Can't export to PDF

[lxwulf]

Description

I am currently trying to export a note to PDF; however, Trilium Notes does consistent crashes. This issue has been present since around version 0.90.0. Should I have overlooked any pertinent information or operational details, I'm happy to provide the necessary information or seek clarification.

The log shows the following steps:

1. Open Trilium notes
2. Open note to export (Already open)
3. Export to PDF
4. Crashing

TriliumNext Version

0.100.0

What operating system are you using?

Other Linux

What is your setup?

Local + server sync

Operating System Version

Fedora Linux 43 Workstation / Fedora 43 Cloud Edition (for Trilium Notes Server)

Error logs

ok@thinkpadx12i1g9:~$ trilium 
(node:173400) [DEP0180] DeprecationWarning: fs.Stats constructor is deprecated.
(Use `trilium --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)

 _____     _ _ _
|_   _| __(_) (_)_   _ _ __ ___   | \ | | ___ | |_ ___  ___
  | || '__| | | | | | | '_ ` _ \  |  \| |/ _ \| __/ _ \/ __|
  | || |  | | | | |_| | | | | | | | |\  | (_) | ||  __/\__ \
  |_||_|  |_|_|_|\__,_|_| |_| |_| |_| \_|\___/ \__\___||___/ 0.100.0

📦 Versions:    app=0.100.0 db=233 sync=36 clipper=1.0
🔧 Build:       2025-12-05 10:21:28 (982fb212e4)
📂 Data dir:    /home/ok/.local/share/trilium-data
⏰ UTC time:    2025-12-06 10:49:14
💻 CPU:         Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 7 165U (14-core @ 1162 Mhz)
💾 DB size:     2.5 MiB

Becca (note cache) load took 10ms
Checking hidden subtree.
Updating attribute _help_Un4wj2Mak2Ky_ldocName from "User Guide/User Guide/Installation & Setup/Server Installation/Nix flake.clone" to "User Guide/User Guide/Installation & Setup/Desktop Installation/Nix flake"
Updating attribute _help_Un4wj2Mak2Ky_liconClass from "bx bx-file" to "bx bxl-tux"
Updating attribute _help_Un4wj2Mak2Ky_ldocName from "User Guide/User Guide/Installation & Setup/Desktop Installation/Nix flake" to "User Guide/User Guide/Installation & Setup/Server Installation/Nix flake.clone"
Updating attribute _help_Un4wj2Mak2Ky_liconClass from "bx bxl-tux" to "bx bx-file"
Trusted reverse proxy: false
App HTTP server starting up at port 37840
Server loaded
Starting Electron...
Could not register global shortcut Ctrl+Alt+P
Listening on port 37840
CSRF token generation: Successful
200 GET /api/tree with 12674 bytes took 3ms
200 GET /api/options with 9013 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/keyboard-actions with 22005 bytes took 9ms
200 GET /api/autocomplete/notesCount with 3 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/options/locales with 1113 bytes took 0ms
websocket client connected
200 GET /api/script/widgets with 2 bytes took 2ms
200 GET /api/keyboard-shortcuts-for-notes with 2 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/system-checks with 27 bytes took 1ms
200 POST /api/tree/load with 6494 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/sql/schema with 7987 bytes took 2ms
200 GET /api/notes/Qlr8aMq0XBOW/blob with 3763 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/recent-changes/undefined with 2 bytes took 5ms
200 POST /api/tree/load with 4449 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/notes/Qlr8aMq0XBOW/attachments with 2 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/note-map/Qlr8aMq0XBOW/backlink-count with 11 bytes took 1ms
200 POST /api/tree/load with 22576 bytes took 2ms
200 POST /api/tree/load with 14483 bytes took 2ms
200 GET /api/notes/root with 316 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/notes/_template_text_snippet with 341 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/notes/_template_list_view with 326 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/search/%23textSnippet with 2 bytes took 2ms
200 GET /api/search/%23workspace%20%23!template with 2 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/notes/_template_grid_view with 326 bytes took 0ms
200 GET /api/autocomplete?query=&activeNoteId=Qlr8aMq0XBOW&fastSearch=true with 1206 bytes took 2ms
200 GET /api/notes/_template_calendar with 324 bytes took 0ms
200 GET /api/notes/_template_table with 318 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/notes/_template_geo_map with 322 bytes took 0ms
200 GET /api/notes/_template_board with 325 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/notes/_template_presentation with 332 bytes took 0ms
200 GET /api/search-templates with 2 bytes took 2ms
JS Info: CKEditor state changed to ready
200 GET /api/script/startup with 2 bytes took 3ms
Table counts: notes: 400, revisions: 141, attachments: 0, branches: 415, attributes: 675, etapi_tokens: 1, blobs: 158
All consistency checks passed with no errors detected (took 18ms)
Sending message to all clients: {"type":"sync-push-in-progress","lastSyncedPush":30705}
Sync DRpIA8GNnB: Pushing 2 sync changes in 15ms
Nothing to push
Finished pull
Nothing to push
Content hash computation took 7ms
Content hash checks PASSED
Sending message to all clients: {"type":"sync-finished","lastSyncedPush":30709}
CSRF token generation: Successful
200 GET /api/tree with 12674 bytes took 1ms
200 GET /api/options with 9013 bytes took 2ms
200 GET /api/keyboard-actions with 22005 bytes took 6ms
200 GET /api/notes/Qlr8aMq0XBOW/blob with 3763 bytes took 1ms
[173400:1206/114934.589615:ERROR:ui/events/platform/wayland/wayland_event_watcher.cc:47] libwayland: zxdg_exporter_v2#20: error 0: exported surface had an invalid role

[dosubot]

Hi @lxwulf! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the Trilium team.

This crash is almost certainly due to a known issue with Electron apps (like Trilium) running under Wayland on Fedora—especially during offscreen rendering for PDF export. The error in your log, libwayland: zxdg_exporter_v2#20: error 0: exported surface had an invalid role, is a classic sign of a Wayland/Chromium/Electron graphics subsystem problem, not a bug in Trilium's own code. PDF export in Trilium uses Electron's printToPDF, which is sensitive to display server and GPU driver compatibility on Linux/Wayland environments details.

The most effective workarounds are:

• Run Trilium with --disable-gpu to force software rendering (this often avoids the crash, though you might see some flickering or glitches) example.
• Try launching with --ozone-platform-hint=x11 to force X11 compatibility mode.
• If possible, log in to an X11 session instead of Wayland and run Trilium there—this usually avoids the problem entirely discussion.
• If you’re not already using it, try the Flatpak build of Trilium, which bundles dependencies and sometimes works better with Wayland recommendation.

Recent Trilium versions use Electron v38, which has improved Wayland support, but these issues can still occur on some hardware or drivers release notes. There’s no explicit Wayland-specific workaround in Trilium’s PDF export code, so these flags must be passed manually.

Try the above workarounds and let me know if the crash persists or if you see any new error messages.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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