very stable on macOS when using or running concurrently Accessibility tools with MacOS.

See
https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-121008
and
https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-119526

as just 2 of many related Qt bug reports about crashing on macOS related to accessibility apps

[kovidgoyal]

This definitely looks like a Qt bug, and yes calibre uses Qt 6.5.3 currently. It's on my TODO list to move to a newer Qt, there were some issues with it on Windows I need to investigate first.

[.tycho]

Thanks so much for getting back to me! So it does look like this is a bug with Qt and macOS Accessibility features. I use a brilliant app called Alfred that works by using macOS Accessibility hooks.

Here's to hoping you can move to a newer version of Qt. Thanks again!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by .tycho

Thanks so much for getting back to me! So it does look like this is a bug with Qt and macOS Accessibility features. I use a brilliant app called Alfred that works by using macOS Accessibility hooks.

Here's to hoping you can move to a newer version of Qt. Thanks again!

Do you need to use Alfred? Can you uninstall it and turn off the accessibility features?

[.tycho]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Do you need to use Alfred? Can you uninstall it and turn off the accessibility features?

Yes, I absolutely need Alfred. I probably use it 15-20 times per day.

So I used ChatGPT to make an AppleScript for me that quits Alfred, launches Calibre, waits for Calibre to quit, and then launches Alfred. And it works! So now to see if this solves the crashing issue...

Thanks!

[macaaron]

Hello,

I have the same issue here (Macbook Air M3, Sonoma 14.5).

Thank you for the explanation.
Meanwhile, do we have a workaround to launch Calibre without Alfred, Roger, Gaston and other ChatGPT stuff?

Regards

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by macaaron

Hello,

I have the same issue here (Macbook Air M3, Sonoma 14.5).

Thank you for the explanation.
Meanwhile, do we have a workaround to launch Calibre without Alfred, Roger, Gaston and other ChatGPT stuff?

Regards

It sounds to me like you should not use any app that's got a human name.

[.tycho]

Originally Posted by macaaron

Hello,

I have the same issue here (Macbook Air M3, Sonoma 14.5).

Thank you for the explanation.
Meanwhile, do we have a workaround to launch Calibre without Alfred, Roger, Gaston and other ChatGPT stuff?

Regards

Here's the AppleScript I've been using. Just paste it into Script Editor, replace the app name with whatever you use, click Compile to make sure it works for you, and then Save as an application. You can add multiple apps to quit and to activate after lines 2 and 11. I called mine Cailibre Alternative, and use it to open Calibre for the time being. So far, it's been working!

-- Quit Alfred
tell application "Alfred 5" to quit

-- Open Calibre
tell application "calibre" to activate

-- Monitor Calibre and reopen Alfred when Calibre closes
repeat
	delay 1
	if not (application "calibre" is running) then
		tell application "Alfred 5" to activate
		exit repeat
	end if
end repeat

[.tycho]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It sounds to me like you should not use any app that's got a human name.

Because the app acts as an assistant, many of them have cute butler-sounding names. Believe me, they're a huge asset once you learn how they work.

[Quoth]

I doubt it.

[macaaron]

Originally Posted by .tycho

Here's the AppleScript I've been using. Just paste it into Script Editor, replace the app name with whatever you use, click Compile to make sure it works for you, and then Save as an application. You can add multiple apps to quit and to activate after lines 2 and 11. I called mine Cailibre Alternative, and use it to open Calibre for the time being. So far, it's been working!

-- Quit Alfred
tell application "Alfred 5" to quit

-- Open Calibre
tell application "calibre" to activate

-- Monitor Calibre and reopen Alfred when Calibre closes
repeat
	delay 1
	if not (application "calibre" is running) then
		tell application "Alfred 5" to activate
		exit repeat
	end if
end repeat

Hello,

Thank you. Actually I don't have Alfred.
I copy pasted Calibre from the DMG to the Application folder. After the security approval, Calibre doesn't launch on my mac. This is a Macbook Air M3.
I don't understand the logs (attached). I never had this issue on my previous computers.
Maybe could you please have a look?

Laurent

[.tycho]

Ok, so my issue is that Calibre launches and works for a period of time, and then it crashes. If yours doesn't launch at all, then that sounds like a different issue.

What happens if you download a fresh DMG from Calibre's website and over-write the one in the Applications folder? Does that work? You can also try making a new test account in macOS, log in as that test user, and see if Calibre works there? Then just delete the test user when you're done.

[macaaron]

Originally Posted by .tycho

Ok, so my issue is that Calibre launches and works for a period of time, and then it crashes. If yours doesn't launch at all, then that sounds like a different issue.

What happens if you download a fresh DMG from Calibre's website and over-write the one in the Applications folder? Does that work? You can also try making a new test account in macOS, log in as that test user, and see if Calibre works there? Then just delete the test user when you're done.

Dozens of times. It changes nothing.
I use CleanMyMac to erase all parameter files, but Calibre still crashes.

[kovidgoyal]

Run calibre

/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/calibre-debug -g

from a terminal and paste the log.