Mac Mini M1 Crashing on Startup

[TheManOctave]

Issue type

Crash or freeze

Bug description

DESCRIPTION:

Since MuseScore 4.0 through 4.3.2 I am having constant crashes. I'm on an M1 Mac Mini running Sonoma 14.5, but this has been ongoing for a couple years and is now MuseScore4 virtually unusable. MuseScore3 still boots fine on my machine.

I've tried deleting old VST plugins, sound files, reinstalling through MuseHub and the non-Hub version, etc. Constant crashes on startup regardless of reinstalls, removing plugins, factory resets, opening from app, opening from score, etc. It doesn't matter if I open MuseScore4 directly, from the Applications folder, from Finder, or try opening from a score, it consistently crashes on startup. I did have VSTs 3+ years ago for MuseScore3 that I have long since deleted, and I don't currently run any plugins or VSTs for MuseScore4.

I can't find a way to reliably reproduce this issue, and there are times it just works if I try booting it enough times or reinstall. I've opened my scores on my Windows PC and my wife's M2 Macbook Air and do not have an issue with any of my scores on those machines.

SYSTEM INFO: Mac Mini 2020, Apple M1 CPU, 16 GB RAM, MacOS Sonoma 14.5, 1 TB SSD

Steps to reproduce

1. Boot from app, score, finder window, etc.
2. Score does not open, MuseScore 4 crashes.
3. Error message appears

Screenshots/Screen recordings

No response

MuseScore Version

4.3.2

Regression

I don't know

Operating system

MacOS Sonoma 14.5

Additional context

mscore-2024-06-12-145934.pdf
mscore-2024-06-17-120740.pdf
mscore-2024-06-17-123001.pdf

[zacjansheski]

Perhaps the same as #20775
@cbjeukendrup could you please take a look at the reports?

[cbjeukendrup]

The reports are unfortunately not very enlightening. The first is about a crash on quit rather than on start. In the other two, the stack trace mentions mostly methods that are deeply inside macOS frameworks, and not in our code. Only at the top, it mentions QPlatformWindow::window() from Qt. It looks like Qt passes some completion handler to some macOS method, and then that completion handler is called, and it crashes inside that completion handler. It's not clear whether that is the fault of Qt or macOS, but that it is our fault seems unlikely.

That makes it difficult to move forward with this problem. Even if we could reproduce it and debug it, that would not bring us much further because it is so deeply inside macOS/Qt.
I've searched the internet for similar cases; I came across a few that are (almost) the same, sorted by similarity:

• crash report qbittorrent/qBittorrent#19981
• https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/debug-build-for-mac-to-produce-a-useful-coredump/28375
• https://forum.macmagazine.com.br/topic/162066-problemas-com-google-earth-pro/
• https://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/helpcenter/chat/chat.pl?com=thread&start=732847&groupid=3&&guest=1
• https://discussionschinese.apple.com/thread/62194?sortBy=best

Especially the latter suggests that it may be a macOS problem rather than a Qt problem.

I also found that the crash has been reported a few times on MuseScore.org:

• https://musescore.org/en/node/356338
• https://musescore.org/en/node/346998#comment-1218129

I can't say whether it is the same as #20775, because it is still completely unclear what #20775 is (it seems a collection of random .org posts about crashes, that don't show many similarities).

[cbjeukendrup]

@TheManOctave So, unfortunately, it looks like we cannot do anything about it. But some questions that might be relevant are:

• What keyboard layout are you using, assuming that you are using a regular keyboard? Or are you using any special input method?
• What is your system language, and what language do you use in MuseScore?
• Are you using any accessibility features of macOS? (for example, VoiceOver, or another screen reader program, or anything from System settings > Accessibility?

Some other things you could try:

• If you download a "nightly build" from https://musescore.org/en/nightly-builds, does that build work correctly?
• If you open the Terminal app, type /Applications/MuseScore\ 4.app/Contents/MacOS/mscore and press Enter, does MuseScore then start correctly? (be somewhat careful with Terminal; if you paste exactly the correct command, then not much can happen. Afterwards, first close MuseScore, then Terminal, and everything should be fine.)

[TheManOctave]

Terminal Launch - 6.21.24.pdf
Crash Report 6.20.24.pdf

@cbjeukendrup Thanks for looking into it. Busy week, sorry for the delay. To answer your questions:

1. Standard mechanical keyboard. USA QWERTY layout. Standard input methods.
2. System and default language is English. I'm based in the midwest USA.
3. No accessibility features enabled. Everything is stock.

Tried a few of the things you mentioned.

• 6/20/2024 crash report is from launching 4.3.2 from app.
• Terminal launch seems to work consistently each time, but I copied the warnings that popped up and attached the document. Not sure if that's relevant at all.
• Launching the 4.4.0.2417730506 Nightly from the .dmg worked the first launch, crashed on the second. I attached the crash log.
• Installed the app and launched the Nightly build from Finder. Worked on first launch but crashed on the second.

DMG Launch - Nightly 4.4.0.2417730506.pdf

[cbjeukendrup]

Hm. Both crash reports show the same stack trace as before, which is good, in a way. The output from Terminal shows nothing unexpected.

The "works on first launch, crashes on second" thing is curious. When you delete the /Users/casper/Library/Application Support/MuseScore/MuseScore4Development folder and the /Users/casper/Library/Application Support/MuseScore/MuseScore4 folder, does it still crash?

It might somehow have to do with other applications that you have open. Perhaps you could experiment a bit with that.

[TheManOctave]

@cbjeukendrup Did as you said and deleted the two folders. I also uninstalled an iZotope imager plugin that I had installed for Logic but haven't used in awhile, but otherwise there are no other plugins or VSTs installed. Tried launching MS4 with other apps opened as well as all apps closed except for Musescore. Still crashing regardless of what else is open.

It did open a couple times after deleting the folders, but it wasn't consistent. Sometimes it would crash immediately on startup after deleting the folders, sometimes it would take a couple times opening / closing the app. It's still launching fine from terminal with the same errors and warnings popping up in terminal as before.

No other app on this machine has been giving me issues if that's relevant. This Mac Mini has only been used for my DAW programs, video editing programs, and MuseScore / MuseHub apps. MS3 opens fine.