can you clarify something: crashes, or simply disconnects?

The reason I ask is that your log shows nothing of an actual crash.  Do you have to restart slimserver after this?  If so, please try running the server from /usr/local/slimserver/slimserver.pl instead of using the init.d script.  This will allow you to see anything that might have been dumped to the console that wasn't caught by the log handler in slimserver.

Not sure how much this helps, but this is an strace on the server side when it dies:-

........
select(24, [6 7 8 9 12 13 14 15 16 17 18], NULL, [14 15 16 17 18], {0, 57741}) = 1 (in [18], left {0, 58000})
getpeername(18, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(35397), sin_addr=inet_addr("192.168.10.90")}, [16]) = 0
read(18, "login nobody password\n", 100) = 22
gettimeofday({1163117095, 851463}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1163117095, 851706}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1163117095, 851905}, NULL) = 0
select(24, [6 7 8 9 12 13 14 15 16 17 18], [18], [14 15 16 17 18], {0, 52660}) = 1 (out [18], left {0, 53000})
send(18, "login nobody ******\n", 20, 0) = 20
gettimeofday({1163117095, 853237}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1163117095, 853462}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1163117095, 853675}, NULL) = 0
select(24, [6 7 8 9 12 13 14 15 16 17 18], NULL, [14 15 16 17 18], {0, 50891}) = 1 (in [18], left {0, 51000})
getpeername(18, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(35397), sin_addr=inet_addr("192.168.10.90")}, [16]) = 0
read(18, "players 0 9999\n", 100)       = 15
getpeername(17, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(60075), sin_addr=inet_addr("192.168.10.182")}, [16]) = 0
getpeername(14, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(49897), sin_addr=inet_addr("192.168.10.199")}, [16]) = 0
getpeername(16, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(37334), sin_addr=inet_addr("192.168.10.178")}, [16]) = 0
getpeername(15, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(16132), sin_addr=inet_addr("192.168.10.187")}, [16]) = 0
--- SIGSEGV (Segmentation fault) @ 0 (0) ---
+++ killed by SIGSEGV +++
Process 12985 detached

And this is when it works - note that I have 4 SqueezeBoxes

.....
send(18, "login nobody ******\n", 20, 0) = 20
gettimeofday({1163117094, 541998}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1163117094, 542217}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1163117094, 542409}, NULL) = 0
select(24, [6 7 8 9 12 13 14 15 16 17 18], NULL, [14 15 16 17 18], {0, 20399}) = 1 (in [18], left {0, 21000})
getpeername(18, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(35396), sin_addr=inet_addr("192.168.10.90")}, [16]) = 0
read(18, "players 0 9999\n", 100)       = 15
getpeername(17, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(60075), sin_addr=inet_addr("192.168.10.182")}, [16]) = 0
getpeername(14, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(49897), sin_addr=inet_addr("192.168.10.199")}, [16]) = 0
getpeername(16, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(37334), sin_addr=inet_addr("192.168.10.178")}, [16]) = 0
getpeername(15, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(16132), sin_addr=inet_addr("192.168.10.187")}, [16]) = 0
gettimeofday({1163117094, 560094}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1163117094, 560323}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1163117094, 560607}, NULL) = 0
select(24, [6 7 8 9 12 13 14 15 16 17 18], [18], [14 15 16 17 18], {0, 2201}) = 1 (out [18], left {0, 3000})
send(18, "players 0 9999 count%3A4 playeri"..., 759, 0) = 759
gettimeofday({1163117094, 561939}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1163117094, 562135}, NULL) = 0
gettimeofday({1163117094, 562324}, NULL) = 0
.......

please see my instructions from my earlier comment and provide the requested information.  the strace may help someone else, but not me.

If you look, you'll see that SlimServer exited with a segmentation fault. That was the only new piece of information when I ran SlimServer from the command line.

if you say so.  good luck.

Created attachment 1706 [details]
Player program

Perl script - Run it with command line:-

player all noop

To make it easier for you to recreate, I've attached the offending Perl script.

You can run it with the command line:-

# perl ./player all noop

When it works it will print out an inventory of Squeezeboxes - Something like:-
1: Master Bedroom (x231) (SB1): OK
2: Living Room (x221) (SB2): OK
3: Kitchen (x211) (SB1): OK
4: Top Floor (x242)(x243) (SB1): OK

Any updates?

sorry Tim.  no updates. you'll have to wait for SD to get to it.  I'm a volunteer and was trying to help.  The information you provided, as I said, is nothing to me so I cannot offer any more help.

Thanks for trying.

I added some extra debug lines to Plugin/CLI.pm.

It looks like the problem was with the Perl Encode module.

I am running a relatively vanilla CentOS 4.2 box which had 2.01 installed. I upgraded to 2.18 from CPAN, and it's been rock solid ever since (touch wood!!)

Once again, thanks for your help.