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thcrt

Member

Registered: 2026-05-04

Posts: 1

GDM 50 fails with custom XDG_CONFIG_HOME set in pam_env.conf

For a long time, I've had the following snippet in my /etc/security/pam_env.conf:

XDG_CONFIG_HOME         DEFAULT=@{HOME}/local/config
XDG_CACHE_HOME          DEFAULT=@{HOME}/local/cache
XDG_DATA_HOME           DEFAULT=@{HOME}/local/data
XDG_STATE_HOME          DEFAULT=@{HOME}/local/state

However, after a recent update that included upgrading to GNOME 50, GDM now no longer presents a login greeter and instead automatically creates a session for the gdm-greeter user.
I see the following in my system log:

May 04 00:21:14 theo-pc-arch accounts-daemon[815]: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directory
May 04 00:21:14 theo-pc-arch dbus-broker-launch[753]: Activation request for 'org.freedesktop.home1' failed: The systemd unit 'dbus-org.freedesktop.home1.service' could not be found.
May 04 00:21:14 theo-pc-arch accounts-daemon[815]: couldn't list homed users: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner: Could not activate remote peer 'org.freedesktop.home1': activation request failed: unknown unit

These are similar to the symptoms described:
- in the wiki: GDM 3.1: GDM greeter does not show user list after upgrade to GNOME 50
- in this post: After GNOME 50 Update - GDM bypasses login-greeter

I also found this semi-related post: GDM failing to start: gnome-session not found

I've tried the solutions mentioned:
- I've created /etc/dconf/profile/gdm and populated it, then run dconf update
- I don't have libgdm-plymouth installed, just libgdm, fully updated
- My /etc/environment is unmodified

I've narrowed it down to the setting in pam_env.conf. Commenting out the line that changes XDG_CONFIG_HOME allows GDM to work normally.
The other 3 variables can be set without issue, and after login they show up in env like normal. Setting XDG_CONFIG_HOME to another value still fails.

I'd really appreciate some help with solving this.

Last edited by thcrt (2026-05-04 00:29:12)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,112

Re: GDM 50 fails with custom XDG_CONFIG_HOME set in pam_env.conf

I see the following in my system log:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 8#p2290198
"Spam"

GDM now no longer presents a login greeter and instead automatically creates a session for the gdm-greeter user.

GDM /is/ a gnome session of the gdm user, just a special one - this has likely been an issue since GDM dropped the static user (pretty sure v49, https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gdm/-/work_items/1028 & https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gdm/-/me … te_2572548 ) and now only results in this symptom.

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