fix-UInt32-overflow in common/tools.py

[ixnewton]

Proposed fix in backintime/common/tools.py to resolve the out-of-range error in release 1.5.5-1 when attempting restore of folder and contents (kernel: 6.16.8-1 kde plasma: 6.3.6 qt: 6.9.2 python: 3.13)

29/09/2025 14:50	python	Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/backintime/qt/app.py", line 1631, in restoreThis
    rd.exec()
    ~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/share/backintime/qt/restoredialog.py", line 82, in exec
    self.config.inhibitCookie = tools.inhibitSuspend(toplevel_xid = self.config.xWindowId, reason = 'restoring')
                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/share/backintime/common/tools.py", line 2045, in inhibitSuspend
    cookie = proxy(*[(app_id, dbus.UInt32(toplevel_xid), reason, dbus.UInt32(flags))[i] for i in dbus_props['arguments']])
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
OverflowError: Value 527453920 out of range for UInt32

[buhtz]

Hello Ian,
thank you for the PR and your efforts. I appreciate that.

But I am sorry to tell you that the problem is still fixed.
It is often a good idea to made an announcement before investing resources in a fix.

There is a fix in the latest dev version targeting upcoming release 1.6.0 (see changelog). See commit 4ec1f82.

But for Debian stable that fix is to complex and risky to be allowed in current "stable" Debian. I do have something else and more simple in mind.

Please just tell me if you experience that UInt32 overflow problem in your Debian 13 installation? Are you aware of other users?

In general I do have some minor issues/fixes that I consider for 1.5.6 in hope that Debian will allow them in current "stable" (13, Trixie). See #2258 as a meta issue about it. The point is I do not like that way. Stable is stable and shouldn't be changed; that is why Debian is rock solid. Anyway, there are exceptions of course. But I need to keep the diff between 1.5.5 and 1.5.6 as simple as possible, to lower the risk of introducing new bugs.

What do you think? And what can you tell me about your experience with that overflow problem?

Regards,
Christian

[ixnewton]

Thanks for your reply, I should have done a deeper dive into the repo issues to see the status. However it was relatively straightforward to fix this problem locally and test. I'm not a Debian user so I can't comment on releases. In the Arch/Manjaro world I keep to the stable branch of the rolling release, so I'm sure I will get the 1.6.0 when available. For the time being my fix works without issues and will be overwritten on update.

I'm trying to get more experience in contributing to open-source projects, so thanks for your feedback.

Cheers,
Ian

[buhtz]

Hello Ian,

I should have done a deeper dive into the repo issues to see the status.

But it is also not that easy, especially in this project, to keep track of all issues. I am also not very good in writing well formulated commit messages and changelog entries.

so I'm sure I will get the 1.6.0 when available.

I think I'll fix #2258 and release a 1.5.6 out-of-the-line just containing some minor fixes/workarounds.

Regards,
Christian

[buhtz]

Fixed in release 1.5.6. Hope it will make it into current Debian stable.

[buhtz]

Still no response from Debian maintainer. There is an open ticket about it without any response from him. Maybe it would help the process if you could also express your interest in an update from 1.5.5 to 1.5.6 ?
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1117254