# ParaView 5.5.2 does not start
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [August 14, 2019, 12:31pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432 "2019-08-14T12:31:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ablekh](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ablekh)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2019, 12:31pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432/1 "2019-08-14T12:31:30Z")
Hello,
I’m trying to run ParaView 5.5.2 on Debian 8 (in an OpenVZ container, but that should not matter IMO). Previously I was able to start it successfully in the same environment (I prefer `--mesa-llvm` option, but have also used `--mesa` - the host server does not have a GPU card). Now, it just prints a Fontconfig warning message in the console and stays there (i.e., does not exit). I’m wondering about the optimal plan of investigation to determine what recent system changes might have been of negative impact to ParaView setup. Your help will be much appreciated.
---
### Author:  [@ablekh](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ablekh)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2019, 12:32pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432/2 "2019-08-14T12:32:40Z")
By “stays there” I meant a blank screen (except for the Fontconfig warning).
---
### Author:  [@samfux84](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/samfux84)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2019, 8:58am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432/3 "2019-08-29T08:58:46Z")
I have a similar problem with the ParaView 5.6.2 binaries.
```
[sfux@lo-login-01 ~]$ paraview
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf", line 146: blank doesn't take any effect anymore. please remove it from your fonts.conf
Aborted
[sfux@lo-login-01 ~]$
```
Operating system:
```
[sfux@lo-login-01 ~]$ cat /etc/redhat-release
CentOS Linux release 7.5.1804 (Core)
[sfux@lo-login-01 ~]$ uname -a
Linux lo-login-01 3.10.0-862.14.4.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Sep 26 15:12:11 UTC 2018 x86_64 GNU/Linux
[sfux@lo-login-01 ~]$
```
In my case the GUI does not start at all. When I try to start the GUI with paraview --mesa, then I get an error about a zlib version problem:
```
[sfux@lo-login-01 lib]$ paraview --mesa
/cluster/apps/paraview/5.6.2/x86_64/lib/paraview: /cluster/apps/paraview/5.6.2/x86_64/lib/mesa/libz.so.1: version `ZLIB_1.2.9' not found (required by /cluster/apps/paraview/5.6.2/x86_64/lib/libpng16.so.16)
```
The second problem is strange, as both libraries (libz and libpng) are both provided with the paraview binaries:
```
[sfux@lo-login-01 lib]$ ldd paraview | grep libz
libz.so.1 => /cluster/apps/paraview/5.6.2/x86_64/lib/libz.so.1 (0x00002b68a8d62000)
[sfux@lo-login-01 lib]$ ldd paraview | grep libpng
libpng16.so.16 => /cluster/apps/paraview/5.6.2/x86_64/lib/libpng16.so.16 (0x00002b8965672000)
[sfux@lo-login-01 lib]$
```
Any idea on how to resolve this problem ?
---
### Author:  [@ablekh](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ablekh)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2019, 10:45am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432/4 "2019-08-29T10:45:01Z")
@samfux84 Fortunately, in my case, the problem went away by itself (even though I would prefer to know what system changes might have influenced that, it is practically impossible due to a variety of changes occurred on the system, so I decided not to waste my time on attempts to investigate this further). Having said that, your case (that is, the second problem; I’m not sure about the first one) seems to be different and arguably easier to investigate. Clearly, bundled `zlib` library is not of the version that bundled `libpng` library requires. I realize that it is quite strange, to say the least, but, potentially, it is either a broken distribution or installation issue. Anyway, I have checked my system and, based on `ldd` output, `libpng` relies on a _system-bundled_ `zlib` (in my case [Debian 8], it is located in `/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu` directory). So, the **easiest approach** to try to fix this issue is to rename your ParaView-bundled `zlib`, assuming that `libpng` will use the system-bundled one. If it does not work, an **alternative approach** would be to install the required version of `zlib` library somewhere locally and then update your `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` with the relevant directory as the first entry (that would work only if `DT_RPATH` is not hardwired into the binary: see details here: [https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/531095/148105](https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/531095/148105)). I hope that this helps. Good luck!
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2019, 12:52pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432/5 "2019-08-29T12:52:18Z")
We have a `libfontconfig` in our packages and the configuration file format has updated in recent times. It may not support reading the new configuration files. There may be some way to point it at another configuration file (though finding a file in the format it wants might be harder to find).
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2019, 4:11am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432/6 "2019-08-30T04:11:49Z")
In my experience, fontconfig warning does not cause a segfault. The warning may be unrelated to the segfault.
---
### Author:  [@ablekh](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ablekh)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2019, 4:27am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432/7 "2019-08-30T04:27:14Z")
@ben.boeckel I highly doubt that a Fontconfig warning might be related to the issue at all.
@mwestphal I agree. However, there is no segfault that is applicable to this issue.
Thank you both for trying to help.
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2019, 4:31am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432/8 "2019-08-30T04:31:51Z")
the segfault is present with @samfux84 issue.
In any case, I think @samfux84 and @ablekh issues are completely unrelated.
Since the initial issue of this thread, created by @ablekh has been resolved I will close this.
@samfux84 : Please create your own topic for discussing your issue.
@ablekh : If you want to investigate how your issue went away, please send me a PM and I will reopen this.
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2019, 4:32am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432/9 "2019-08-30T04:32:14Z")
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2019, 12:01pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432/10 "2019-08-30T12:01:39Z")
Ah, sorry. I missed the “Aborted” after that output. A backtrace from gdb would be very helpful. If it is during the load of some library, `LD_DEBUG=libs` can help trace what is getting loaded when. It could be a library path conflict.
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2019, 12:02pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-5-5-2-does-not-start/2432/11 "2019-08-30T12:02:23Z")
Oops, will copy that reply to the new thread.