linux minimserver won't start after update

[chaconne]

I've been running MinimServer on Linux from a terminal window, e.g.

[jlj@beelink ~]$ ~/minimserver/bin/startc

I just restarted it (following a system update) and got the following

[jlj@beelink ~]$ ~/minimserver/bin/startc
MinimServer 2.2 update 259, Copyright © 2012-2025 Simon Nash. All rights reserved.
autoUpdate: installed package 'minimserver-update-263' replacing 'minimserver-update-259'
Enter command (? for help):
autoUpdate: relaunching
>ending MinimServer
MinimServer 2.2 update 263, Copyright © 2012-2025 Simon Nash. All rights reserved.
org.openhome.net.core.LibraryException
at org.openhome.net.core.Library.initialise(Library.java:46)
at org.jminim.lib.OhNetService.createLibrary(OhNetService.java:853)
at org.jminim.lib.OhNetService.createDeviceStack(OhNetService.java:734)
at org.jminim.lib.OhNetService.createDeviceFactory(OhNetService.java:642)
at org.jminim.lib.OhNetService.access$3400(OhNetService.java:60)
at org.jminim.lib.OhNetService$Proxy.createDeviceFactory(OhNetService.java:1336)
at org.jminim.lib.MonitorService$Monitor.startDevice(MonitorService.java:318)
at org.jminim.lib.MonitorService$Monitor.createDevice(MonitorService.java:299)
at org.jminim.lib.MonitorService$Monitor.listenerAdded(MonitorService.java:394)
at org.jminim.core.RuntimeImpl.addEventListener(RuntimeImpl.java:2633)
at org.jminim.lib.RuntimeService$Proxy.addEventListener(RuntimeService.java:250)
at com.minimserver.Server.doStart(Server.java:1866)
at com.minimserver.Server.start(Server.java:1405)
at org.jminim.core.ContextImpl.startComponent(ContextImpl.java:215)
at org.jminim.core.ContextImpl.start(ContextImpl.java:140)
at org.jminim.core.RootContextImpl.startComponent(RootContextImpl.java:81)
at org.jminim.core.ContextImpl.start(ContextImpl.java:140)
at org.jminim.core.RuntimeImpl.run(RuntimeImpl.java:2937)
at org.jminim.core.LauncherImpl.run(LauncherImpl.java:1327)
at org.jminim.core.LauncherImpl.launch(LauncherImpl.java:126)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DirectMethodHandleAccessor.invoke(DirectMethodHandleAccesso​r.java:103)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:580)
at org.jminim.mlaunch.MinimLaunch.doLaunch(MinimLaunch.java:525)
at org.jminim.mlaunch.MinimLaunch.launch(MinimLaunch.java:150)
at org.jminim.mlaunch.MinimLaunch.launch(MinimLaunch.java:90)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DirectMethodHandleAccessor.invoke(DirectMethodHandleAccesso​r.java:103)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:580)
at org.jminim.launch.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:88)
at com.minimserver.launch.LaunchServer.main(LaunchServer.java:38)
MinimServer error: now stopped, use 'restart' or 'exit'
Enter command (? for help):

My java version is reported as

[jlj@beelink ~]$ java --version
openjdk 21.0.8 2025-07-15 LTS
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Temurin-21.0.8+9 (build 21.0.8+9-LTS)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Temurin-21.0.8+9 (build 21.0.8+9-LTS, mixed mode, sharing)
[jlj@beelink ~]$

[simoncn]

I see you are using Java Temurin, which supports a number of processor architectures (aarch64, arm, ppc64, ppc64le, riscv64, s390x, sparcv9, x64, x86). Which processor architecture version are you running? What hardware are you running it on?

Also, is there any error information in any of the log files in the minimserver/data directory (minimserver.log, minimserver-out.log, minimlaunch.log)?

[chaconne]

It's an Intel N100 running PCLinuxOs. I found some more log files, attaching them to this message.

[chaconne]

There's another log file that I can't add as an attachment (probably because it's 98K). Attaching the first part of it here.

[chaconne]

I tried doing a new, clean install into a new <minim-home> directory, and now it's working again. Sorry for the trouble, and thank you for looking at it.

[chaconne]

(26-09-2025 19:17)chaconne Wrote:  I tried doing a new, clean install into a new <minim-home> directory, and now it's working again. Sorry for the trouble, and thank you for looking at it.

Curiouser and curiouser. It works after a clean install, but if I exit and then restart it's back to the same error again.

[simoncn]

I have some idea what could be causing this. Unfortunately it might be a very difficult problem to resolve.

MinimServer is written in Java. For UPnP communications, MinimServer uses a third-party library named ohNet, which is written in C++. The problem is caused by a failure (details not clear) in the ohNet C++ code that initialises the ohNet runtime. This code runs during MinimServer startup.

Unlike Java, C++ is vulnerable to uninitialised memory errors where code accesses memory that has not been initialised correctly. If this memory has the correct value by chance (usually the value zero), the code will work. If this memory has an incorrect value by chance (usually a nonzero value), the code will fail.

My suspicion is that the ohNet intialization code is accessing uninitialised memory that has a value of zero when MinimServer is started for the first time and a nonzero value when MinimServer is restarted. This would explain why MinimServer works when first started and doesn't work when stopped and started again.

As yours is the first report of this problem, it appears the problem doesn't occur with other Linux distributions. This could be because there is something unusual about how PCLinuxOs manages memory, triggering a bug in ohNet that has lain dormant for many years.

Finding the cause of a problem like this would be very difficult if I could reproduce it here and bordering on impossible if I cannot reproduce it here. Also, I am about to leave for a week's holiday and I won't be able to start investigating it until after I return. A possible workaround is to start MinimServer only once after installation and never stop and restart it subsequently. Another option would be to use a different Linux distribution.

[chaconne]

I'm inclined to agree, especially as the problem only manifested after an OS update. PCLinux seems to be in the process of switching from APT to DNF, which can only confuse matters. I may experiment with running MinimServer inside Docker, but changing to another distribution is probably my best bet. That would also give me access to the desktop interface.

Thank you again for your time.