KDE and problems with PATH

phi · 2005-09-27 19:32:51

Hi all.

I've installed KDE with pacman -S kde and almost everything is ok. There only one strange problem. Konsole doesn't work as it should. After start, it doesn't respond for a while and after that there is simply a cursor at the top-left corner of the window. It looks like bash wasn't started.
Similarly when I start control center and run administrator mode for fonts settings, kde asks me for root password, but when I type it, kde says "Cannot find 'su'. Check your PATH settings".
I've checked path in /etc/profile and everything is ok.

Please, help me, because I've run out of ideas. Maybe someone of us had similar problem?

Phi

T-Dawg · 2005-09-27 21:11:17

[tyler@eLINUXe java]$ sudo pacman -Qo `which su`
/bin/su is owned by coreutils 5.2.1-5

Maybe reinstall coreutils?

phi · 2005-09-28 07:27:12

Penguin wrote:

Maybe reinstall coreutils?

Coreutils are ok. su and bash work fine in text terminal. I suppose something is wrong with PATH env. variable, but I have no idea what. In FAQ I've found at www.kde.org they suggest starting kde with "startkde" script, so I've even tried to create custom X session in ~/.xsession to force processing /etc/profile script where PATH is set.

~/.xsession:
#!/bin/bash --login
exec startkde

Unfortunately it didn't helped...

Snowman · 2005-09-28 07:37:59

Try putting:

[ -f /etc/profile ] && . /etc/profile

in ~/.xsession if you use xdm or in ~/.xinitrc if you use startx.

You can also check the output of

echo $PATH

to see what path you have. Post it here if you're not sure.

phi · 2005-09-28 09:20:46

Snowman wrote:

Try putting:
[ -f /etc/profile ] && . /etc/profile
in ~/.xsession if you use xdm or in ~/.xinitrc if you use startx.

Still doesn't work...

Snowman wrote:

You can also check the output of
echo $PATH
to see what path you have. Post it here if you're not sure.

Yes, but where I should type this command? The problem is that kde's Konsole doesn't work.

I've discovered that there can be some other reason of this problem. I've changed settings of Konsole and typed full path to the program which should be used as shell (was: "bash", now is: "/bin/bash"), but the Konsole still behaves in the same way.

Any suggestions?

tmaynard · 2005-09-28 10:45:08

A couple of thoughts....

You can use Alt-F2 (or Run Command on the menu) and type in xterm (or /usr/X11R6/bin/xterm if necessary) to launch an xterm that should help you in your troubleshooting steps.

Assuming that the xterm comes up ok, you can check your $PATH and you can also try to run konsole from the commandline to see what errors you get.

You can also try creating a new user and logging into KDE as that user and seeing if konsole works for that account. If it does work, then it suggests a config problem in ~/.kde somewhere.

T-Dawg · 2005-09-28 10:52:20

phi wrote:

Yes, but where I should type this command? The problem is that kde's Konsole doesn't work.

CTRL+ALT+<F1>
f1-f6 are availble consoles, f7 is reserved for X which you are in.
Please report echo $PATH from there, you should have /bin as the first then :/usr/bin/:/sbin/ as the next.

phi · 2005-09-28 13:58:32

tmaynard wrote:

You can use Alt-F2 (or Run Command on the menu) and type in xterm (or /usr/X11R6/bin/xterm if necessary) to launch an xterm that should help you in your troubleshooting steps.

It also doesn't work. Simply no response - like I wouldn't have written anything.

tmaynard wrote:

Assuming that the xterm comes up ok, you can check your $PATH and you can also try to run konsole from the commandline to see what errors you get.

I'm really irritated beacuse I can't start any terminal in X and use command line, so I can't check $PATH in any way (or maybe there is some point-and-click kde tool to see env. vars??).

tmaynard wrote:

You can also try creating a new user and logging into KDE as that user and seeing if konsole works for that account. If it does work, then it suggests a config problem in ~/.kde somewhere.

I've tried this, but for another user kde's behaviour is the same:empty Konsole or Run Command works only for some programs (kde programs I suppose, eg. kwrite).

Penguin wrote:

CTRL+ALT+<F1>
f1-f6 are availble consoles, f7 is reserved for X which you are in.
Please report echo $PATH from there, you should have /bin as the first then :/usr/bin/:/sbin/ as the next.

Yes, but I think the shells in text terminals are not forked by kde, so they don't inherit kde's environment. That's because I can't check kde's PATH in that way.

I have no idea what's wrong...

tmaynard · 2005-09-28 14:13:14

Something to try....

- Log into KDE
- Switch to a term session (Ctrl-Alt-F1) and login as the same user
- type:
export DISPLAY=0:0 konsole
- watch the console messages
- switch back to KDE (Ctrl-Alt-F7)

What do you have?

phi · 2005-09-28 15:20:29

tmaynard wrote:

- Log into KDE

Where does kde log?

tmaynard wrote:

- Switch to a term session (Ctrl-Alt-F1) and login as the same user
- type:
export DISPLAY=0:0 konsole
- watch the console messages
- switch back to KDE (Ctrl-Alt-F7)
What do you have?

Ok. I've done that. Konsole ofcourse behaves in the same way, but i have some warning. That's all konsole output:

kbuildsycoca running...
kdecore (KProcess): WARNING: Can't open a pseudo teletype.

What does it mean?

Mr Green · 2005-09-28 15:26:46

Show us your fstab !

phi · 2005-09-28 15:28:09

I know. I'm just checking it. I think i've badly configured kernel before compilation. I don't have support for PTY compiled in...

Mr Green · 2005-09-28 15:33:06

emmmm

shadowhand · 2005-09-28 15:53:55

Pseudo TTYs are slightly important...

tmaynard · 2005-09-28 15:56:30

I like how everybody pounced on that as soon as we got the *key* clue....

phi · 2005-09-28 16:13:01

I hope it's the last question.

I have a custom build of kernel ver. 2.6.10.
I've turned on Device Drivers->Character Devices->Legacy (BSD) PTY support.
Unfortunately it didn't helped. Ekhm... Do I have to enable PTYs somewhere else??

BTW. I've discovered that "screen" also doesn't work, and prints that there is no free PTY.

So, how to enable PTY?

Arch Linux

#1 2005-09-27 19:32:51

KDE and problems with PATH

#2 2005-09-27 21:11:17

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#3 2005-09-28 07:27:12

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#4 2005-09-28 07:37:59

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#5 2005-09-28 09:20:46

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#6 2005-09-28 10:45:08

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#7 2005-09-28 10:52:20

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#8 2005-09-28 13:58:32

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#9 2005-09-28 14:13:14

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#10 2005-09-28 15:20:29

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#11 2005-09-28 15:26:46

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#12 2005-09-28 15:28:09

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#13 2005-09-28 15:33:06

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#14 2005-09-28 15:53:55

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#15 2005-09-28 15:56:30

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

#16 2005-09-28 16:13:01

Re: KDE and problems with PATH

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