[SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

seth · 2025-09-23 12:07:24

THe OP had a bogus $XDG_DATA_DIRS, KillerShadow73 a bogus cache (probably unrelated, there was a pango problem at the time) and anarcho_archist re-installed the system

printenv

What lead the the resolution of the OP was a strace of an affected process (could possibly be some gtk*demo*) which exposed the bogus access paths.

JacknJo · 2025-09-23 13:33:48

I have the exact same issue since today's update to gnome 49. I was able to solve the crash by moving away my custom fonts directory:

mv /home/user/.fonts /home/user/.fonts_bup

(that essentially contains a lot of development and nerd-fonts).

Without the .fonts directory i was able to launch gtk-tools again. Also the shell and window-manager ran gracefully after moving the /home/user/.fonts to /home/user/.fonts_bup for a temporary fix. I'm not sure on how to identify which font or resource is causing the crash

Please find attached the shortened cli log from gtk3-demo. It behaves identical for other gtk apps and does fail identical when using the default adwaita theming.

❯ strace -o /tmp/broken_font_symlink.txt -tt -f gtk3-demo

(gtk3-demo:27616): Gtk-WARNING **: 15:48:53.899: Could not load a pixbuf from icon theme.
This may indicate that pixbuf loaders or the mime database could not be found.
**
Gtk:ERROR:../gtk/gtk/gtkiconhelper.c:495:ensure_surface_for_gicon: assertion failed (error == NULL): Failed to load /usr/share/icons/Papirus-Dark/16x16/actions/image-missing.svg: Loader process exited early with status '1'Command:
 "bwrap" "--unshare-all" "--die-with-parent" "--chdir" "/" "--ro-bind" "/usr" "/usr" "--dev" "/dev" "--ro-bind-try" "/etc/ld.so.cache" "/etc/ld.so.cache" "--ro-bind-try" "/nix/store" "/nix/store" "--tmpfs" "/tmp-home" "--tmpfs" "/tmp-run" "--clearenv" "--setenv" "HOME" "/tmp-home" "--setenv" "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" "/tmp-run" "--setenv" "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" "/run/user/1000" "--symlink" "/usr/lib" "/lib" "--symlink" "/usr/lib" "/lib64" "--ro-bind-try" "/etc/fonts/conf.d" "/etc/fonts/conf.d" "--ro-bind-try" "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf" "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/.cache/fontconfig" "/home/user/.cache/fontconfig" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/.fonts" "/home/user/.fonts" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/Downloads/fira_code" "/home/user/.fonts/fira_code" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/Downloads/fira_code/ttf" "/home/user/.fonts/fira_code/ttf" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/Downloads/fira_code/variable_ttf" "/home/user/.fonts/fira_code/variable_ttf" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/Downloads/fira_code/woff" "/home/user/.fonts/fira_code/woff" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/Downloads/fira_code/woff2" "/home/user/.fonts/fira_code/woff2" "--ro-bind-try" "/var/cache/fontconfig" "/var/cache/fontconfig" "--bind-try" "/home/user/.cache/glycin/usr/lib/glycin-loaders/2+/glycin-svg" "/home/user/.cache/glycin/usr/lib/glycin-loaders/2+/glycin-svg" "--setenv" "XDG_CACHE_HOME" "/home/user/.cache/glycin/usr/lib/glycin-loaders/2+/glycin-svg" "--seccomp" "22" "/usr/lib/glycin-loaders/2+/glycin-svg" "--dbus-fd" "21" (gdk-pixbuf-error-quark, 0)
Bail out! Gtk:ERROR:../gtk/gtk/gtkiconhelper.c:495:ensure_surface_for_gicon: assertion failed (error == NULL): Failed to load /usr/share/icons/Papirus-Dark/16x16/actions/image-missing.svg: Loader process exited early with status '1'Command:  "bwrap" "--unshare-all" "--die-with-parent" "--chdir" "/" "--ro-bind" "/usr" "/usr" "--dev" "/dev" "--ro-bind-try" "/etc/ld.so.cache" "/etc/ld.so.cache" "--ro-bind-try" "/nix/store" "/nix/store" "--tmpfs" "/tmp-home" "--tmpfs" "/tmp-run" "--clearenv" "--setenv" "HOME" "/tmp-home" "--setenv" "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" "/tmp-run" "--setenv" "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" "/run/user/1000" "--symlink" "/usr/lib" "/lib" "--symlink" "/usr/lib" "/lib64" "--ro-bind-try" "/etc/fonts/conf.d" "/etc/fonts/conf.d" "--ro-bind-try" "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf" "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/.cache/fontconfig" "/home/user/.cache/fontconfig" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/.fonts" "/home/user/.fonts" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/Downloads/fira_code" "/home/user/.fonts/fira_code" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/Downloads/fira_code/ttf" "/home/user/.fonts/fira_code/ttf" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/Downloads/fira_code/variable_ttf" "/home/user/.fonts/fira_code/variable_ttf" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/Downloads/fira_code/woff" "/home/user/.fonts/fira_code/woff" "--ro-bind-try" "/home/user/Downloads/fira_code/woff2" "/home/user/.fonts/fira_code/woff2" "--ro-bind-try" "/var/cache/fontconfig" "/var/cache/fontconfig" "--bind-try" "/home/user/.cache/glycin/usr/lib/glycin-loaders/2+/glycin-svg" "/home/user/.cache/glycin/usr/lib/glycin-loaders/2+/glycin-svg" "--setenv" "XDG_CACHE_HOME" "/home/user/.cache/glycin/usr/lib/glycin-loaders/2+/glycin-svg" "--seccomp" "22" "/usr/lib/glycin-loaders/2+/glycin-svg" "--dbus-fd" "21" (gdk-pixbuf-error-quark, 0)
zsh: IOT instruction (core dumped)  strace -o /tmp/broken_font_symlink.txt -tt -f gtk3-demo

Last edited by JacknJo (2025-09-24 04:16:10)

JacknJo · 2025-09-23 13:43:35

JacknJo wrote:

I have the exact same issue since today's update to gnome 49. I was able to solve the crash by moving away my custom fonts directory:
mv /home/user/.fonts /home/user/.fonts_bup
(that essentially contains a lot of development and nerd-fonts).
Without the .fonts directory i was able to launch gtk-tools again. Also the shell and window-manager ran gracefully after moving the /home/user/.fonts to /home/user/.fonts_bup for a temporary fix. I'm not sure on how to identify which font or resource is causing the crash
Please find attached the shortened cli log from gtk3-demo. It behaves identical for other gtk apps and doesn't fails identical when using the default adwaita theming.
❯ gtk3-demo

(gtk3-demo:9323): Gtk-WARNING **: 15:25:06.072: Could not load a pixbuf from icon theme.
This may indicate that pixbuf loaders or the mime database could not be found.
**
Gtk:ERROR:../gtk/gtk/gtkiconhelper.c:495:ensure_surface_for_gicon: assertion failed (error == NULL): Failed to load /usr/share/icons/Papirus-Dark/16x16/actions/image-missing.svg: Loader process exited early with status '1'Command:
 "bwrap" "--unshare-all" "--die-with-parent" "--chdir" "/" "--ro-bind" "/usr" "/usr" "--dev" "/dev" "--ro-bind-try" "/etc/ld.so.cache" "/etc/ld.so.cache" "--ro-bind-try" "/nix/store" "/nix/store" "--tmpfs" "/tmp-home" "--tmpfs" "/tmp-run" "--clearenv" "--setenv" "HOME" "/tmp-home" "--setenv" "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" "/tmp-run" "--setenv" "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" "/run/user/1000" "--symlink" "/usr/lib" "/lib" "--symlink" "/usr/lib" "/lib64" "--ro-bind-try" "/etc/fonts/conf.d" "/etc/fonts/conf.d" "--ro-bind-try" "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf" "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf" <goes on with user fonts from /home/user/.fonts here>
zsh: IOT instruction (core dumped)  gtk3-demo

I actually found the issue. It seems like a symlink in .fonts will cause the broken behavior! I had a symlink to a custom font i built. By removing this symlink and hard-copying the font to the folder everything works as expected!

jim002 · 2025-09-23 15:08:00

i'm facing multiple instances of glycin-loaders and bwrap after (re)boot on xfce 4.20
no errors. nothing useful in ~/.xsession-errors.

it seems to run for every icon:
taken from htop manually
220 processes instead of ~120

EITHER e.g.

/usr/lib/glycin-loaders/2+/glycin-image-rs --dbus-fd 14
bwrap --unshare-all --die-with-parent --chdir / --ro-bind /usr /usr --dev /dev --ro-bind-try ......................(very long command)
bwrap --unshare-all --die-with-parent --chdir / --ro-bind /usr /usr --dev /dev --ro-bind-try ......................(very long command)

OR e.g.

/usr/lib/glycin-loaders/2+/glycin-svg --dbus-fd 15
bwrap --unshare-all --die-with-parent --chdir / --ro-bind /usr /usr --dev /dev --ro-bind-try ......................(very long command)
bwrap --unshare-all --die-with-parent --chdir / --ro-bind /usr /usr --dev /dev --ro-bind-try ......................(very long command)

i can't copy everything from htop.

installing glycin1 does not help.
deleting ~/.cache does not help.
no ~/.font directory.
no suspicious symlinks to move.

Last edited by jim002 (2025-09-23 15:09:18)

FlailoftheLord · 2025-09-23 15:19:20

got this error a day ago, my terminal (terminator) just refused to start, when launching it via terminal it pops the output

Gtk-WARNING **: 10:53:00.235: Could not load a pixbuf from icon theme.
This may indicate that pixbuf loaders or the mime database could not be found.

and exits.
Same issue with my browser (librewolf)
And multiple other gtk apps that i regularly use.
(qt apps are unaffected)

running Niri on ArchLinux latest kernel, I run pacman multiple times a day sometimes so i'm not sure when exactly this broke...

reinstalling pixbuf, refreshing pixbuf cache, updating mime cache, and modifying permissions on theme paths didn't have any effect.

babubobu · 2025-09-23 16:06:29

downgrading gdk-pixbuf2 (2.44.1-4 => 2.42.12-2) solved similar issues for me

jim002 · 2025-09-23 16:26:28

yes, downgrading helps. i'm no fan of it bc i burned my fingers hard years ago.
nonetheless thank you for testing this workaround.

FlailoftheLord · 2025-09-23 16:30:21

babubobu wrote:

downgrading gdk-pixbuf2 (2.44.1-4 => 2.42.12-2) solved similar issues for me

I realized this was the problem halfway through a reinstall :xdd:

for those struggling with commands, it's

sudo pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/gdk-pixbuf2-2.42.12-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

sg3des · 2025-09-23 17:08:23

babubobu wrote:

downgrading gdk-pixbuf2 (2.44.1-4 => 2.42.12-2) solved similar issues for me

thx, solved for me too

jim002 · 2025-09-23 17:37:02

can someone leave a notification of this thread at https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gdk-pixbuf/-/issues they don't let me create an account there.

seth · 2025-09-23 19:09:25

2.44.1-4 => 2.42.12-2 is a pretty huge gap, you should first and foremost isolate the breaking version, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_Linux_Archive

correctmost · 2025-09-23 21:56:45

JacknJo wrote:

I actually found the issue. It seems like a symlink in .fonts will cause the broken behavior!

I think this issue will be fixed in the next version of glycin: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/glycin/-/issues/196

jim002 wrote:

i'm facing multiple instances of glycin-loaders and bwrap after (re)boot on xfce 4.20

See: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 6#p2263466

FlailoftheLord wrote:

got this error a day ago, my terminal (terminator) just refused to start, when launching it via terminal it pops the output

gdk-pixbuf 2.44.2-1 might help with some of these failures: https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … -/issues/4

archsoft · 2025-09-23 23:01:18

Today, I noticed gdk-pixbuf-glycin-tmp.XXXXXX files in the /tmp directory. Opening a program created a ton of new files. The files only appear temporarily and are deleted immediately. However, they can be viewed briefly in the MATE file manager. It's probably related to the new gdk-pixbuf version. After a downgrade, no more strange files are created.

MahdiMirzadeh · 2025-09-24 11:50:36

As @babubobu has pointed out downgrading to the latest gdk-pixbuf2 version before the issue happened solved the issue for me too,

But as @seth has also pointed out, 2.44.1-4 => 2.42.12-2 is a pretty huge gap and it's not necessary, installing 2.44.1-3 and a quick reboot worked out on my system (gnome 49)

If you have older packages in the /var/cache/pacman/pkg directory just do:

sudo pacman -U ./gdk-pixbuf2-2.44.1-3-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

For people who might not have a cached version you can install the package from the archive using:

sudo pacman -U https://archive.archlinux.org/packages/ … kg.tar.zst

seth · 2025-09-24 12:51:24

Possibly related to https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 6#p2263506 ?

viralatas · 2025-09-24 14:26:55

downgrading
gdk-pixbuf2 (2.44.2-1 => TO => 2.42.12-2) and
gtk4 (4.20.1-1 => TO => 4.18.6-1)
solved these issues for me

[AMD Ryzen 7 3700X | Radeon RX 5700 XT | Arch Linux 6.16.8-arch3-1 | hyprland 0.51.1-1]

Yellowsink · 2025-09-24 21:01:07

JacknJo wrote:

I actually found the issue. It seems like a symlink in .fonts will cause the broken behavior! I had a symlink to a custom font i built. By removing this symlink and hard-copying the font to the folder everything works as expected!

Was just running into this issue after a system update today, removed ~/.fonts folder (which happened to only contain a useless symlink to another font directory anyway) and immediately everything started working again.

LuxFerre · Yesterday 16:13:25

I do not notice the mentioned tmp files nor the bwrap processes, but firefox was crashing when creating new windows/dialogs with the mentioned gtk error. I also do not have a ~/.fonts folder, but the crash message was related to an icon/image, not a font.
The downgrade

sudo pacman -U ./gdk-pixbuf2-2.44.1-3-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

Sorted it.

Last edited by LuxFerre (Yesterday 23:30:15)

jim002 · Yesterday 17:10:39

i checked
gdk-pixbuf2-2.44.2-1 --- full of bwrap
gdk-pixbuf2-2.44.1-4 --- full of bwrap
gdk-pixbuf2-2.44.1-3 --- xfce's window button icons are missing (panel)
downgraded to gdk-pixbuf2-2.42.12-2 again.

loserMcloser · Today 01:10:59

I had the same issue here, just reporting that the cause for me appears to be the existence of a symlink in

 ~/.local/share/fonts

babubobu · Today 14:51:44

jim002 wrote:

gdk-pixbuf2-2.44.2-1 --- full of bwrap
gdk-pixbuf2-2.44.1-4 --- full of bwrap
gdk-pixbuf2-2.44.1-3 --- xfce's window button icons are missing (panel)
downgraded to gdk-pixbuf2-2.42.12-2 again.

Thanks, I can confirm this behaviour. After seths posts I was wondering, why my pacman did not offer updates to versions between 2.44.12-2 and 2.44.1-3 in the past. Might this be the reason?
@loserMcloser: I don't have this fonts folder or symlink, so it might not be the reason here.

Last edited by babubobu (Today 14:59:54)

Arch Linux

#26 2025-09-23 12:07:24

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#27 2025-09-23 13:33:48

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#28 2025-09-23 13:43:35

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#29 2025-09-23 15:08:00

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#30 2025-09-23 15:19:20

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#31 2025-09-23 16:06:29

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#32 2025-09-23 16:26:28

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#33 2025-09-23 16:30:21

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#34 2025-09-23 17:08:23

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#35 2025-09-23 17:37:02

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#36 2025-09-23 19:09:25

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#37 2025-09-23 21:56:45

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#38 2025-09-23 23:01:18

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#39 2025-09-24 11:50:36

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#40 2025-09-24 12:51:24

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#41 2025-09-24 14:26:55

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#42 2025-09-24 21:01:07

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#43 Yesterday 16:13:25

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#44 Yesterday 17:10:39

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#45 Today 01:10:59

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

#46 Today 14:51:44

Re: [SOLVED] All GTK apps relying on gdk-pixbuf2 fail to recognize images.

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