after modifying the mathematica startup scripts it is clear that the crash occurs in the gltest. mathematica uses it to test the capabilities of the GL subsystem. the original command line is
env LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/mathematica-9.0.1/SystemFiles/Libraries/Linux-x86-64 SHLIB_PATH=/opt/mathematica-9.0.1/SystemFiles/Libraries/Linux-x86-64 LIBPATH=/opt/mathematica-9.0.1/SystemFiles/Libraries/Linux-x86-64 /opt/mathematica-9.0.1/SystemFiles/FrontEnd/Binaries/Linux-x86-64/gltest 1 1 1 2 2>/dev/null | grep "GLTest_OK" ie the crash occurs even before the mathematica frontend is started. after commenting this test out, the frontend starts normally. unfortunately, the xserver crashes when the frontend is exited, so this is not a real workaround. i modified the test command-line above to env LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/mathematica-9.0.1/SystemFiles/Libraries/Linux-x86-64 SHLIB_PATH=/opt/mathematica-9.0.1/SystemFiles/Libraries/Linux-x86-64 LIBPATH=/opt/mathematica-9.0.1/SystemFiles/Libraries/Linux-x86-64 strace -o gltest.strace.1 /opt/mathematica-9.0.1/SystemFiles/FrontEnd/Binaries/Linux-x86-64/gltest 1 1 1 2 2>/dev/null | grep "GLTest_OK" to get the strace output which is in the attachment. the crash occurs right after the exit, but the gltest executable output XIO: fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server ":0.0" after 28 requests (28 known processed) with 0 events remaining. GLTest_OK while having some io errors, reports that the gl test is ok. ** Attachment added: "strace of the "gltest" executable" https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/1256561/+attachment/3921241/+files/gltest.strace.1 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu-X, which is subscribed to xorg in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1256561 Title: starting mathematica 9 crashes xserver To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/1256561/+subscriptions _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat Post to : ubuntu-x-swat@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp