I have been an Avast user in Windows for years. I have now switched to Linux. I run Debian versions. I have tried Avast on Zorin, SolusOS and now Point Linux.
I download the “avast4workstation_1.3.0-2_i386.deb” version and install it with gdebi. All is good at this point, installed correctly no dependency issues.
Avast opens and will scan. I then do the virus update and Avast quits. I can not reopen Avast and get the message “An error occured in avast! engine: Invalid argument”. I have done nothing but update the the virus definitions, no other changers.
If I remove Avast and then reinstall it I still get the message of “An error occured in avast! engine: Invalid argument”. I have uninstalled the program and removed the temp file from filesystem/temp.
Problem solved. Thanks I use this:
Starting with the 400.vps, version 100328-1, one of it’s internal block reached the inner limit 33554432 bytes. It’s a kernel variable which
is (quite artificially) limiting the maximum size of any SHM memory block - and 33554432 was a default for some kernels.
Solution? Set the limit to higher values (as root):
sysctl -w kernel.shmmax=128000000
OR
echo 128000000 >/proc/sys/kernel/shmmax
Place those lines to /etc/init.d/rcS or equivalent file (it’s distribution-specific a bit - see /etc/inittab, the sysinit runlevel) to have them set automatically (just after boot).
I just used sudo from the terminal and it worked. Avast now runs. Wonder why Avast does not recommend this in the install? If I had not used Avast previously in “Windoze” I would have quickly moved on.