xfce4 no panels no desktop icons

seth · 2021-04-15 06:48:53

Just from the multiple TTY logins and that this is sometimes done ("instead of one getty, give me a shell on tty1, 2 &3")
There's still no session bus and that's a problem, so please elaborate on your login process.
Also

pacman -Qikk pambase systemd

tangram · 2021-04-15 07:34:40

I'm writing from the top of my head.
Kernel command line in grub cfg looks more or less "/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=xxx rw loglevel=3 quiet"
there is no extra target specified (i.e multiuser.target)
All is in its default settings.
Although earlier I've tried with graphical target (of course with dm gdm)
but that all has not worked for me.
After I boot I get text login prompt, I type my login and pwd and that's all folks.
Same for other tty sessions (if I need more tty sessions (usual 2-4)).

pacman output I'll send you in the evening.

Last edited by tangram (2021-04-15 14:47:21)

tangram · 2021-04-15 15:51:10

Hi Set

pacman -Qikk pambase systemd

Name : pambase
Version : 20200721.1-2
Description : Base PAM configuration for services
Architecture : any
URL : https://www.archlinux.org
Licenses : GPL
Groups : None
Provides : None
Depends On : None
Optional Deps : None
Required By : pam
Optional For : None
Conflicts With : None
Replaces : None
Installed Size : 2,64 KiB
Packager : Tobias Powalowski <tpowa@archlinux.org>
Build Date : śro, 12 sie 2020, 21:34:37
Install Date : sob, 3 kwi 2021, 12:26:40
Install Reason : Installed as a dependency for another package
Install Script : No
Validated By : Signature
pambase: 8 total files, 0 altered files
Name : systemd
Version : 248-4
Description : system and service manager
Architecture : x86_64
URL : https://www.github.com/systemd/systemd
Licenses : GPL2 LGPL2.1
Groups : None
Provides : nss-myhostname systemd-tools=248 udev=248
Depends On : acl libacl.so=1-64 bash cryptsetup libcryptsetup.so=12-64 dbus iptables kbd kmod libkmod.so=2-64 hwids libcap libcap.so=2-64 libgcrypt libxcrypt libcrypt.so=2-64 systemd-libs libidn2 lz4 pam libelf libseccomp libseccomp.so=2-64 util-linux libblkid.so=1-64 libmount.so=1-64 xz pcre2 audit libaudit.so=1-64 libp11-kit libp11-kit.so=0-64 openssl
Optional Deps : libmicrohttpd: remote journald capabilities
quota-tools: kernel-level quota management
systemd-sysvcompat: symlink package to provide sysvinit binaries [installed]
polkit: allow administration as unprivileged user [installed]
curl: machinectl pull-tar and pull-raw [installed]
libfido2: unlocking LUKS2 volumes with FIDO2 token
tpm2-tss: unlocking LUKS2 volumes with TPM2
Required By : base colord libinput libpulse libwacom mkinitcpio polkit systemd-sysvcompat upower
Optional For : None
Conflicts With : nss-myhostname systemd-tools udev
Replaces : nss-myhostname systemd-tools udev
Installed Size : 25,03 MiB
Packager : Christian Hesse <arch@eworm.de>
Build Date : czw, 8 kwi 2021, 00:10:25
Install Date : pią, 9 kwi 2021, 20:32:51
Install Reason : Installed as a dependency for another package
Install Script : Yes
Validated By : Signature
systemd: 1891 total files, 1 altered file

Additionally I've checked reverse dependency for both packages with depth 1

pactree -r -d1 pambase

pambase
└─pam

pactree -r -d1 systemd

systemd
├─base
├─colord
├─libinput
├─libpulse
├─libwacom
├─mkinitcpio
├─polkit
├─systemd-sysvcompat
└─upower

Probably you know that all

seth · 2021-04-15 16:04:34

Do you maybe export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS somewhere in /etc/profile or so?
You have the variable, but no session bus (please check "ps aux | grep dbus" again, preferably from xfce) so either it crashes (see "coredumpctl") or it never launches because the variable is always set…

euromatlox · 2021-04-15 18:34:15

I am using xfce myself.

Do you (your user name) have all necessary groups ? When looking your first post, power group comes to my mind. If you're the only user of the computer (simultaneously) I suppose it's safe to add your user into power group. In a more complex case (network server), I'm not sure if that's accepted.

I have these groups (plus user's own group):

disk lp wheel ftp http video audio optical floppy storage power users

Just remembered that I have disabled floppy in bios settings (to get rid off some messages), so that group has no use.

Last edited by euromatlox (2021-04-15 18:38:17)

tangram · 2021-04-15 19:08:06

@set
I would never tweak by DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS variable
My "ps aux | grep dbus" shows

dbus 323 0.0 0.0 12516 6292 ? Ss 20:17 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --system --address=systemd: --nofork --nopidfile --systemd-activation --syslog-only
tangram 518 0.2 0.0 11964 5884 ? Ss 20:32 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --session --address=systemd: --nofork --nopidfile --systemd-activation --syslog-only
tangram 536 0.0 0.0 11800 5608 ? S 20:32 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --config-file=/usr/share/defaults/at-spi2/accessibility.conf --nofork --print-address 3

No coredumps found

@euromatlox
I am in these groups:

power users storage wheel tangram

I want to say again all what I did was:
- installed arch in text mode
- copied my old .bashrc file (there are no suspicious settings just convenient aliases)
- configured mirrorlist file
- added color output to pacman
and so on
When text framework was ok
I installed xorg, gdm, xfce4 + goodies (as I wrote earlier)
Then I noticed xfce4 desktop problem
I removed gdm (I thought this was the cause of panel issues)
prepared my .xinitrc with which I start broken xfce until today
and that's all
Nothing more, I didn't do any changes on sensible config files in etc

tangram · 2021-04-15 19:33:56

I've just run "last chance" brute force grep over /etc and /usr
grep DBUS_SESSIO -rnHI /etc/*
[root@bex ~]# grep DBUS_SESSIO -rnHI /usr/*

/usr/lib/systemd/user/dbus.socket:6:ExecStartPost=-/usr/bin/systemctl --user set-environment DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=%t/bus
/usr/lib64/systemd/user/dbus.socket:6:ExecStartPost=-/usr/bin/systemctl --user set-environment DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=%t/bus
/usr/share/doc/systemd/NEWS:3105: * $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS environment variable is set by pam_systemd
/usr/share/doc/systemd/NEWS:3652: * $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS environment variable is not set by

Last two lines meaningless

euromatlox · 2021-04-15 20:49:04

I wonder if xfce4-screensaver might possibly cause something, I have not it installed.

I'll include here my .xinitrc file, it's very simple. I have quite basic installation (no fancy tricks).

#!/bin/sh
#
# ~/.xinitrc
#
# Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)

if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ]; then
  for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/*; do
    [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
  done
  unset f
fi

exec startxfce4

Last edited by euromatlox (2021-04-15 20:57:39)

seth · 2021-04-15 21:06:09

There's now also a session bus in the #31 ps grep, so that was a red herring…
Unfortunately that means we're back on square one.
I'd try to strip down and remove all panel plugins (essentially all packages that depend on xfce4-panel) to see whether one of them causes this…

@euromatlox, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Us … emd_groups

euromatlox · 2021-04-15 21:24:06

seth wrote:

@euromatlox, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Us … emd_groups

Thanks! Might explain a problem with a webcam microphone I recently experienced.

tangram · 2021-04-16 19:15:06

Hi set
I've just removed all panel plugins ... blind shot
I'm a bit exhausted with hunting for the cause of vanishing panel
We have invested so much work in searching for the reason,
maybe we/you were close to find a reason but ... I cant stand it to leave without graphical surface
Probably over the weekend I'm going to install other (what a pity) dm probably budgie

Guys thank you all very much for your support and help
I really appreciate it
Sad tangram

Last edited by tangram (2021-04-16 19:17:40)

Arch Linux

#26 2021-04-15 06:48:53

Re: xfce4 no panels no desktop icons

#27 2021-04-15 07:34:40

Re: xfce4 no panels no desktop icons

#28 2021-04-15 15:51:10

Re: xfce4 no panels no desktop icons

#29 2021-04-15 16:04:34

Re: xfce4 no panels no desktop icons

#30 2021-04-15 18:34:15

Re: xfce4 no panels no desktop icons

#31 2021-04-15 19:08:06

Re: xfce4 no panels no desktop icons

#32 2021-04-15 19:33:56

Re: xfce4 no panels no desktop icons

#33 2021-04-15 20:49:04

Re: xfce4 no panels no desktop icons

#34 2021-04-15 21:06:09

Re: xfce4 no panels no desktop icons

#35 2021-04-15 21:24:06

Re: xfce4 no panels no desktop icons

#36 2021-04-16 19:15:06

Re: xfce4 no panels no desktop icons

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