Waybar 0.10.3-1 terminates because of buffer overflow with cava_config specified

[0xsch1zo]

When cava_config is provided with a path:

   "cava": {
        "cava_config": "/home/sentience/.config/cava/config"
   }

Waybar is being terminated because of a buffer overflow detection:

(waybar:39876): Gtk-WARNING **: 20:42:17.436: Theme parsing error: gtk.css:6691:68: Invalid name of pseudo-class
[2024-05-30 20:42:17.456] [info] Using configuration file /home/sentience/.config/waybar/config
[2024-05-30 20:42:17.459] [info] Using CSS file /home/sentience/.config/waybar/style.css
*** buffer overflow detected ***: terminated
Aborted (core dumped)

I saw a similar issue while searching the AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/waybar-cava, but his may not be related. When cava_config is not provided, everything works. This is the config I used:

"cava": {
      //"cava_config": "/home/sentience/.config/cava/config",
      "autosens": 1,
      "bar_delimiter": 0,
      "bars": 18,
      "format-icons": [
        "<span foreground='#cba6f7'>▁</span>",
        "<span foreground='#cba6f7'>▂</span>",
        "<span foreground='#cba6f7'>▃</span>",
        "<span foreground='#cba6f7'>▄</span>",
        "<span foreground='#89b4fa'>▅</span>",
        "<span foreground='#89b4fa'>▆</span>",
        "<span foreground='#89b4fa'>▇</span>",
        "<span foreground='#89b4fa'>█</span>"
      ],
      "framerate": 60,
      "higher_cutoff_freq": 10000,
      "input_delay": 2,
      "lower_cutoff_freq": 50,
      "method": "pipewire",
      "monstercat": false,
      "reverse": false,
      "source": "auto",
      "stereo": true,
      "waves": false
    }

[LukashonakV]

Hi @sentientbottleofwine , please provide /home/sentience/.config/cava/config file itself

[0xsch1zo]

I'm providing the whole thing just in case, but only the color part was changed. I also tried with the default config same thing happend.

## Configuration file for CAVA.
# Remove the ; to change parameters.

https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar/issues/3314
[general]

# Smoothing mode. Can be 'normal', 'scientific' or 'waves'. DEPRECATED as of 0.6.0
; mode = normal

# Accepts only non-negative values.
; framerate = 60

# 'autosens' will attempt to decrease sensitivity if the bars peak. 1 = on, 0 = off
# new as of 0.6.0 autosens of low values (dynamic range)
# 'overshoot' allows bars to overshoot (in % of terminal height) without initiating autosens. DEPRECATED as of 0.6.0
; autosens = 1
; overshoot = 20
https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar/issues/3314
# Manual sensitivity in %. If autosens is enabled, this will only be the initial value.
# 200 means double height. Accepts only non-negative values.
; sensitivity = 100

# The number of bars (0-512). 0 sets it to auto (fill up console).
# Bars' width and space between bars in number of characters.
; bars = 0
; bar_width = 2
; bar_spacing = 1
# bar_height is only used for output in "noritake" format
; bar_height = 32

# For SDL width and space between bars is in pixels, defaults are:
; bar_width = 20
; bar_spacing = 5

# sdl_glsl have these default values, they are only used to calulate max number of bars.
; bar_width = 1
; bar_spacing = 0


# Lower and higher cutoff frequencies for lowest and highest bars
# the bandwidth of the visualizer.
# Note: there is a minimum total bandwidth of 43Mhz x number of bars.
# Cava will automatically increase the higher cutoff if a too low band is specified.
; lower_cutoff_freq = 50
; higher_cutoff_freq = 10000


# Seconds with no input before cava goes to sleep mode. Cava will not perform FFT or drawing and
# only check for input once per second. Cava will wake up once input is detected. 0 = disable.
; sleep_timer = 0


[input]

# Audio capturing method. Possible methods are: 'fifo', 'portaudio', 'pipewire', 'alsa', 'pulse', 'sndio', 'oss', 'jack' or 'shmem'
# Defaults to 'oss', 'pipewire', 'sndio', 'jack', 'pulse', 'alsa', 'portaudio' or 'fifo', in that order, dependent on what support cava was built with.
# On Mac it defaults to 'portaudio' or 'fifo'
# On windows this is automatic and no input settings are needed.
#
# All input methods uses the same config variable 'source'
# to define where it should get the audio.
#
# For pulseaudio and pipewire 'source' will be the source. Default: 'auto', which uses the monitor source of the default sink
# (all pulseaudio sinks(outputs) have 'monitor' sources(inputs) associated with them).
#
# For pipewire 'source' will be the object name or object.serial of the device to capture from.
# Both input and output devices are supported.
#
# For alsa 'source' will be the capture device.
# For fifo 'source' will be the path to fifo-file.
# For shmem 'source' will be /squeezelite-AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF where 'AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF' will be squeezelite's MAC address
#
# For sndio 'source' will be a raw recording audio descriptor or a monitoring sub-device, e.g. 'rsnd/2' or 'snd/1'. Default: 'default'.
# README.md contains further information on how to setup CAVA for sndio.
#
# For oss 'source' will be the path to a audio device, e.g. '/dev/dsp2'. Default: '/dev/dsp', i.e. the default audio device.
# README.md contains further information on how to setup CAVA for OSS on FreeBSD.
#
# For jack 'source' will be the name of the JACK server to connect to, e.g. 'foobar'. Default: 'default'.
# README.md contains further information on how to setup CAVA for JACK.
#
; method = pulse
; source = auto

; method = pipewire
; source = auto

; method = alsa
; source = hw:Loopback,1

; method = fifo
; source = /tmp/mpd.fifo

; method = shmem
; source = /squeezelite-AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

; method = portaudio
; source = auto

; method = sndio
; source = default

; method = oss
; source = /dev/dsp

; method = jack
; source = default

# The options 'sample_rate', 'sample_bits', 'channels' and 'autoconnect' can be configured for some input methods:
#   sample_rate: fifo, pipewire, sndio, oss
#   sample_bits: fifo, pipewire, sndio, oss
#   channels:    sndio, oss, jack
#   autoconnect: jack
# Other methods ignore these settings.
#
# For 'sndio' and 'oss' they are only preferred values, i.e. if the values are not supported
# by the chosen audio device, the device will use other supported values instead.
# Example: 48000, 32 and 2, but the device only supports 44100, 16 and 1, then it
# will use 44100, 16 and 1.
#
; sample_rate = 44100
; sample_bits = 16
; channels = 2
; autoconnect = 2


[output]

# Output method. Can be 'ncurses', 'noncurses', 'raw', 'noritake', 'sdl'
# or 'sdl_glsl'.
# 'noncurses' (default) uses a buffer and cursor movements to only print
# changes from frame to frame in the terminal. Uses less resources and is less
# prone to tearing (vsync issues) than 'ncurses'.
#
# 'raw' is an 8 or 16 bit (configurable via the 'bit_format' option) data
# stream of the bar heights that can be used to send to other applications.
# 'raw' defaults to 200 bars, which can be adjusted in the 'bars' option above.
#
# 'noritake' outputs a bitmap in the format expected by a Noritake VFD display
#  in graphic mode. It only support the 3000 series graphical VFDs for now.
#
# 'sdl' uses the Simple DirectMedia Layer to render in a graphical context.
# 'sdl_glsl' uses SDL to create an OpenGL context. Write your own shaders or
# use one of the predefined ones.
; method = noncurses

# Orientation of the visualization. Can be 'bottom', 'top', 'left' or 'right'.
# Default is 'bottom'. Other orientations are only supported on sdl and ncruses
# output. Note: many fonts have weird glyphs for 'top' and 'right' characters,
# which can make ncurses not look right.
; orientation = bottom

# Visual channels. Can be 'stereo' or 'mono'.
# 'stereo' mirrors both channels with low frequencies in center.
# 'mono' outputs left to right lowest to highest frequencies.
# 'mono_option' set mono to either take input from 'left', 'right' or 'average'.
# set 'reverse' to 1 to display frequencies the other way around.
; channels = stereo
; mono_option = average
; reverse = 0

# Raw output target. A fifo will be created if target does not exist.
; raw_target = /dev/stdout

# Raw data format. Can be 'binary' or 'ascii'.
; data_format = binary

# Binary bit format, can be '8bit' (0-255) or '16bit' (0-65530).
; bit_format = 16bit

# Ascii max value. In 'ascii' mode range will run from 0 to value specified here
; ascii_max_range = 1000

# Ascii delimiters. In ascii format each bar and frame is separated by a delimiters.
# Use decimal value in ascii table (i.e. 59 = ';' and 10 = '\n' (line feed)).
; bar_delimiter = 59
; frame_delimiter = 10

# sdl window size and position. -1,-1 is centered.
; sdl_width = 1000
; sdl_height = 500
; sdl_x = -1
; sdl_y= -1
; sdl_full_screen = 0

# set label on bars on the x-axis. Can be 'frequency' or 'none'. Default: 'none'
# 'frequency' displays the lower cut off frequency of the bar above.
# Only supported on ncurses and noncurses output.
; xaxis = none

# enable alacritty synchronized updates. 1 = on, 0 = off
# removes flickering in alacritty terminal emulator.
# defaults to off since the behaviour in other terminal emulators is unknown
; alacritty_sync = 0

# Shaders for sdl_glsl, located in $HOME/.config/cava/shaders
; vertex_shader = pass_through.vert
; fragment_shader = bar_spectrum.frag

; for glsl output mode, keep rendering even if no audio
; continuous_rendering = 0

# disable console blank (screen saver) in tty
# (Not supported on FreeBSD)
; disable_blanking = 0

[color]

# Colors can be one of seven predefined: black, blue, cyan, green, magenta, red, white, yellow.
# Or defined by hex code '#xxxxxx' (hex code must be within ''). User defined colors requires
# a terminal that can change color definitions such as Gnome-terminal or rxvt.
# default is to keep current terminal color
background = '#1e1e2e'
# ; foreground = default

# SDL and sdl_glsl only support hex code colors, these are the default:
# ; background = '#111111'
# ; foreground = '#33ffff'


# Gradient mode, only hex defined colors are supported,
# background must also be defined in hex or remain commented out. 1 = on, 0 = off.
# You can define as many as 8 different colors. They range from bottom to top of screen
gradient = 1

gradient_color_1 = '#94e2d5'
gradient_color_2 = '#89dceb'
gradient_color_3 = '#74c7ec'
gradient_color_4 = '#89b4fa'
gradient_color_5 = '#cba6f7'
gradient_color_6 = '#f5c2e7'
gradient_color_7 = '#eba0ac'
gradient_color_8 = '#f38ba8'

[smoothing]

# Percentage value for integral smoothing. Takes values from 0 - 100.
# Higher values means smoother, but less precise. 0 to disable.
# DEPRECATED as of 0.8.0, use noise_reduction instead
; integral = 77

# Disables or enables the so-called "Monstercat smoothing" with or without "waves". Set to 0 to disable.
; monstercat = 0
; waves = 0

# Set gravity percentage for "drop off". Higher values means bars will drop faster.
# Accepts only non-negative values. 50 means half gravity, 200 means double. Set to 0 to disable "drop off".
# DEPRECATED as of 0.8.0, use noise_reduction instead
; gravity = 100


# In bar height, bars that would have been lower that this will not be drawn.
# DEPRECATED as of 0.8.0
; ignore = 0

# Noise reduction, int 0 - 100. default 77
# the raw visualization is very noisy, this factor adjusts the integral and gravity filters to keep the signal smooth
# 100 will be very slow and smooth, 0 will be fast but noisy.
; noise_reduction = 77


[eq]

# This one is tricky. You can have as much keys as you want.
# Remember to uncomment more than one key! More keys = more precision.
# Look at readme.md on github for further explanations and examples.
; 1 = 1 # bass
; 2 = 1
; 3 = 1 # midtone
; 4 = 1
; 5 = 1 # treble

[carlos-spicy-wiener]

I have the same problem and commenting out the "cava_config" line worked for me as well, it's a shame since I'd rather set the cava variables within a seperate cava config rather than within the waybar config.

Here is my cava config, basically all default.

## Configuration file for CAVA. Default values are commented out. Use either ';' or '#' for commenting.


[general]

# Smoothing mode. Can be 'normal', 'scientific' or 'waves'. DEPRECATED as of 0.6.0
; mode = normal

# Accepts only non-negative values.
; framerate = 60

# 'autosens' will attempt to decrease sensitivity if the bars peak. 1 = on, 0 = off
# new as of 0.6.0 autosens of low values (dynamic range)
# 'overshoot' allows bars to overshoot (in % of terminal height) without initiating autosens. DEPRECATED as of 0.6.0
; autosens = 1
; overshoot = 20

# Manual sensitivity in %. If autosens is enabled, this will only be the initial value.
# 200 means double height. Accepts only non-negative values.
; sensitivity = 100

# The number of bars (0-200). 0 sets it to auto (fill up console).
# Bars' width and space between bars in number of characters.
bars = 12
; bar_width = 1
; bar_spacing = 100
# bar_height is only used for output in "noritake" format
; bar_height = 32

# For SDL width and space between bars is in pixels, defaults are:
; bar_width = 20
; bar_spacing = 5


# Lower and higher cutoff frequencies for lowest and highest bars
# the bandwidth of the visualizer.
# Note: there is a minimum total bandwidth of 43Mhz x number of bars.
# Cava will automatically increase the higher cutoff if a too low band is specified.
; lower_cutoff_freq = 50
; higher_cutoff_freq = 10000


# Seconds with no input before cava goes to sleep mode. Cava will not perform FFT or drawing and
# only check for input once per second. Cava will wake up once input is detected. 0 = disable.
sleep_timer = 10


[input]

# Audio capturing method. Possible methods are: 'pulse', 'alsa', 'fifo', 'sndio' or 'shmem'
# Defaults to 'pulse', 'alsa' or 'fifo', in that order, dependent on what support cava was built with.
#
# All input methods uses the same config variable 'source'
# to define where it should get the audio.
#
# For pulseaudio 'source' will be the source. Default: 'auto', which uses the monitor source of the default sink
# (all pulseaudio sinks(outputs) have 'monitor' sources(inputs) associated with them).
#
# For alsa 'source' will be the capture device.
# For fifo 'source' will be the path to fifo-file.
# For shmem 'source' will be /squeezelite-AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF where 'AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF' will be squeezelite's MAC address
; method = pulse
; source = auto

; method = alsa
; source = hw:Loopback,1

; method = fifo
; source = /tmp/mpd.fifo
; sample_rate = 44100
; sample_bits = 16

; method = shmem
; source = /squeezelite-AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

; method = portaudio
; source = auto


[output]

# Output method. Can be 'ncurses', 'noncurses', 'raw', 'noritake' or 'sdl'.
# 'noncurses' uses a custom framebuffer technique and prints only changes
# from frame to frame in the terminal. 'ncurses' is default if supported.
#
# 'raw' is an 8 or 16 bit (configurable via the 'bit_format' option) data
# stream of the bar heights that can be used to send to other applications.
# 'raw' defaults to 200 bars, which can be adjusted in the 'bars' option above.
#
# 'noritake' outputs a bitmap in the format expected by a Noritake VFD display
#  in graphic mode. It only support the 3000 series graphical VFDs for now.
#
# 'sdl' uses the Simple DirectMedia Layer to render in a graphical context.
method = raw

# Visual channels. Can be 'stereo' or 'mono'.
# 'stereo' mirrors both channels with low frequencies in center.
# 'mono' outputs left to right lowest to highest frequencies.
# 'mono_option' set mono to either take input from 'left', 'right' or 'average'.
# set 'reverse' to 1 to display frequencies the other way around.
 channels = mono
 mono_option = average
; reverse = 0

# Raw output target. A fifo will be created if target does not exist.
; raw_target = /dev/stdout

# Raw data format. Can be 'binary' or 'ascii'.
data_format = ascii

# Binary bit format, can be '8bit' (0-255) or '16bit' (0-65530).
; bit_format = 16bit

# Ascii max value. In 'ascii' mode range will run from 0 to value specified here
ascii_max_range = 6

# Ascii delimiters. In ascii format each bar and frame is separated by a delimiters.
# Use decimal value in ascii table (i.e. 59 = ';' and 10 = '\n' (line feed)).
; bar_delimiter = 59
; frame_delimiter = 10

# sdl window size and position. -1,-1 is centered.
; sdl_width = 1000
; sdl_height = 500
; sdl_x = -1
; sdl_y= -1

# set label on bars on the x-axis. Can be 'frequency' or 'none'. Default: 'none'
# 'frequency' displays the lower cut off frequency of the bar above.
# Only supported on ncurses and noncurses output.
; xaxis = none

# enable alacritty synchronized updates. 1 = on, 0 = off
# removes flickering in alacritty terminal emeulator.
# defaults to off since the behaviour in other terminal emulators is unknown
; alacritty_sync = 1

[color]

# Colors can be one of seven predefined: black, blue, cyan, green, magenta, red, white, yellow.
# Or defined by hex code '#xxxxxx' (hex code must be within ''). User defined colors requires
# ncurses output method and a terminal that can change color definitions such as Gnome-terminal or rxvt.
# if supported, ncurses mode will be forced on if user defined colors are used.
# default is to keep current terminal color
; background = default
; foreground = default

# SDL only support hex code colors, these are the default:
; background = '#111111'
; foreground = '#33cccc'


# Gradient mode, only hex defined colors (and thereby ncurses mode) are supported,
# background must also be defined in hex  or remain commented out. 1 = on, 0 = off.
# You can define as many as 8 different colors. They range from bottom to top of screen
; gradient = 1
; gradient_count = 8
; gradient_color_1 = '#59cc33'
; gradient_color_2 = '#80cc33'
; gradient_color_3 = '#a6cc33'
; gradient_color_4 = '#cccc33'
; gradient_color_5 = '#cca633'
; gradient_color_6 = '#cc8033'
; gradient_color_7 = '#cc5933'
; gradient_color_8 = '#cc3333'



[smoothing]

# Percentage value for integral smoothing. Takes values from 0 - 100.
# Higher values means smoother, but less precise. 0 to disable.
# DEPRECATED as of 0.8.0, use noise_reduction instead
; integral = 77

# Disables or enables the so-called "Monstercat smoothing" with or without "waves". Set to 0 to disable.
; monstercat = 0
; waves = 0

# Set gravity percentage for "drop off". Higher values means bars will drop faster.
# Accepts only non-negative values. 50 means half gravity, 200 means double. Set to 0 to disable "drop off".
# DEPRECATED as of 0.8.0, use noise_reduction instead
; gravity = 100


# In bar height, bars that would have been lower that this will not be drawn.
# DEPRECATED as of 0.8.0
; ignore = 0

# Noise reduction, float 0 - 1. default 0.77
# the raw visualization is very noisy, this factor adjusts the integral and gravity filters to keep the signal smooth
# 1 will be very slow and smooth, 0 will be fast but noisy.
; noise_reduction = 0.77


[eq]

# This one is tricky. You can have as much keys as you want.
# Remember to uncomment more then one key! More keys = more precision.
# Look at readme.md on github for further explanations and examples.
# DEPRECATED as of 0.8.0 can be brought back by popular request, open issue at:
# https://github.com/karlstav/cava
; 1 = 1 # bass
; 2 = 1
; 3 = 1 # midtone
; 4 = 1
; 5 = 1 # treble

[logixism]

Also having the same issue..

framerate = 60
sensitivity = 90

bars = 0
bar_width = 1
bar_spacing = 1

[color]
background = '#1e1e2e'

gradient = 1
gradient_color_1 = '#94e2d5'
gradient_color_2 = '#89dceb'
gradient_color_3 = '#74c7ec'
gradient_color_4 = '#89b4fa'
gradient_color_5 = '#cba6f7'
gradient_color_6 = '#f5c2e7'
gradient_color_7 = '#eba0ac'
gradient_color_8 = '#f38ba8'

[LukashonakV]

Hi @carlos-spicy-wiener , @sentientbottleofwine , @logixism
I've update libcava. Waybar now expects libcava-0.10.3.
Can you please check the issue once, you'll update waybar or libcava and let me know about results here.
Thanks

---

PS. Pay attention default config is changed. See cava_config You should refresh yours config

[0xsch1zo]

On waybar-0.11.0-2 and libcava-0.10.3-1 with the new default config. Waybar doesn't terminate when the config is specified. However if only the cava config is specified ";;" is being displayed in place of the cava module. Just like when the whole module is empty.

EDIT:
The config in #3646 is has additional options set to when these are added the bars correctly show up. It confused me a bit because in the wiki it is mentioned that: "The only cava configuration file which is provided through cava_config. The rest configuration can be skipped".