Sigil-0.9.12 Released

[KevinH]

Yes, that is one of the reasons we now strongly recommend going back to Sigil 0.9.10 until we can get a good beta/stable version that does not get contaminated ini files.

Please note: a corrupted preserved entity code name section of the ini could result in wrong entities or garbage chars being introduced into your xhtml, so although this issue may appear minor (a long update time string), it can be serious under the right set of improbable but possible circumstances.

If you build your own version, master as of right now has reverted the use of utf-8 in ini files and has a number of other bugs fixed and improvments.

We hope to have a beta or stable version out sometime this weekend if at all possible.

It is better to be safe than sorry, thus the removal of the release binaries for 0.9.11 and 0.9.12.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by KevinH

That is good to hear. At least we know what is going on. BetterRed is much better at understanding how to manually enable or disable extensions on your Windows system.

BetterRed, what is the best way or tracking down the extension or program that is giving Sigil such trouble?

Here you go

Getting into and out of so called Windows Safe Mode can be a PITA, and you don't have any selective control over what 3rd party programs are excluded from automatic startup, and sometimes programs are not excluded.

If you have a problem with Program A (e.g. Sigil) in Normal Mode but its OK in Safe Mode, a possible cause is that some third party software is interfering with Program A. So how to find out which one(s)? The first thing of course is to shut down any other 'regular' programs you previously started - browsers, editors, spreadsheets etc - i.e. the things you start from the desktop, what ever.

You've probably already done that, so we come to the programs that get started automatically when you boot. CCleaner is the only tool I know of that gives you control over 3rd party (i.e. non-MS) tasks that are started automatically - and is easy to use.

Latest version is here ==>> Download CCleaner 5.54.7088 for PC Windows - FileHippo.com



Select the Tools icon on the far right, then the Startup tool and you'll see three tabs - Windows, Scheduled Tasks, and Context Menu. My experience is that the culprit is most likely to be found in the Windows or Context Menu tabs. So select everything from those lists whose absence won't kill your system (the Publisher and File columns are the best guide) and press the Disable button (over on the right)

Now restart - and try running Sigil for as much time as you see fit, hopefully it will run fine. The goal now is to narrow the candidate culprits down to a manageable number (IMO 7 or less)

I would re-enable the top half of the Windows list, restart and test again, if Sigil does NOT run OK then the culprit is in the top half of the Windows list - now you can stop and start them manually to determine which task is causing the trouble. If Sigil ran OK, re-enable the bottom half (leave the top half enabled), restart and test again.

If Sigil runs OK with all the Windows tasks started then repeat the process on Context menu tasks.

Once you narrow it down to a manageable number (7 or less) you will probably be able to hazard a guess which program is creating the problem. But sometimes when diagnosing these sort of problems the least expected candidate can fall out as the rogue program.

BR

[DiapDealer]

Before we go down the path of disabling various things (though we may quickly get there) there's one quick thing I'd like @RbnJrg to try first.

Create an environment variable on your system named QT_OPENGL and give it the value of "angle". No quotes around angle if you're using a gui to create the variable. And then launch Sigil normally (no safemode). Let me know if the memory usage is any different.I

The easiest/quickest way is probably from a command prompt:

cd c:\program files\sigil <enter>
set QT_OPENGL=angle <enter>
sigil.exe <enter>

[icallaci]

Originally Posted by KevinH

One way to test this, (if you know how) is to add a utf-8 byte order mark to your sigil.ini file with an editor (with Sigil shutdown) and then start and run Sigil for some time to see if problems develop again or not.

KevinH

So I created a new sigil.ini file and added a utf-8 bom to it. (I also deleted and recreated a new sigil_searches.ini, even though I realize I should only do one thing at a time when testing, but since my sigil_searches.ini was corrupted, I went ahead and recreated it anyway. Sorry.) I've been running Sigil for about two hours, and while the memory usage climbed fairly steadily, it also went back down somewhat, which it definitely was NOT doing reliably before. I was at about 5,300 mb of memory used after 2 hours of work, but did not experience any major slowdowns. A couple of times Sigil hesitated, but nothing like before. I looked at the .ini files and did not see any signs of corruption. If I get a chance tomorrow, I'll try a different epub and see if my luck holds.

[asleyam]

The only issue I have with the .12 mac version now is the lack of create new file from the sigil menu (previously noted by another OP) but otherwise my sigil setup is fine with the third party dark mode. No sigil memory issues or unusual crashes. I always installed new versions over the old ones without problems.
So I will just continue with this one until a new one is out. If you need feedback from the .12 mac version I am willing to provide it. I am however, a dud programmer.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

I took a look at my INI backups:

Sigil v0.9.10 sigil.ini = 20 KB
Sigil v0.9.12 sigil.ini = 790 KB

I did a code comparison, and the only meaningful difference in v0.9.12 is an immense section of à for hundreds of KBs:

last_check_time=@String(@DateTime(\0\0\0\x10\0\0\0\0\0\0%ÃÃ
[...]
last_online_version=0.9.8

[user_preferences]
rename_template=
view_state=30
[...]

Looks much like what happened to my Preserve Entities entries after the upgrade to 9.11/9.12. See around message #70 in this thread.

[RbnJrg]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Here you go

Getting into and out of so called Windows Safe Mode can be a PITA, and you don't have any selective control over what 3rd party programs are excluded from automatic startup, and sometimes programs are not excluded.

If you have a problem with Program A (e.g. Sigil) in Normal Mode but its OK in Safe Mode, a possible cause is that some third party software is interfering with Program A. So how to find out which one(s)? The first thing of course is to shut down any other 'regular' programs you previously started - browsers, editors, spreadsheets etc - i.e. the things you start from the desktop, what ever.

You've probably already done that, so we come to the programs that get started automatically when you boot. CCleaner is the only tool I know of that gives you control over 3rd party (i.e. non-MS) tasks that are started automatically - and is easy to use.

Latest version is here ==>> Download CCleaner 5.54.7088 for PC Windows - FileHippo.com

Attachment 170031

Select the Tools icon on the far right, then the Startup tool and you'll see three tabs - Windows, Scheduled Tasks, and Context Menu. My experience is that the culprit is most likely to be found in the Windows or Context Menu tabs. So select everything from those lists whose absence won't kill your system (the Publisher and File columns are the best guide) and press the Disable button (over on the right)

Now restart - and try running Sigil for as much time as you see fit, hopefully it will run fine. The goal now is to narrow the candidate culprits down to a manageable number (IMO 7 or less)

I would re-enable the top half of the Windows list, restart and test again, if Sigil does NOT run OK then the culprit is in the top half of the Windows list - now you can stop and start them manually to determine which task is causing the trouble. If Sigil ran OK, re-enable the bottom half (leave the top half enabled), restart and test again.

If Sigil runs OK with all the Windows tasks started then repeat the process on Context menu tasks.

Once you narrow it down to a manageable number (7 or less) you will probably be able to hazard a guess which program is creating the problem. But sometimes when diagnosing these sort of problems the least expected candidate can fall out as the rogue program.

BR

Thank you very much BR, I'll do what you have indicated me.

[RbnJrg]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Before we go down the path of disabling various things (though we may quickly get there) there's one quick thing I'd like @RbnJrg to try first.

Create an environment variable on your system named QT_OPENGL and give it the value of "angle". No quotes around angle if you're using a gui to create the variable. And then launch Sigil normally (no safemode). Let me know if the memory usage is any different.I

The easiest/quickest way is probably from a command prompt:

cd c:\program files\sigil <enter>
set QT_OPENGL=angle <enter>
sigil.exe <enter>

Ok. I'll do that and I will let you know my results.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by RbnJrg

Ok. I'll do that and I will let you know my results.

Thanks. Keep in mind that with the method above, the environment variable will only exist for that particular command-prompt session. You can't set the variable via the command-prompt and then launch Sigil via the gui (or a different command-prompt).

Some background behind my line of thinking: the Qt5.6 that's included with Sigil 0.9.10 (and earlier) was custom compiled by me to make use of the ANGLE libraries that are included with Qt--exclusively. In short, the ANGLE libraries included are used in place of the system's own OpenGL implementation. With Sigil 0.9.11+, Qt5.11.2 is the same stock, dynamic version that can be downloaded by anyone. It attempts to 1) use the system's own OpenGL drivers, if that fails (or can't be found), it 2) falls back to the included ANGLE libraries (OpenGL ES), should that fail, it falls back to 3) a software version of opengl optionally provided as a dll in Qt distributions (and I don't provide that with Sigil).

Not all OpenGL implementations are complete in many Windows video drivers, so I'm wondering if there's a failure of some sort happening with the default "desktop" OpenGL on some machines. I'd like to rule that possibility out by forcing the Qt provided with Sigil to use the ANGLE libraries exclusively.

[RbnJrg]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Thanks. Keep in mind that with the method above, the environment variable will only exist for that particular command-prompt session. You can't set the command prompt via the command-prompt and then launch Sigil via the gui (or a different command-prompt).

Some background behind my line of thinking: the Qt5.6 that's included with Sigil 0.9.10 (and earlier) was custom compiled by me to make use of the ANGLE libraries that are included with Qt--exclusively. In short, the ANGLE libraries included are used in place of the system's own OpenGL implementation. With Sigil 0.9.11+, Qt5.11.2 is the same stock, dynamic version that can be downloaded by anyone. It attempts to 1) use the system's own OpenGL drivers, if that fails (or can't be found), it 2) falls back to the included ANGLE libraries (OpenGL ES), should that fail, it falls back to 3) a software version of opengl optionally provided as a dll in Qt distributions (and I don't provide that with Sigil).

Not all OpenGL implementations are complete in many Windows video drivers, so I'm wondering if there's a failure of some sort happening with the default "desktop" OpenGL on some machines. I'd like to rule that possibility out by forcing the Qt provided with Sigil to use the ANGLE libraries exclusively.

Bad luck Memory used still continued being high.

[DiapDealer]

OK, Thanks. At least it's been ruled out.

[brent63]

I rebooted into safe mode w/o network, and it took about the same time for it to start getting glitchy. I just had a not responding grayed out screen in safe mode.

Attached are my ini files I zip while in safe mode.

[KevinH]

That is fixed in master and will be in the next beta/stable release. That said, the Mac is not immne to this issue. On my own mac I have experienced ini file corruption and it did cause the program to fail, and garbage chars to be introduced into my html via preserve entities. So to be safest, remove all preserve entities entries in your sigil.ini file and avoid clips or saved searches that use non-ascii characters until the next version is released.

It would probably be safer to revert to 0.9.10 for a short while until an updated version is available hopefully this weekend.

Kevin

Originally Posted by asleyam

The only issue I have with the .12 mac version now is the lack of create new file from the sigil menu (previously noted by another OP) but otherwise my sigil setup is fine with the third party dark mode. No sigil memory issues or unusual crashes. I always installed new versions over the old ones without problems.
So I will just continue with this one until a new one is out. If you need feedback from the .12 mac version I am willing to provide it. I am however, a dud programmer.

[DiapDealer]

Everyone please keep in mind that the new version might still behave badly for a handful of people, but it will have eliminated the issue of utf-8 settings file corruption (if known, good INIs are started with). That should allow us to focus on the general (but seemingly not pervasive) performance issues. Especially ones reported by @RbnJrg where the new Sigil behaves badly all the time, right out of the gate.

Everyone should always keep good backups of their preferences just in case, but hopefully moving forward, we can get back to guaranteeing that there is no risk in upgrading Sigil (or rolling back to previous versions) when existing preferences are in place.

[icallaci]

Even with a utf-8 bom in my sigil.ini file (and after a promising night of editing last evening), the performance problems are still there this morning. The .ini files were not corrupted, but performance degraded until Sigil was unusable. I think I will revert to 0.9.10 until there is a new release. Good luck.