pqrs-org/Karabiner-Elements

Karabiner stops working after a while in Catalina 10.15.4

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#2297 opened on May 20, 2020

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bughelp wanted

Description

Karabiner works fine in macOS Catalina 10.15.4 but after a while stops working as mapping keys no longer seem to work and logs start complaining with

[2020-05-20 10:16:55.252] [error] [console_user_server] grabber_client error: No buffer space available
[2020-05-20 10:16:55.879] [error] [session_monitor] session_monitor_receiver_client error: No buffer space available
[2020-05-20 10:16:56.607] [error] [observer] grabber_client error: No buffer space available
[2020-05-20 10:16:57.593] [error] [session_monitor] session_monitor_receiver_client error: No buffer space available
[2020-05-20 10:16:57.726] [info] [grabber] version 12.9.0
[2020-05-20 10:16:57.726] [info] [grabber] Exit since another process is running.
[2020-05-20 10:16:58.280] [error] [observer] grabber_client error: No buffer space available

This is related with Issue 1932 and other people are complaining the same since a few days ago (with the exception that is not necessary to set the laptop to sleep)

Contributor guide

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
desktop
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
4
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
3-5 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
C++ knowledgemacOS system programming
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
20
Research direction
Examine the 'No buffer space available' error which indicates a kernel buffer exhaustion. Investigate how Karabiner's grabber and observer components communicate via IOKit or mach ports. Check linked issue #1932 for potential fixes. Focus on resource cleanup and buffer sizes in the event handling code.