Jamulus crashes on macOS

[harmonk]

Jamulus [3.11] has been crashing for about a week now. I open it, it runs for seconds, then blink, gone.
I am on a Mac Macbook Pro, Sequoia 15.2 - updated recently, could be related but find no other reports of problems. And i believe Jamulus ran fine for a short time before this problem began.
I have reinstalled Jamulus several times, deleting all related files each time. Restarted the computer.
I use J with Zoom often, thought that might be an issue but J crashes with no other apps open.
Anybody else? Any ideas?

[chrisrimple]

Jamulus requires that the device in use support 48KHz bitrate. Try this:

1. Run Applications > Utilities > Audio MIDI Setup
2. If the Audio Devices window is not visible, show it with Window > Show MIDI Devices
3. On the left side, select each device and confirm that both Input and Output format = 48000 Hz

#3 is particularly important for your default Input and Output devices (usually Mac Internal Microphone and Mac External Speakers, but can vary by device).

Then launch Jamulus. I'm just guessing, but maybe it's defaulting to a device that's not set to 48KHz and that's causing a crash.

[harmonk]

jamulus.windows.mov

A quick vid of how the windows look.

[ann0see]

Hmm. This looks like the window doesn't get closed correctly by Qt.

[harmonk]

My graphics seem to be fine. No other issues, things look fine, we watch videos and play games and so on.
I downloaded that legacy version [though doesn't it have the same version number as the latest Jamulus version?] and installed. Same reult. It ran for about two minutes before it crashed the first time, then crashed immediately from then on.

[harmonk]

With this legacy version, at least i don't have the shadow window issue anymore.

[ann0see]

With this legacy version, at least i don't have the shadow window issue anymore

Which means that it could be a Qt related bug.

I don't have an (apple silicon) Mac on 15.2 unfortunately. Currently, it seems as if it only occurs on your hardware - which I find odd.
@chrisrimple You can't reproduce this problem either?

[ann0see]

As soon as Jamulus crashes, does an error message from macOS show up? It would be good to see the crash logs.

Otherwise, open macOS console and look for any errors from Jamulus reported there.

[harmonk]

I must admit i am not sure where to find crash logs. I have made at two reports to Apple about this, and so i look in Console and see on the left 'Crash Reports', but there is nothing relevant there. Where must i look?

[harmonk]

I searched in Console for Jamulus, nothing found.

[ann0see]

Did you use https://support.apple.com/en-us/guide/console/welcome/mac

I would leave it open and view it in real time until a crash happens again.

[ann0see]

Some questions:

• Which audio hardware did you try? Internal devices + Focusrite?
• What is the exact model + year of your Mac? Is it Intel or Apple silicon?
• Did you remove zoom already and tried if there's a crash? Zoom might run in the background. Are there any other apps which access your audio gear?
• Does it only occur with the latest Jamulus version?
• Did you try opening Jamulus via the terminal already? Do you see any crash in the terminal?

[harmonk]

Audio hardware: with and without Focusrite. It doesn't seem to matter what hardware is present, or not. Mainly i have been testing with nothing attached.
Macbook Pro 14in 2021, Apple M1 Max chip, Sequoia 15.2.
Activity Monitor says that Zoom is not running at all. I will try removing it completely and report back. I used Jamkazam before with the same setup, but that was years ago. Logic Pro too, sometimes i hook it up with the FocusRite. But i have been doing these things for years without an issue.
I posted about about downloading a legacy version [(https://github.com/jamulussoftware/jamulus/releases/download/r3_11_0/jamulus_3.11.0_mac_legacy.dmg) ] and tried it. Same result.
Opening Jamulus via Terminal? Tried it just now, opening that legacy version. Jamulus has stubbornly refused to crash ;) monitoring now.

[harmonk]

And it crashed again, after being on for maybe 30 minutes. With Zoom also on.
Weird coincidence: It crashed twice finally. Both times, i opened Signal and sent a message. Boom, Jamulus crashed. Twice.
This, for all openness. Who knows, could be relevant.

[ann0see]

Did you rule out a hardware issue: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102550?

[harmonk]

Have just done that, and no issues were reported. Code ADP000.

[chrisrimple]

I'm not experiencing similar problems with 3.11 on MacOS Sequoia 15.1.1, but I have not yet upgraded to 15.2, so can't say yet if that's the issue. 2021 MacBook Pro M1 Max.

[ann0see]

Another suggestion: does the Mac artifact from https://github.com/jamulussoftware/jamulus/actions/runs/12525153233 work? That’s built with the latest Qt version.

[ann0see]

Ok. So I think we'd need someone else to test on apple silicon latest macOS version.

Unfortunately I don't own an apple silicon device. This would allow us to find out if it's specific to only your device.

Can you try installing macOS on an external SSD and check if the issue persists?

It might be dangerous - so backup first.

[chrisrimple]

It appears that MacOS 15.2 is available to me now, so I'll upgrade and test to see if I can duplicate.

[harmonk]

Thanks. I have a bootable backup on an external HD. Would that work for this?

[ann0see]

Yes. I'd boot from this and then check if Jamulus also crashes there. In the best case, you'd have a clean install of macOS somewhere and then check if Jamulus still crashes.

[harmonk]

I shall try this today.
But, i just made a new user account and logged in and started Jamulus. It crashed within a minute.

[harmonk]

Ok, finally got a log. I hope. Jamulus kept NOT crashing when i could test it. It always crashes in the end, but sometimes it would be more than 30 minutes. Finally turned on log recording, and J crashed. So i have a log.
How do i post it? In what form? And it's long, even though i filtered for 'Jamulus'. Please let me know and i will post it.

[ann0see]

Received state update for 5655 (app<application.app.jamulussoftware.Jamulus.79657781.79657889(502)>, none-NotVisible
default 19:44:02.473407+0100 powerd Process Jamulus.5655 ClientDied PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep "Jamulus provides low latency audio processing and should not be inturrupted by system throttling." age:00:00:07 id:21474876446 [System: PrevIdle PrevDisp DeclUser IntPrevDisp kDisp]
default 19:44:02.477853+0100 runningboardd Invalidating assertion 190-130-39769 (target:[app<application.app.jamulussoftware.Jamulus.79657781.79657889(502)>:5655]) from originator [osservice<com.apple.powerd>:130]
default 19:44:02.489043+0100 runningboardd [app<application.app.jamulussoftware.Jamulus.79657781.79657889(502)>:5655] termination reported by launchd (2, 13, 13)
default 19:44:02.489442+0100 runningboardd Removing process: [app<application.app.jamulussoftware.Jamulus.79657781.79657889(502)>:5655]
default 19:44:02.490171+0100 runningboardd Removing launch job for: [app<application.app.jamulussoftware.Jamulus.79657781.79657889(502)>:5655]
default 19:44:02.490776+0100 runningboardd Removed job for [app<application.app.jamulussoftware.Jamulus.79657781.79657889(502)>:5655]
default 19:44:02.490813+0100 runningboardd Removing assertions for terminated process: [app<application.app.jamulussoftware.Jamulus.79657781.79657889(502)>:5655]

Did it crash at this time?

It could be some kind of changed system behavior where macOS doesn't correctly "know" that it shouldn't put the app to sleep.

Does the crash always happen if the app is not in focus?

#23

[harmonk]

I can't say exactly but roughly around this time, yes.
Sleeping would be odd, because i stayed actively using the computer and Jamulus.
J crashes at any time, in focus or not.

[harmonk]

https://gist.github.com/harmonk/e37e2ae86711fdf0b81c51fec59db12f#file-gistfile1-txt-L72

Did you open the legacy version first? This line says the binary is not signed correctly. Probably not the problem.

That's a good question. I have switched back and forth among different versions. If i look in this app, in the info.plist i see 'CFBundleVersion 3.11.0dev-eb09a25'. Is that a help?

[ann0see]

Sleeping would be odd, because i stayed actively using the computer and Jamulus.
J crashes at any time, in focus or not.

Still, macOS might try to put the app into some kind of napping mode (App Nap, https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Performance/Conceptual/power_efficiency_guidelines_osx/AppNap.html) to not drain too much battery/power. iOS is a lot more aggressive but macOS has this feature too.

[ann0see]

If i look in this app, in the info.plist i see 'CFBundleVersion 3.11.0dev-eb09a25'. Is that a help?

Unfortunately not. If it's legacy, it should only support Intel Macs, else it should be Native/Apple architecture/... in activity monitor.

[ann0see]

@AndersGoran
First of all sorry for the ping. I hope it's ok to ping you.

Since you have more in depth macOS knowledge - I assume - do you have any idea what could lead to a macOS crash?

It doesn't seem to be audio hardware related. MacOS 15.2 seems to be the culprit.

It feels a bit like an issue between some interfering software or setting.
Maybe you have an idea?

[AndersGoran]

No problem pinging me, but I have to check my notification settings because I didn't see this until I happened to open the GitHub app.
I've seen the thread and I was thinking I should update my "spare" Mac to 15.2 and try to reproduce this. It's a fairly clean system that I can muck around with. Just have to get around to it...

[chrisrimple]

I've updated to MacOS Sequoia 15.2 and have run Jamulus for 30+ minutes (connected to a server) without a crash. Not a definite test showing that it's a problem unique to @harmonk's computer, but perhaps indicative.

[harmonk]

Do you use Zoom? Perhaps start that up at the same time? It's unlikely, but there is a faint possibility there is a connection.
One thing more for me, starting from the external drive. Today.
Otherwise i am out of ideas. Restarted many times. I have deleted Jamulus, reinstalled, tried different older versions, which used to work. It doesn't seem hardware related, because this happens no matter what is connected or not, and i did an Apple hardware test and everything seemed fine. It actually doesn't seem like like a conflict with other software, because the crash happens sometimes immediately and sometimes after a half hour or more, and wouldn't it happen always at more or less the same time if it were software related? I am not an expert....
My best guess if that it is the OS. But then many other people would be be having the same problem.
Security software? I have Little Snitch running always, but i have allowed all connections for Jam. Browsers have Ublock and Noscript and Ghostery. I also have the apps Adblock and Adblock Pro. ClamxAv. Techtool, Tinkertool. These are the ones that are maybe a bit special that i would consider possibilities. All my other apps are totally normal, OS stuff and browsers and music software.
???

[ann0see]

Techtool, Tinkertool.

While I don't know these, but maybe they changed something in the system making Jamulus crash.

I think in this case it would really make sense to boot from an external SSD from a clean macOS instead of a backup.

[harmonk]

That does make sense. Ok, have to make one and then test. Will get back to you.

[ann0see]

Something else. We had a very odd issue 4 years ago: https://github.com/orgs/jamulussoftware/discussions/1447

Another question: do you use multiple monitors? Specifically: do you use display link?

[harmonk]

Could you please also take a screenshot of the error which opens if the app crashes. If there is no error message saying something like "Jamulus quit unexpectedly" we're dealing with something else than a crash.

This shows only sometimes. Lately not at all. If i can catch it i will post.

[AndersGoran]

That thing about the app running in an unexpected folder is apparently a rather old security feature of 10.12 and onwards, where it runs a newly downloaded app in a random location. (https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/724969)

I've just managed to update my Mac mini to 15.2; it never had Jamulus before and is now running the official release for the first time, indeed from a random path under /private/var.

I was going to suggest opening the app from a shell script in Terminal - if there is something printed to stdout/stderr when it crashes, it might be easier to catch that in the Terminal.

Open Terminal and create a script with a suitable name, e.g. launch_jamulus.sh with the following content - one single line:

exec /Applications/Jamulus.app/Contents/MacOS/Jamulus "$@"

and then launch it from the same Terminal window:

chmod +x launch_jamulus.sh
./launch_jamulus.sh

Fingers crossed that this will work with your shell, which I think is zsh by default. You may have to adjust it slightly.

[ann0see]

Um, not sure what that is, sorry. I reinstalled it using the Mac Recovery mode, the same OS.

Ok. That's just a soft re install of the OS.
This means that the OS files should be clean now. However, this does not reset settings to factory defaults.

I would recommend to install macOS without any data on another drive so the whole OS + data on your main drive is not touched at all. The new disc is clean and has no data: https://www.macworld.com/article/672585/how-to-install-macos-on-an-external-drive.html

This process is dangerous if you wrongly reformat the internal drive instead of an external one.

[AndersGoran]

15.2 on its own is probably not enough to cause a crash, at least not for me. I've had the 3.11.0 client running since last night - connected to a server, and this morning I started playing audio to the server as well. Still fine after 10 hours.

[ann0see]

@AndersGoran thank you for testing out.

@harmonk do you have an alternative computer where you could use Jamulus on? Otherwise, you'd probably either need to remove or reset the apps in question until you find the culprit or install apps one after each other on a clean install.