We Keep Coding

LWJGL GLFW hangs on native glfwInit call

I originally posted this question on GameDev stackexchange however I'll also ask the question here to try and get more outreach, especially since I wasn't sure my problem was specific to game development since it's a problem with a Java native call.
For the past months I've been working on creating my own game engine for personal use in LWJGL using pieces here and there, especially from developer ThinMatrix's rightfully credited code, to learn as much as I can while building it. Only recently there has been strange behavior happening when I launch the engine from IntelliJ for testing:
After about 6-10 individual times I click run, all subsequent runs suddenly take about 60 seconds for the window to appear.
Whenever I restart my PC this hanging resets and I have another 6-10 runs before it hangs everytime again.
I located the issue to glfwInit, more specifically at the call to the native method:
#NativeType("int")
public static boolean glfwInit() {
long __functionAddress = Functions.Init;
return invokeI(__functionAddress) != 0; // Right here
}
I also noticed that this issue only started when I attempted to implement text support in my engine using the STBTrueType library. It was perfectly fine before that. I tried removing the TrueType code but it didn't fix it.
Here's a list of things I've tried:
Clearing my temp folder in case a buggy or corrupted file was present.
Recompiling and rebuilding the entire LWJGL jars twice.
Building glfw.dll from the GLFW sources and replacing the glfw.dll in the native jars with the former.
Reinstalling Java and actually upgrading JDK versions (from 13.0.2 to 14.0.2)
Switching IDEs even if I suspected it wouldn't work.
Updating my NVIDIA drivers, and reinstalling them.
I'm quite confused as to what it could be, and I'd be more than happy to share code, thread dumps, or debug info if you deem it necessary. Here is the Github repository with the latest, "faulty" code (fault in quotes because I'm not too sure the code is the problem.)
Thank you very much for any guidance.
P.S: Please tell me if this is better asked in StackOverflow instead of here.

So I fixed the issue, it turns out it wasn't even related to anything to do with programming, or STBTrueType, or the library itself. The problem was as pointed out in this StackOverflow post, where this hanging behavior was due to a faulty driver or, in my case, my keyboard USB being plugged in the "wrong" USB port. I moved my computer at the same time I started working on text in my engine, hence why I wrongly linked the issue with the TrueType library. If you're having the same issue, look at the aforementioned post or if that doesn't work, look for a peripheral that might cause interference.

Play sounds with Java on a Mac

Alright, before I post any code, here's my specs:
Computer: Macbook Air, Early 2014 model
Java version: Java 8, Update 65 (Java Control Panel says I'm using the recommended version)
OS Version: OS X El Capitan, 10.11.1
Now that that's out of the way, I use Terminal as a Console window, java to run, and javac to compile. I have a class in my project dedicated to playing sounds. The complete code for it is below:
package javacoffeeadventure.audiomanager;
import java.io.*;
import javax.sound.sampled.*;
import javacoffeeadventure.io.FileIO;
import javacoffeeadventure.commandinterpreter.*;
public class AudioManager {
public static void playSound(String soundName) {
try {
FileIO f = new FileIO();
AudioInputStream ain = AudioSystem.getAudioInputStream(f.getURLForResource("sounds/" + soundName));
Clip clip = AudioSystem.getClip();
clip.open(ain);
clip.start();
} catch (Exception ex) {
javacoffeeadventure.commandinterpreter.Console.sharedConsole().error("Exception while playing sound " + soundName + ": " + ex.getMessage());
} finally {
}
}
}
Where...
javacoffeeadventure is the top-level name of the package
commandinterpreter.Console is a way to do stuff quickly with the Console (I had to use the full name because java.io.Console already exists)
javacoffeeadventure.io.FileIO is a simple way to handle resources and load/save a file
I'm playing a wav file
Either way, I'm using javax.sound.sampled.AudioInputStream, javax.sound.sampled.AudioSystem, and javax.sound.sampled.Clip to play sounds.
When invoking clip.start(), the following error occurs:
2015-11-15 21:23:08.195 java[77192:2681680] 21:23:08.195 WARNING: 140: This application, or a library it uses, is using the deprecated Carbon Component Manager for hosting Audio Units. Support for this will be removed in a future release. Also, this makes the host incompatible with version 3 audio units. Please transition to the API's in AudioComponent.h.
This tells me Java uses an obsolete framework, CarbonComponent.h, to play sounds, and OS X suggests Java transition to AudioComponent.h.
Is there a workaround available so I can play sounds without using deprecated methods and avoiding unnecessary exceptions?
Edit
The Java Sound API works, but it outputs this when letting the Jukebox play:
015-11-16 09:23:29.489 java[98123:2879394] 09:23:29.489 WARNING: 140: This application, or a library it uses, is using the deprecated Carbon Component Manager for hosting Audio Units. Support for this will be removed in a future release. Also, this makes the host incompatible with version 3 audio units. Please transition to the API's in AudioComponent.h.
2015-11-16 09:23:40.572 java[98123:2879867] 09:23:40.572 WARNING: 140: This application, or a library it uses, is using the deprecated Carbon Component Manager for hosting Audio Units. Support for this will be removed in a future release. Also, this makes the host incompatible with version 3 audio units. Please transition to the API's in AudioComponent.h.
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unsupported control type: Pan
at com.sun.media.sound.AbstractLine.getControl(AbstractLine.java:150)
at Juke.setPan(Juke.java:435)
at Juke.playSound(Juke.java:302)
at Juke.run(Juke.java:410)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
2015-11-16 09:23:54.748 java[98123:2879867] 09:23:54.748 WARNING: 140: This application, or a library it uses, is using the deprecated Carbon Component Manager for hosting Audio Units. Support for this will be removed in a future release. Also, this makes the host incompatible with version 3 audio units. Please transition to the API's in AudioComponent.h.
Unsupported audio file.
2015-11-16 09:24:00.160 java[98123:2879867] 09:24:00.160 WARNING: 140: This application, or a library it uses, is using the deprecated Carbon Component Manager for hosting Audio Units. Support for this will be removed in a future release. Also, this makes the host incompatible with version 3 audio units. Please transition to the API's in AudioComponent.h.
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unsupported control type: Pan
at com.sun.media.sound.AbstractLine.getControl(AbstractLine.java:150)
at Juke.setPan(Juke.java:435)
at Juke.playSound(Juke.java:302)
at Juke.run(Juke.java:410)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
2015-11-16 09:24:09.542 java[98123:2879867] 09:24:09.542 WARNING: 140: This application, or a library it uses, is using the deprecated Carbon Component Manager for hosting Audio Units. Support for this will be removed in a future release. Also, this makes the host incompatible with version 3 audio units. Please transition to the API's in AudioComponent.h.

This is because OpenJDK is binding to openal-soft for this and it currently depends on Carbon.
There is an open issue on OpenJDK:
https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8138754
It has been fixed in the master branch of openal-soft:
https://github.com/kcat/openal-soft/issues/20
It has not been released as of openal-soft 1.17.0 which is the latest release available as I write this.
It should be possible to build an install a newer openal-soft to fix this. It may be already available in Homebrew.
You can build from source, but I recommend basing your code on the Java Sound API example and documenting this message as a known issue for now as openal-soft has been fixed and its release is outside your control.

Adding other video codecs / DVD support to JavaFX 2.2

Update:
Since the media side of JFX has been open sourced, I've looked into this myself and it is indeed possible, but requires changing and rebuilding the JFX source (both Java and C parts.) The process is described here for anyone that wants to have a go - I add MKV support in that example, but it should be very similar for other plugins.
The remainder of the question is thus mainly historical, but I'll leave it here for reference.
Background
I've been using VLCJ thus far for playing video in my application. It works, but if possible I'd like to see if I can achieve a similar level of support for common codecs by migrating to JavaFX and saving myself a lot of hassle with multiple VMs and suchlike that VLCJ needs to play multiple videos reliably. I won't go into it here but see my answer to this question if you're interested in the details. There's also the issue of cross-platform compatibility, it works on Mac and Linux ok but I haven't worked out how to get it to show on Mac yet (I believe there's some security in place to prevent one process gaining access to another's native components, but again that's beyond the scope of this question.)
It boils down to the fact that while it works, it's a lot of maintenance and hassle working with multiple VMs and bridging them stably if there's another solution that would be easier. VLC does have a pretty legendary level of support for playing pretty much anything which is why I've gone with it thus far, and I'd be interested to see if I can get a similar result in JavaFX - or at least if it can provide the means for doing so in a cross platform manner.
Research
JavaFX 2.0 supports video - great! But at the moment the official line is it supports "FLV containing VP6 video and MP3 audio". Is there a way to extend this to add in support for more codecs? There's no hard codec that I'd like to support, it's more a case of as many as I can so I'm looking for an extensible method to go about the above.
I wondered if it would play video for codecs installed natively on the machine and that it just doesn't advertise itself as such (because that functionality obviously is machine dependant and not cross-platform.) But no dice, I've tried a number of common formats and it really does refuse to play anything other than what it states.
From looking at JavaFX 1.3 it also supports other platform dependant codecs depending on where it's installed. Is there a way to get this behaviour with JavaFX 2? Or is it planned at all for a subsequent release? I haven't been able to find any information on it on the roadmap or any comment from Oracle about it.
Only thing I could find from searching extensively is here which implies that it may be possible but no-one seems to know how. I'd also be interested to know if it's based on GStreamer why all the formats supported by GStreamer aren't included by default either?
In terms of playing DVDs with JavaFX I've got absolutely nowhere, so I'm assuming that's just a no-go at the moment. If anyone does have any ideas or information though, I'm all ears.
Other approaches
One approach which I was half wondering may be possible is crowbarring the JMC jar out of the old JavaFX as described here and trying to get that working alongside JavaFX 2. I don't suppose anyone has had any luck with that approach or something similar?
All things failing, if anyone has any information or links on if / when support for additional codecs will be supported out of the box, then I'd be interested to hear that also. Or if anyone has any contact details for someone at Oracle I could ask that would also be appreciated! I've been longing for decent video support in Java for some time, and I guess what this boils down to is trying to figure out if JavaFX is the answer to this, or just another half hearted attempt that will never play more than what it does at the moment! I'm hoping it's not the latter, but I've yet to see much to show that's the case.

Believe me, I feel and know your frustration. I have pondered this for a while, but I had to use un-straight means of solving my issues.
There are many ways around this, each with limitations but depends on what works for you:
Docs say WebView works with HTML5, which plays videos supported on the platform (Though sadly not flash). If using a webview to play video works for you, you can try this out. You can even draw over it with other nodes.
Portable VLC Player! If maybe you're developing some sort of projector/director app and you want fullscreen video, you can have portable VLC player play the video in fullscreen in one screen with it's controls in the other. Used this solution and it works quite well for mac and windows. :)
Only thing is you can't draw nodes on the video as it's an external app, with just the illusion of fullscreen video of your app.
If you ever need to utilize the power of flash within your javafx 2.0 application, then use a swt-based browser(or something Like the DJ Project if you're a Swinger) as they support all features of your native browser.

I've now managed to compile MKV support into JavaFX successfully, and it does take some, but not a great deal of effort on the native layer also. See here for the discussion surrounding it, and here for the result submitted as a patch / JIRA ticket.
I've written a much more comprehensive guide on the process here which may be of interest to anyone else looking to go down this route.
What follows is my brief investigation before I actually seriously looked at compiling other media support in, though I'll leave it here for reference.
Now that JFX8 has been released and is completely open source, I've spent a bit of time looking at how this could be done, and whether it could be done without patching the JFX source. Unfortunately the answer to that latter point is an almost definite no, at least not without horrible bytecode manipulation hacks. I may look into this more practically at a later date, but I'll document what I've worked out so far from the source available.
The magic starts from the Media constructor, which is ultimately where the MediaException pops out from (with the MEDIA_UNSUPPORTED flag if you try to play an unsupported format.) From there it creates the Locator, whose constructor ensures that the URL is one that's supported. It's init() method is then called in a separate thread, which performs some sanity checking on the URL string, reads the file, then proceeds to try to work out what the format is.
The relevant code for this part of the method is thus:
if (scheme.equals("file") || scheme.equals("jar")) {
InputStream stream = getInputStream(uri);
stream.close();
isConnected = true;
contentType = MediaUtils.filenameToContentType(uriString); // We need to provide at least something
}
if (isConnected) {
// Check whether content may be played.
// For WAV use file signature, since it can detect audio format
// and we can fail sooner, then doing it at runtime.
// This is important for AudioClip.
if (MediaUtils.CONTENT_TYPE_WAV.equals(contentType)) {
contentType = getContentTypeFromFileSignature(uri);
if (!MediaManager.canPlayContentType(contentType)) {
isMediaSupported = false;
}
} else {
if (contentType == null || !MediaManager.canPlayContentType(contentType)) {
// Try content based on file name.
contentType = MediaUtils.filenameToContentType(uriString);
if (Locator.DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE.equals(contentType)) {
// Try content based on file signature.
contentType = getContentTypeFromFileSignature(uri);
}
if (!MediaManager.canPlayContentType(contentType)) {
isMediaSupported = false;
}
}
}
// Break as connection has been made and media type checked.
break;
}
From this we can see a first "dumb" attempt is made to grab the file content based on its name (this is what MediaUtils.filenameToContentType() does.) There's then some special cases for checking for different types of wav file, but if that fails then we fall back on a cleverer check which looks at the actual file signature. Both these checks are in MediaUtils. This latter check is much more extensive, and looks at the first few bytes of the file to see if it can work out a format that way. If it can't, then it bails out and throws the exception that then pops out as our dreaded MEDIA_UNSUPPORTED flag.
If the type is identified correctly though, there's still another hurdle to go through - it has to be supported by the current platform. Some platforms are loaded dynamically depending on the environment, however the GSTPlatform always exists, thus we would need to put any additional (universal) formats here. This is relatively simple, a CONTENT_TYPES array exists which just holds the array of supported formats.
Unfortunately cloning the JavaFX repo seems to be failing for me at the moment, otherwise I'd attempt to put some of this in practice. But in lieu of the above, what actually needs to happen to add support for further formats? It actually doesn't seem hugely difficult.
In MediaUtils, support needs to be added to the filenameToContentType() method to handle the new file extension. This is trivial.
In the same class, support needs to be added to the fileSignatureToContentType() method to work out the file type based on its signature. This is a tad more complex, but still not too bad. This may even be optional, since the current code only seems to use this as a fallback if the format isn't identified correctly (or at all) from the file extension. A comprehensive list of file signatures for different formats can be found here which should help with this task.
In GSTPlatform, the new content type needs to be added to the list of supported content types.
On the Java side of things, this appears to be all that's necessary to get it to accept the content type and at least attempt to pass it down to the native Gstreamer layer.
However, I'm no expert in GStreamer, so while I'm aware there's many more formats that it can handle and play that JavaFX currently refuses, I'm unsure as to how exactly they've removed this capacity. They've definitely done it in the Java layer above, but they may have also done it on the native GStreamer level - at this point I'm unsure.
I assume they've made some changes to GStreamer for JFX8 - but at the present time they're not listed on the relevant project page, so it's quite hard to work out exactly what they've changed for this version.
The next step would be to grab the JFX8 source, build with the above proposed changes for a new content type, and then see what errors (if any) occur on the native level, then take it from there.

The API design does not appear to have support for rolling your own codecs. Pretty much all of the classes are final (e.g. VideoTrack, Media, MediaPlayer etc). I assume that the actual video decoding is done with internal classes at present, meaning there is no way to override them.
There is a plan to Open Source JavaFX 2.0, I suspect as we approach the release of JDK8. Hopefully when they do this we can see how they resolve their codecs from the Media(String source) constructor and see if we can hook into this somehow.

And now, Javafx2.1 finally supports mp4 H.264 so you should now be good to go without the above posted stunts. :)

Current open feature requests for this in the JavaFX bug tracking system:
JDK-8091656 Wishlist for more media format support
JDK-8091755 Media should support InputStream
Read the linked feature requests and the associated comments on them to understand their current status (or lack thereof ;-) for the JavaFX distribution version that you are using.
Note, for the InputStream based Media API, one of the later comments by a JavaFX developer is "I propose we consider this for JDK 10", so I guess it may be a possibility in the future...
Also note, if you are not sure if JavaFX currently has in-built support for a given encoding type or not, a comprehensive overview of supported media encodings and media container types is provided in the javadoc for the javafx.media package (just ensure that you review the version of the javadoc which matches your version of JavaFX).
Those who may be interested in other solutions to at least get a video to play from JavaFX, even if it is a media type not natively supported by JavaFX and you don't want to hack the native JavaFX media support just to get your video to play, can also see my answer to the related question:
Playing h265 HEVC in a JavaFX client

FreeTTS, Java, Linux: Workaround for "LINE UNAVAILABLE: Format is ..."

When I run FreeTTS examples, I get this error:
LINE UNAVAILABLE: Format is pcm_signed 16000.0 Hz 16 bits 1 channel big endian
In this post, Freetts problem in Java
someone claims it's a known Linux/Java sound bug and has a workaround,
linking to http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5189363 .
But this link does not work anymore since Oracle screwed it.
Archive.org seems not to have this page archived.
Does anyone have the workaround / patch for FreeTTS?
Thanks,
Ondra

Linux's ALSA is one large, complex API. OpenJDK and Sun's JDK seem to use it differently. Most modern Linux distributions also use PulseAudio, which virtualizes ALSA so that all audio goes through PulseAudio for software mixing before going to ALSA for playback.
When nothing is accessing the sound card, and Java is the only user, it tends to work. However when something else has the sound card open, Java apps quickly break with both your error and "javax.sound.sampled.LineUnavailableException: Audio Device Unavailable".
One potential workaround is to enumerate all mixers in the system with AudioSystem.getMixerInfo(), then try to open the line with AudioSystem.getSourceDataLine(format, mixerInfo) for the mixers you want. Some will work better than others. In particular the "Java Sound Audio Engine" and the "default [default]" mixers, if they exist, tend to work.
The only solution if you don't want to modify the FreeTTS source code though, is to install pulse-java. This registers a special PulseAudio sound provider, which bypasses the ALSA virtualization and goes directly to PulseAudio. Ubuntu installs this as part of its OpenJDK package.
Someone should really patch Java Sound to play with ALSA in a friendlier way. For one ALSA device names should be prefixed with plug: to get ALSA to convert sound formats and sample rates on the fly. And the other rules for safe ALSA subset should also be followed.

Hmm, I had better luck googling after asking the question, so...:
http://workorhobby.blogspot.com/2011/02/java-audio-freetts-line-unavailable.html
A big thanks to the author.
Update: Actually, this is not a nice workaround since it will keep FreeTTS on hold until the line is free.
FWIU, the mentioned patch had better solution - not demanding exclusive access or such.
Update: I've compiled a FreeTTS troubleshooting page.
A program based on FreeTTS, the free text-to-speech engine for Java, was getting occasional errors
"LINE UNAVAILABLE: Format is ..."
Turns out there is no Java Exception or other mechanism to detect this error that occurs inside the FreeTTS library. All you get is the message on System.out, so there is no good way to react programatically.
Workaround: Configure the FreeTTS audio player to attempt accessing the audio device more than once until it succeeds. In this example, a short delay of 0.1 seconds is used to not miss an opportunity to grab the audio device; we keep trying for 30 seconds:
System.setProperty("com.sun.speech.freetts.audio.AudioPlayer.openFailDelayMs", "100");
System.setProperty("com.sun.speech.freetts.audio.AudioPlayer.totalOpenFailDelayMs", "30000");
If the audio device is permanently used by another program, there is of course no way to get access. Under Linux, this command will display the ID of the process that is currently holding the audio device, so you can then try to get rid of the offending program:
/sbin/fuser /dev/dsp

Regarding the link screwed by Oracle - given that older SO answer you refer mentions horrendous java linux sound bug that is still not fixed and suggests to check the third post, it is likely that lost thread was migrated to:
https://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=2206163
above thread starts with reference to JMF Bug 4352921 at http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4352921_
third post in the thread says "Yes, according to the API docs it's a "catastrophic" error from which no player can return safely. Which is why it's so strange to be able to trigger it so easily..."
workaround to the problem discussed is described in the sixth post as follows:
I stumbled upon a blog post that suggested that Java needs to be told to use the OSS libraries as it's not yet up to ALSA. The command to use was "padsp" which forces the application to use OSS. So if I call "padsp jmstudio", it now plays and mixes the audio just fine. I tried it with my application also, which prefetches a number of players in the same JVM, and they all prefetched perfectly. So it would seem, for now, JMF applications on Linux may need to be called through padsp.

VLC dying when called from inside Java

I'm having a problem that, at this moment, I don't even know how to investigate properly. Any recommendations on how I can get more information are welcome and appreciated.
My company sells a product with a WinXP PC at its core. One of the product's tasks is being able to start a video player on demand -- VLC, in this case. (To be specific, VLC 0.8.6d; it's several years out of date, but upgrading is problematic for a few reasons.) The application responsible for starting the player and performing many, many other tasks is written in Java.
I have a test rig sitting next to my desk. It used to work just fine. But for some reason, it now gives a "Send Error Report" window when the Java app tries to start VLC: "VLC media player has encountered a problem and needs to close...." You know the one.
Clearly, I've done something that buggered things up. Problem is, I know neither what it could be nor how I would go about fixing it.
Stuff I know:
It's not a code bug. I run the same software on my development desktop machine, and it doesn't have this issue.
It's not the VLC install, nor is it a malformed video file. When I capture the command used to start it from Java and manually enter that command from a "cmd" window, it works fine.
It's not that sneaky bastich bug where Java punishes you if you don't manually drain STDERR and STDOUT when making a system call. I've got that covered.
I'm not getting any error messages or output when it fails; it just fails and gives me that pop-up window.
I'm stumped. Recommendations for either what it could be or how I can figure out what it is are very welcome.

Well, I’m not familiar with java and VLC, but I would do the following things:
Check that you have identical java virtual machines in both of your desktops. Just in case…
Check the process’s environment variables. They depend on parent process. Maybe VLC uses some of them.
Try to debug crashing with native debugger like WinDbg. Perhaps the call stack will give you more ideas.
Good luck!

My suggestions:
Create a simple java app that just launches VLC
Use your app to launch a simple command line windows program
Use your app to launch a complex program
Check to see if there is a memory constraint issue. Is VLC getting too little memory to run?
This really sounds like a memory/environment issue.

A number of things I would try
Make Sure both test and development machines are identical in every respect, the operating syste(if possible installed from same OS Disk), same JVM version, same memory allocation to JVM (you know those -X-ms stuffs). My fear is not with Java/JVM per se, it is with windows.
Make sure you can lunch for example Notepad from a Java app, and then something like Windows Media Player or MS Word.
Try and launch other versions of VLC to see if it is a VLC version problem.
Finally try and wipe the test box and re-install it(with Windows, you can never tell, a fresh installation might just do it!!)