Lost window manager and gnome-panel
John Jason Jordan
for my Thinkpad, planning on migrating from Jaunty to Debian. I kept
my old Jaunty hard disk untouched. I used the Jaunty disk as a source
of config files as I installed the applications I need, plus I wanted
it available just in case my migration to Debian did not go well.
After several days of installing and configuring things I suddenly lost
metacity and gnome-panel. That is, upon rebooting I got a blank screen.
Even without the window manager or gnome-panel you can right-click on
the screen and create a launcher. I created a launcher for
gnome-terminal. From the terminal I was able to start metacity and
gnome-panel. However two days of poking failed to get metacity and
gnome-panel to start automatically on rebooting. I just couldn't figure
out where they started from. Eventually I had work I needed to get
done, so I put the Jaunty hard disk back in the computer and left my
migration to Debian for another day.
That day arrived a few days ago. I decided start over from scratch. I
used the netinst CD and reinstalled completely, reformatting the new
disk. Until yesterday afternoon I spent my time installing and
configuring as I did before. Everything was running great. I had just a
couple problems left to resolve. Then I decided to reboot. And then it
happened again - no metacity or gnome panel. Only this time I couldn't
right-click on the desktop and create a launcher either. I could boot
into Recovery Mode, but you can't start an X program from there.
A local friend suggested to boot to Recovery Mode and then install
XFCE. I did so. And when I rebooted I found the option to use XFCE
instead of Gnome. When XFCE came up I had a normal desktop with window
manager and panels. Yay!
So at least this time around I am back and I have things running. I
have XFCE fixed up to my taste, but I want Gnome back. I still can't
log in to Gnome without losing the window manager and panels.
So this long story boils down to two questions:
1) How can I fix Gnome? What part of the configuration starts metacity
and gnome-panel when the user logs in? Note that I'll have to do this
manually from XFCE, because I can't even get a terminal running in
Gnome.
2) How the heck did this happen? I did hundreds of things before I
rebooted - which thing messed up Gnome? Can someone suggest a way to
find out what I did to cause this so I can file a bug report or at
least avoid doing it again?
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Andrew Sackville-West
[...]
> That day arrived a few days ago. I decided start over from scratch. I
> used the netinst CD and reinstalled completely, reformatting the new
> disk. Until yesterday afternoon I spent my time installing and
> configuring as I did before. Everything was running great. I had just a
> couple problems left to resolve. Then I decided to reboot. And then it
> happened again - no metacity or gnome panel. Only this time I couldn't
> right-click on the desktop and create a launcher either. I could boot
> into Recovery Mode, but you can't start an X program from there.
well clearly you should never reboot ;)
so, what do you get? What does the screen look like? Is it the default
X gray screen with a mouse cursor and nothing else? Is it some desktop
backdrop that you set? we need some more information.
Also, how are you selecting GNOME from the (I assume) GDM login?
I'm wondering if you're somehow changing the default selection to be a
.xsession session and consequently getting an empty session.
>
> So this long story boils down to two questions:
>
> 1) How can I fix Gnome? What part of the configuration starts metacity
> and gnome-panel when the user logs in? Note that I'll have to do this
> manually from XFCE, because I can't even get a terminal running in
> Gnome.
I'm not exactly sure that GNOME is broken. I think perhaps it's
something simple (like the xsession thing above) and it's getting lost
in the transmission
>
> 2) How the heck did this happen? I did hundreds of things before I
> rebooted - which thing messed up Gnome? Can someone suggest a way to
> find out what I did to cause this so I can file a bug report or at
> least avoid doing it again?
on the assumption that you've been doing lots of installing, take a
lot at the aptitude logs and see if there is a clue there. Perhaps
you've installed something that conflicts with GNOME (can't imagine
what that might be) or removed something critical.
A
Tony Nelson
...
> metacity and gnome-panel when the user logs in? Note that I'll have
> to do this manually from XFCE, because I can't even get a terminal
> running in Gnome.
Try creating a new user. If that user works properly in Gnome, it's
probably a user-specific config file, usually in a .gnome*/ directory,
and diff'ing the files may help (I suggest meld, but I use vimdiff
nowadays).
If a new user doesn't work, it's probably something you did in /etc.
`debsums -es` looks useful. It won't check files created by the
install scripts.
> 2) How the heck did this happen? I did hundreds of things before I
> rebooted - which thing messed up Gnome? Can someone suggest a way to
> find out what I did to cause this so I can file a bug report or at
> least avoid doing it again?
Do more reboots / logins so you know sooner. In general, be cautious
about copying config files around. It's safer to merge them manually,
perhaps with meld.
--
____________________________________________________________________
TonyN.:' <mailto:tonyn...@georgeanelson.com>
' <http://www.georgeanelson.com/>
John Jason Jordan
Andrew Sackville-West <and...@farwestbilliards.com> dijo:
> On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 10:31:14AM -0800, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> > couple problems left to resolve. Then I decided to reboot. And then it
> > happened again - no metacity or gnome panel. Only this time I couldn't
> > right-click on the desktop and create a launcher either. I could boot
> > into Recovery Mode, but you can't start an X program from there.
> well clearly you should never reboot ;)
LOL.
> so, what do you get? What does the screen look like? Is it the default
> X gray screen with a mouse cursor and nothing else? Is it some desktop
> backdrop that you set? we need some more information.
I had set the screen to no background image, just a solid color
(off-white). I had deleted the bottom panel. In the top panel I set the
panel to transparent so that it appeared in the same color as the
desktop. And I went into gconf-editor and unchecked the box to display
icons on the desktop. Some of this may be the source of the problem,
but I doubt it. I have run Gnome like this for years on Ubuntu. I like
my screen empty with just the panel at the top.
Having set things up this way, when I log in now I get an utterly blank
off-white screen. I can't verify that metacity is not running because
this time I cannot open any windows - no way to launch anything without
the panel. I'm just assuming that it is not running because last time
it happened I was able to create a launcher on the desktop which
allowed me to open a terminal window. The terminal window was lacking
all the stuff that the window manager creates. And for sure the panel
is not there.
The mouse and keyboard work. But if I hover with the mouse over the
place on the missing panel where the Applications menu is I can click,
but nothing happens. In other words, the panel is not just invisible,
it is completely not there.
> Also, how are you selecting GNOME from the (I assume) GDM login?
Actually I didn't "select" Gnome. The GDM login has the option, but
Gnome is the default, so I just enter my username and password and hit
Enter. The GDM login screen has other options, "Failsafe Gnome," among
others. But none of them got me anything more than a blank screen
without window manager or gnome-panel. Of course, now there is an
option to boot to XFCE4, which is what I am using until I figure out
how to fix Gnome.
> I'm wondering if you're somehow changing the default selection to be a
> .xsession session and consequently getting an empty session.
Now we might be getting somewhere. I am not very familiar with what's
under the hood in Linux. What is an .xsession session?
And bear in mind that all I did was reboot and log in as usual. At the
GDM screen I just entered my username and password and hit Enter. I did
not select any options. If I'm getting an .xsession session it is not
because I deliberately chose an .xsession session. Of course,
*something* caused it to happen. That's what I need to figure out.
I should add that if I deliberately select Gnome for the session I
still get the blank screen sans metacity and gnome-panel.
> > So this long story boils down to two questions:
> >
> > 1) How can I fix Gnome? What part of the configuration starts metacity
> > and gnome-panel when the user logs in? Note that I'll have to do this
> > manually from XFCE, because I can't even get a terminal running in
> > Gnome.
>
> I'm not exactly sure that GNOME is broken. I think perhaps it's
> something simple (like the xsession thing above) and it's getting lost
> in the transmission
> > 2) How the heck did this happen? I did hundreds of things before I
> > rebooted - which thing messed up Gnome? Can someone suggest a way to
> > find out what I did to cause this so I can file a bug report or at
> > least avoid doing it again?
> on the assumption that you've been doing lots of installing, take a
> lot at the aptitude logs and see if there is a clue there. Perhaps
> you've installed something that conflicts with GNOME (can't imagine
> what that might be) or removed something critical.
Looking at the aptitude logs didn't help - no error messages. There are
two logs, both dated Friday, the first at 10:44 am and the second at
10:57 am. The only strange thing is that the second one is clearly the
initial installation (very long, includes apps that are installed by
default like Inkscape and OOo, 1169 total packages), but the first one
is an upgrade for 20 packages. How could there be an upgrade before the
OS was installed? And bear in mind that this was a new installation,
reformatting the hard disk. Very odd.
I also looked at dmesg and at /var/logs/messages, but I didn't see
anything obvious.
I'm off to google on what an .xsession is. Thanks for the clue.
Meantime, I'm all ears for additional suggestions.
John Jason Jordan
Tony Nelson <tonyn...@georgeanelson.com> dijo:
> On 09-11-23 13:31:14, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> ...
> > 1) How can I fix Gnome? What part of the configuration starts
> > metacity and gnome-panel when the user logs in? Note that I'll have
> > to do this manually from XFCE, because I can't even get a terminal
> > running in Gnome.
>
> Try creating a new user. If that user works properly in Gnome, it's
> probably a user-specific config file, usually in a .gnome*/ directory,
> and diff'ing the files may help (I suggest meld, but I use vimdiff
> nowadays).
Now, why didn't I think of that!
Turns out that this was an excellent suggestion. I created a new user
(using XFCE4), then logged out and back in as the new user. When my new
user logged in I deliberately selected Gnome. And my new user got a
default Gnome desktop, complete with window manager and gnome-panel.
So now we know that the problem is something in my configuration.
The only thing I can think of is that Nautilus has a bug where clicking
on Preferences crashes it, so I used gconf-editor to change the way
Nautilus works. I could go back and set Nautilus to defaults (I think
there is an option somewhere for that), but I Gnome is not usable at
the moment unless I log in as my new user.
> > 2) How the heck did this happen? I did hundreds of things before I
> > rebooted - which thing messed up Gnome? Can someone suggest a way to
> > find out what I did to cause this so I can file a bug report or at
> > least avoid doing it again?
> Do more reboots / logins so you know sooner. In general, be cautious
> about copying config files around. It's safer to merge them manually,
> perhaps with meld.
I did use merge. But most were not even there, because they were for
apps that I installed manually.
Tony Nelson
...
> clicking on Preferences crashes it, so I used gconf-editor to change
> the way Nautilus works. I could go back and set Nautilus to defaults
> (I think there is an option somewhere for that), but I Gnome is not
> usable at the moment unless I log in as my new user.
You might first try polluting the new user with your broken user's
config files from ~/.gnome*/ and ~/.gconf*/, to see what breaks it.
(Do it one directory at a time.)
The Gconf files are all XML, so diff'ing them is possible but tedious.
--
____________________________________________________________________
TonyN.:' <mailto:tonyn...@georgeanelson.com>
' <http://www.georgeanelson.com/>
John Jason Jordan
John Jason Jordan <joh...@comcast.net> dijo:
> On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:53:56 -0500
> Tony Nelson <tonyn...@georgeanelson.com> dijo:
>
> > On 09-11-23 13:31:14, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> > ...
> > > 1) How can I fix Gnome? What part of the configuration starts
> > > metacity and gnome-panel when the user logs in? Note that I'll have
> > > to do this manually from XFCE, because I can't even get a terminal
> > > running in Gnome.
> >
> > Try creating a new user. If that user works properly in Gnome, it's
> > probably a user-specific config file, usually in a .gnome*/ directory,
> > and diff'ing the files may help (I suggest meld, but I use vimdiff
> > nowadays).
>
> Now, why didn't I think of that!
>
> Turns out that this was an excellent suggestion. I created a new user
> (using XFCE4), then logged out and back in as the new user. When my new
> user logged in I deliberately selected Gnome. And my new user got a
> default Gnome desktop, complete with window manager and gnome-panel.
>
> So now we know that the problem is something in my configuration.
>
> The only thing I can think of is that Nautilus has a bug where clicking
> on Preferences crashes it, so I used gconf-editor to change the way
> Nautilus works. I could go back and set Nautilus to defaults (I think
> there is an option somewhere for that), but I Gnome is not usable at
> the moment unless I log in as my new user.
Turns out that I can edit my configurations from an XFCE4 session as
long as I log in as myself. I changed only one thing - so Nautilus
would display the desktop. Then I logged out and back in again to Gnome
as myself. Still no metacity or gnome-panel, but at least now I could
create a launcher to start a terminal. I opened a terminal and started
metacity and gnome-panel, and now things look as they did before.
The problem is that if I log out and back in to Gnome again (or reboot
and log in to Gnome again) I will have to use the launcher to open a
terminal and start metacity and gnome-panel manually.
So now I am back to the original issue: What starts metacity and
gnome-panel during the session startup?
Andrew Sackville-West
of points below...
On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 12:36:42PM -0800, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:30:08 -0800
> Andrew Sackville-West <and...@farwestbilliards.com> dijo:
[...]
>
> > I'm wondering if you're somehow changing the default selection to be a
> > .xsession session and consequently getting an empty session.
>
> Now we might be getting somewhere. I am not very familiar with what's
> under the hood in Linux. What is an .xsession session?
users can specify an .xsession or .xinitrc (not sure if gdm uses
.xinitrc or not) file to control how their X session is
created. Typically this is used when one wants a highly customized
configuration using a non-standard windowmanager (if a WM is used at
all...) or when starting the X session from a console via startx (what
I do). Basically, it is a shell script that is run by X after it sets
up the graphics display and in it the user specifies various things
they want such as environment variables, starting special services, a
window manager etc. When that script exits, then the X session closes
and returns the user to the console.
But this doesn't sound like your problem, so that's just for your
education ;)
[...]
> Looking at the aptitude logs didn't help - no error messages.
I wasn't looking for error messages, but rather information about what
packages were being installed or removed that might have provided a
clue.
REgardless, I know you've got it narrowed down to a local user
configuration issue, so good luck with that.
A
Rob Owens
box. Type into that "gnome-terminal".
Also, you can delete your .gnome* and .gconf* directories and they will
be re-created when you log in. Although I would recommend moving them
rather than deleting them:
mv .gconf .gconf.bak (for example)
-Rob
John Jason Jordan
Rob Owens <row...@ptd.net> dijo:
Tony suggested polluting my new user alter ego with the gnome
configuration files from my regular self. I started by just
renaming .gconf, .gnome2 and .gnome2_private, then logging out and back
in again as myself. There was no change - metacity and gnome-panel
still did not start.
Yet they do start for my new user alter ego. So I used Tony's
suggestion and copied my original .gconf, .gnome2 and .gnome2_private
files to the new user, then logged in as the new user. The new user
still had metacity and gnome-panel.
Conclusion: The problem is somewhere in my configuration files, but not
in .gconf, .gnome2 or .gnome2_private.
Logged in as myself and having started metacity and gnome-panel
manually from the terminal, I reinstalled gnome-panel and metacity and
all their libraries and dependencies with Synaptic. No joy.
I have spend hours googling trying to figure out where exactly metacity
and gnome-panel start after the login window. They must be started by a
script, a config file, or something. But exactly how must be a state
secret.
Still trying to figure out how to fix the problem.
I could wipe out testing and reinstall, but this is the second time I
have installed it and exactly the same thing happened last time. If I
reinstall probably the same thing will happen again. Either I have to
get to the bottom of it or I have to give up on Squeeze. I don't mind
working around the occasional bug, but you can't do much without a
window manager and a panel.
Chris Jones
> On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:10:06 -0500
> Rob Owens <row...@ptd.net> dijo:
>
> > On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 01:14:23PM -0800, John Jason Jordan wrote:
[..]
I just noticed this thread, so please ignore if you have already been
through this.
> Tony suggested polluting my new user alter ego with the gnome
> configuration files from my regular self. I started by just
> renaming .gconf, .gnome2 and .gnome2_private, then logging out and back
> in again as myself. There was no change - metacity and gnome-panel
> still did not start.
To be on the safe side, rather than logging out and back in again, you
should have rebooted. We don't know if gnome keeps a copy of the
contents of these files (or part thereof) in storage across logins. The
heavier desktop environments like to keep stuff around so they can come
back up faster than the competition.
> Yet they do start for my new user alter ego. So I used Tony's
> suggestion and copied my original .gconf, .gnome2 and .gnome2_private
> files to the new user, then logged in as the new user. The new user
> still had metacity and gnome-panel.
>
> Conclusion: The problem is somewhere in my configuration files, but
> not in .gconf, .gnome2 or .gnome2_private.
Since you write that you logged out and logged back in, I assume that
you were in gnome when you renamed the files.
Or did you su to root under your test user, rename the files and then
logged out and logged back in as yourself?
In any case, when you logged back in as yourself, the three directories
had been recreated, right?
If you did the renaming under your own user, how do we know gnome had
not recreated these directories when you logged out, possibly using some
of the stuff you had in memory to populate them - rather than recreated
them from scratch when you logged back in?
Even if you did it from another user, how do we know gnome did not keep
configuration data from your last session around and used that to
recreate your config files?
Whatever the case, you may want to boot into Squeeze, log in as another
user, su to root, rename the gnome/gconf stuff in your regular user's
home directory and log back in as yourself - or do the renaming off of
another system if you have one available on this box.
> Logged in as myself and having started metacity and gnome-panel
> manually from the terminal, I reinstalled gnome-panel and metacity and
> all their libraries and dependencies with Synaptic. No joy.
Which tends to suggest that the problem is indeed with your config
files. Maybe, maybe not.. but that's definitely the first place to look.
> I have spend hours googling trying to figure out where exactly
> metacity and gnome-panel start after the login window.
Google's usefulness in this respect is directly related to how closely
and 'exclusively' your keywords match the problem.
Maybe this has already been suggested by somebody else, but I would
check the contents of a file called ~/.xsession-errors and look for
suspicious messages relative to 'metacity' or 'gnome-panel'. Since you
have at test user that does not have the problem, you could display that
user's .xsession-errors side by side with yours and see if you can spot
any useful differences. If there are any, the messages may be too
cryptic to draw conclusions, but they may provide something that you
can use to google for a solution.
Large programs such as gnome usually have a searchable bug-tracking
system. If google does not provide anything conclusive, or too many
hits, it may be worth taking a look.
I didn't see anything that looked clearly related to your problem, but
sometimes while looking at currently open bugs, you may run into one
that reminds you of something that you saw and either had forgotten, or
thought might not be relevant, and that might put you on the right
track.
> They must be started by a script, a config file, or something. But
> exactly how must be a state secret.
Did you check if they were actually running?
$ ps -Alf | grep -i metacity
$ ps -Alf | grep -i gnome-panel
> Still trying to figure out how to fix the problem.
>
> I could wipe out testing and reinstall, but this is the second time I
> have installed it and exactly the same thing happened last time. If I
> reinstall probably the same thing will happen again.
s/probably/certainly/
Actually, there are over 28,000 hits in google with keywords 'gnome
panel disappeared' and though they are mostly for ubuntu, this might be
the same issue, since my understanding is that ubuntu is pretty much a
rehash of debian testing with additional updates and cosmetics (?)
> Either I have to get to the bottom of it or I have to give up on
> Squeeze.
Absolutely.
> I don't mind working around the occasional bug, but you can't do much
> without a window manager and a panel.
Please note, that I haven't been near gnome in 3-4 years and only used
it for a few weeks at the time, but oddly enough, I do remember having
lost icons, maybe even the panel at some point.
CJ
Andrew Sackville-West
[... huge snip of history of metacity & gnome panel faiilng to start
... ]
> Tony suggested polluting my new user alter ego with the gnome
> configuration files from my regular self. I started by just
> renaming .gconf, .gnome2 and .gnome2_private, then logging out and back
> in again as myself. There was no change - metacity and gnome-panel
> still did not start.
>
> Yet they do start for my new user alter ego. So I used Tony's
> suggestion and copied my original .gconf, .gnome2 and .gnome2_private
> files to the new user, then logged in as the new user. The new user
> still had metacity and gnome-panel.
>
> Conclusion: The problem is somewhere in my configuration files, but not
> in .gconf, .gnome2 or .gnome2_private.
okay, there should be, at this point, very few dot-files in your
alter-ego. If not, make another one and don't do *anything* extra in
that account. Just login to it, confirm that it looks reasonably
right, and logout. Then as root or some other user, take a full
listing of that user's /home directory. Since you've already tested
.gconf, .gnome2 and .gnome2_private, then the problem is in one of the
other dot-files. It should be a fairly small set and fairly easy to
test each one.
Just copy them over one-by-one from the broken user (make sure to
fixup permissions on the files, this is probably important), logging
in and out each time, until it breaks.
Oh!, you should check out ~/.dmrc. It should say:
[Desktop]
Session=default
anything else, at this point, is probably doing more harm than
good. This is the file that tells gdm which session to start for the
user (there are multiple sessions specified in /usr/share/xsessions,
at least in the past that was the way it worked).
A
Tony Nelson
...
> not in .gconf, .gnome2 or .gnome2_private.
What about .gconfd/ and .gnome/? (And all the other dot-files.)
Have you looked at ~/.xsession-errors? (It gets made anew each X
session, so look during, or at least before starting a new X session
for that user.)
--
____________________________________________________________________
TonyN.:' <mailto:tonyn...@georgeanelson.com>
' <http://www.georgeanelson.com/>
Rob Owens
> On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:10:06 -0500
> Rob Owens <row...@ptd.net> dijo:
>
> > box. Type into that "gnome-terminal".
> >
> > Also, you can delete your .gnome* and .gconf* directories and they will
> > be re-created when you log in. Although I would recommend moving them
> > rather than deleting them:
>
> Tony suggested polluting my new user alter ego with the gnome
> configuration files from my regular self. I started by just
> renaming .gconf, .gnome2 and .gnome2_private, then logging out and back
> in again as myself. There was no change - metacity and gnome-panel
> still did not start.
>
> Yet they do start for my new user alter ego. So I used Tony's
> suggestion and copied my original .gconf, .gnome2 and .gnome2_private
> files to the new user, then logged in as the new user. The new user
> still had metacity and gnome-panel.
>
> Conclusion: The problem is somewhere in my configuration files, but not
> in .gconf, .gnome2 or .gnome2_private.
>
> Logged in as myself and having started metacity and gnome-panel
> manually from the terminal, I reinstalled gnome-panel and metacity and
> all their libraries and dependencies with Synaptic. No joy.
>
directory. And if you keep your /home partition when you re-install,
the problem will still be there in the new installation.
Somebody else mentioned it already, but I'll second it: it is important
to remove/rename the .gnome, .gconf, etc. files while not logged into
Gnome. In my experience they are written at logout from your Gnome
session, so your problems will not go away if you are in Gnome when you
remove/rename those files.
Chris Jones
[..]
> Somebody else mentioned it already, but I'll second it: it is important
> to remove/rename the .gnome, .gconf, etc. files while not logged into
> Gnome. In my experience they are written at logout from your Gnome
> session, so your problems will not go away if you are in Gnome when you
> remove/rename those files.
Yes, I'm pretty sure of that.
But there's also a distinct possibility that gnome keeps some user
specific data around across sessions.
To be on the safe side and dispel any lingering doubts as to whether
gnome recreates your user's configuration from scratch, that's what I
would do:
1. boot into Squeeze for a 'fresh start'
2. as soon as you see the GDM screen, drop to a linux console via an
Alt+Ctrl+Fn
3. Log in as your regular user and rename/delete your config files
4. Alt+F7 back to GDM and login to gnome as your regular user
Maybe I'm paranoid, but I think that this procedure should ensure that
gnome will no chance to tamper with the config files behind your back.
The alternative is to mount the Squeeze partition from another system, or
use a rescue CD - now, that's really paranoid :-)
To the OP: I read the entire thread online, and it appears you come from
the Ubuntu world. I've never installed Squeeze, only did a dist-upgrade
on a sacrificial clone of lenny.. but does the install guide you through
setting up sudo for your regular user, or do you use /bin/su?
Hopefully, you don't log in to gnome as the superuser?
CJ
John Jason Jordan
Chris Jones <cjns...@gmail.com> dijo:
I installed Squeeze from the netinst CD. Other than answering the
typical questions like what my time zone is, I pretty much let it take
the entire hard disk and do as it pleased.
Later, while installing things, I discovered that sudo gave an error
message that jjj (that's my regular username) was not a member of the
sudoers list. The install utillity did ask me to set up an account and
password for root, so I could always be root if I wanted. I decided to
add myself to the sudoers list rather than always having to become root
to do something. Like, for example, in the process of trying to fix the
missing window manager and gnome-panel I need to copy config files from
the account of the new user I created.
I note that the Squeeze method is different from the Ubuntu method. The
Ubuntu install utility does not set up a root account or password, but
does automatically add the user to the sudoers list. Having used sudo a
lot over the years I have to say that it is not necessarily a bad way
to set a new user up. In Ubuntu once you give your sudo password at a
command line you can continue to give sudo commands without having to
reenter the password. But if you don't use a command with sudo for a
while eventually the system "forgets" and you have to reenter the
password. Being root or using sudo both have their place, I guess.
The only time I ever log in as root is when I use the Recovery Mode
boot option. Recovery Mode automatically leaves you at a command line,
and then I would log in as root. After all, I booted to Recovery Mode
because I needed to fix something. If I know I'm going to be doing a
lot of apt-getting and editing system config files, then it's easier
just to be root where the system is not going to forget and make me
reenter my password.
Regarding all the suggestions: There are quite a few that I am going to
try; enough that it's going to take some time. Unfotunately, I
unexpectedly had to work 10 hours today and I'm going to have to work
10 hours or more tomorrow, so I may not get back to this problem
immediately. I am currently functional as jjj logged in to Xfce4.
I should also add that apparently I gave some people in this thread the
idea that after installing Squeeze I just copied my entire home folder
over. That is not what I did. Squeeze installed numerous programs that
I would have installed anyway had they not been part of the default
install - OOo, Inkscape, inter alia. Before launching any of them I
copied over the config file for just that app, and for any other apps
that I installed myself manually, e.g., Scribus. But the only config
files that I copied were application config files.
Then I copied over all my data files. There are no config files in any
of my data folders.
Then I modifed the desktop manually. I never copied my old Gnome config
files. Before discovering and working on the problem I didn't even know
what the Gnome config files were. I started modifying the desktop by
adding/removing things from the panel, and I deleted the bottom panel.
Then I selected my favorite screensaver, and I selected the background
that I wanted for the desktop. I had everything looking the way I
wanted it, except for Nautilus. I tried to change the Preferences in
Nautilus only to discover that there is a bug that causes Nautilus to
crash if you click on Preferences. So I changed the Nautilus settings
with gonf-editor.
Once I had the desktop and Nautilus configured the way I wanted I
proceeded to install more apps. Each time I copied over the config file
for the app, if it had one. But I only copied the config files one at a
time.
I got to the point where I had almost everything installed and
configured, and then I rebooted. That's when I discovered the missing
metacity and gnome-panel.
I just want to make it clear that the problem was not caused by using
one of Gnome's config files from an Ubuntu installation.
Thanks again for all the suggestions. As soon as I have time to work on
the problem some more I'll report back, so stay tuned!
Chris Jones
> On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:05:43 -0500
> Chris Jones <cjns...@gmail.com> dijo:
>
> > On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 06:23:16PM EST, Rob Owens wrote:
[..] Trimming useful details re; the install - all sensible choices
I'm glad you went to the trouble of describing the process, since we
weren't looking over your shoulder.
> Then I copied over all my data files. There are no config files in any
> of my data folders.
>
> Then I modified the desktop manually. I never copied my old Gnome config
> files. Before discovering and working on the problem I didn't even know
> what the Gnome config files were. I started modifying the desktop by
> adding/removing things from the panel, and I deleted the bottom panel.
I guess, if you're curious as to what caused the problem - as opposed to
focusing on fixing it, you could try to repeat the same actions with
your test user, and bounce your gnome session at every step of the way..
see if you're able to recreate.
Maybe something went wrong when you deleted that bottom panel.
> Then I selected my favorite screensaver, and I selected the background
> that I wanted for the desktop. I had everything looking the way I
> wanted it, except for Nautilus. I tried to change the Preferences in
> Nautilus only to discover that there is a bug that causes Nautilus to
> crash if you click on Preferences. So I changed the Nautilus settings
> with gconf-editor.
That sounds rather suspicious: Just clicking on Preferences causing a
crash is something that everybody would spot right away. It's not like
some hidden option in some obscure dialog that hardly anybody uses. Did
you google or search bug reports re: this crash? May have been a fluke
that has already been corrected. All the same there's always a
possibility that this crash corrupted some resource that now prevents
metacity from taking off. Also, what do you mean by 'crashed'?
> Once I had the desktop and Nautilus configured the way I wanted I
> proceeded to install more apps. Each time I copied over the config file
> for the app, if it had one. But I only copied the config files one at a
> time.
If I understand you correctly, unless they are gnome components, this
shouldn't have any bearing on our case.
> I got to the point where I had almost everything installed and
> configured, and then I rebooted. That's when I discovered the missing
> metacity and gnome-panel.
Any particular reason you rebooted at that point - like you were
prompted to reboot for instance? Meaning, if some app prompts you to
reboot and something goes wrong after you reboot, maybe that app has
something to do with it.
> I just want to make it clear that the problem was not caused by using
> one of Gnome's config files from an Ubuntu installation.
Thanks for clarifying, although if the two gnomes are the same version,
this should not have caused any problems. And then again, it might.
> Thanks again for all the suggestions. As soon as I have time to work on
> the problem some more I'll report back, so stay tuned!
Don't forget to check the contents of ~/.xsession-errors for clues.
CJ
John Jason Jordan
Chris Jones <cjns...@gmail.com> dijo:
> On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 09:22:51PM EST, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> > On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:05:43 -0500
> > Chris Jones <cjns...@gmail.com> dijo:
> >
> > > On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 06:23:16PM EST, Rob Owens wrote:
>
> [..] Trimming useful details re; the install - all sensible choices
>
> I'm glad you went to the trouble of describing the process, since we
> weren't looking over your shoulder.
>
> > Then I copied over all my data files. There are no config files in any
> > of my data folders.
> >
> > Then I modified the desktop manually. I never copied my old Gnome config
> > files. Before discovering and working on the problem I didn't even know
> > what the Gnome config files were. I started modifying the desktop by
> > adding/removing things from the panel, and I deleted the bottom panel.
>
> I guess, if you're curious as to what caused the problem - as opposed to
> focusing on fixing it, you could try to repeat the same actions with
> your test user, and bounce your gnome session at every step of the way..
> see if you're able to recreate.
>
> Maybe something went wrong when you deleted that bottom panel.
It seems unlikely to me that deleting the bottom panel created the
problem. It seems more likely to me that the problem was cause by
editing Natutilus settings woith gconf-editor. But that is a WAG.
My primary goal is to fix the problem. A secondary goal is to figure
out what caused it. Because if I can figure out what caused it, 1) I
can avoid causing it in the future and 2) I can file a bug report to
stop this from happening to future new users.
> > Then I selected my favorite screensaver, and I selected the background
> > that I wanted for the desktop. I had everything looking the way I
> > wanted it, except for Nautilus. I tried to change the Preferences in
> > Nautilus only to discover that there is a bug that causes Nautilus to
> > crash if you click on Preferences. So I changed the Nautilus settings
> > with gconf-editor.
>
> That sounds rather suspicious: Just clicking on Preferences causing a
> crash is something that everybody would spot right away. It's not like
> some hidden option in some obscure dialog that hardly anybody uses. Did
> you google or search bug reports re: this crash? May have been a fluke
> that has already been corrected. All the same there's always a
> possibility that this crash corrupted some resource that now prevents
> metacity from taking off. Also, what do you mean by 'crashed'?
What I mean by "crashed" is that Nautilus (all windows) just
disappears. Using top reveals that nautilus is no longer running. I can
restart Nautilus just by clikcing on ~/home or any other folder.
Matteo Riva
> That sounds rather suspicious: Just clicking on Preferences causing a
> crash is something that everybody would spot right away. It's not like
> some hidden option in some obscure dialog that hardly anybody uses. Did
> you google or search bug reports re: this crash? May have been a fluke
> that has already been corrected. All the same there's always a
> possibility that this crash corrupted some resource that now prevents
> metacity from taking off. Also, what do you mean by 'crashed'?
That's actually a reported bug in current testing version of nautilus
(2.26.3) fixed in unstable:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=545763