[SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

yetanotheroldnewbie · 2023-11-10 03:21:16

Xfwm does not start. The rest of Xfce is working as far as I can tell (panel is there along with notifications and thunar and catfish have no problems either).
Everything started when I had the unfortunate idea of trying another DE. Tried switching between cinnamon, mate, gnome a few times and realized that back on xfce my window decorations were gone.

Since then I uninstalled all other DEs and also:
- ran xfwm4 --replace
- removed ~/.cache/xfce4 and rebooted
- removed .Xauthority .ICEauthority .xsession-errors and rebooted
- removed every single dot file, .cache/xfce4, replaced .xinitrc with the default one
- uninstalled and reinstalled xfce4 group
All to no avail.

Not sure if it helps but xfwm4 -- debug log shows Missing defaults file and xsession-errors contains a few critical errors (WNCK_IS_WINDOW and WNCK_IS_WORKSPACE assertions failed probably due to the lack of a working window manager).

Any help on how to get xfwm running again is greatly appreciated.

Last edited by yetanotheroldnewbie (2023-11-11 02:19:33)

seth · 2023-11-10 08:44:29

Is there a running xfwm4 process?
Do you get errors for running "xfwm4 --replace"?
Anything in https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Core_d … _core_dump

You do also not have decorations on eg. xterm (to rule out that this is a gtk config conflict b/c of their stupid CSD )?

yetanotheroldnewbie · 2023-11-10 11:57:01

Xfwm4 is not running; pgrep xfwm4 shows no process.
No errors for xfwm4 --replace. It does not start and if I run pgrep with with the process number generated it shows Exit 1.
The core dump directory has a few files but none of them related to xfwm4 and all generated prior to this predicament.
Xterm window has no decorations.

Last edited by yetanotheroldnewbie (2023-11-10 12:58:04)

seth · 2023-11-10 13:57:00

You could try to strace or gdb xfwm4
For GDB, you probably want to to that from a different VT because there's a high likelyhood that you can't interact w/ the X11 server when a WM is stalled by the debugger.
For the latter case, you'll have to "export DISPLAY=:0"
For strace, use "-o" to redirect the strace to a file that you can then post to 0x0.st (1st link below)

yetanotheroldnewbie · 2023-11-10 15:24:13

I've uploaded strace output to
https://0x0.st/Htk0.txt

Perhaps the huge number of missing icons, cursors and themes can be ignored, but at least to my untrained eyes
getpeername(2, 0x7ffefe88c460, [128]) = -1 ENOTSOCK (Socket operation on non-socket)
futex(0x7f65a39b3ff8, FUTEX_WAKE_PRIVATE, 2147483647) = 0
ioctl(2, TCGETS, 0x7ffefe88c430) = -1 ENOTTY (Inappropriate ioctl for device)
look suspicious.

seth · 2023-11-10 18:07:34

write(2, "DBG[main.c:734] main(): xfwm4 st"..., 669) = 669

looks like it prints an error?
Either to the console or maybe xsession-errors

From the immediate context (but that's wild speculation)

echo $TZ
stat /etc/localtime
stat $(realpath /etc/localtime)

toz · 2023-11-10 20:59:28

execve("/usr/local/bin/xfwm4", ["xfwm4", "--replace"], 0x7ffcce151118 /* 42 vars */) = 0

Why is the executable in /usr/local? Is this a custom build of the package or source tree?

pacman -Qi xfwm4
xfwm4 -V

...and contents of ~/.xsession-errors.

seth · 2023-11-10 21:18:50

I missed the obvious…

yetanotheroldnewbie · 2023-11-10 21:25:21

I haven't noticed it either. Oddly enough is just the xfwm4 package I got from pacman -S xfce4.

pacman -Qi xfwm4

Name            : xfwm4
Version         : 4.18.0-2
Description     : Xfce's window manager
Architecture    : x86_64
URL             : https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfwm4/start
Licenses        : GPL2
Groups          : xfce4
Provides        : None
Depends On      : libxfce4ui  xfconf  libwnck3  libepoxy  libxpresent
                  hicolor-icon-theme
Optional Deps   : None
Required By     : xfwm4-themes
Optional For    : None
Conflicts With  : None
Replaces        : None
Installed Size  : 2.19 MiB
Packager        : Evangelos Foutras <foutrelis@archlinux.org>
Build Date      : Tue Oct 17 16:28:53 2023
Install Date    : Fri Nov 10 17:54:33 2023
Install Reason  : Explicitly installed
Install Script  : No
Validated By    : Signature

xfwm4 -V

	This is xfwm4 version 4.18.0git.UNKNOWN (revision UNKNOWN) for Xfce 4.18
	Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
	Compiled against GTK+-3.24.34, using GTK+-3.24.38.

	Build configuration and supported features:
	- Startup notification support:                 Yes
	- XSync support:                                Yes
	- Render support:                               Yes
	- Xrandr support:                               Yes
	- Xpresent support:                             No
	- X Input 2 support:                            No
	- Embedded compositor:                          Yes
	- Epoxy support:                                Yes

.xsession-errors

/usr/bin/iceauth:  creating new authority file /run/user/1000/ICEauthority
gpg-agent: a gpg-agent is already running - not starting a new one
xfsettingsd: No window manager registered on screen 0.

(xfsettingsd:1016): xfsettingsd-WARNING **: 18:11:59.693: Failed to get the _NET_NUMBER_OF_DESKTOPS property.
xfce4-panel: No window manager registered on screen 0. To start the panel without this check, run with --disable-wm-check.

** (wrapper-2.0:1034): WARNING **: 18:12:00.038: could not get output property
No window manager registered on screen 0. To start the xfdesktop without this check, run with --disable-wm-check.

(xfce4-session:948): xfce4-session-WARNING **: 18:12:15.879: Unable to launch "xcape -e 'Super_L=Alt_L|F1'" (specified by autostart/xcape.desktop): Failed to execute child process “xcape” (No such file or directory)

(xfce4-session:948): xfce4-session-WARNING **: 18:12:15.880: Unable to launch "/etc/skel/.config/autostart/xfce-pbw.sh" (specified by autostart/xfce-panel-workaround.desktop): Failed to execute child process “/etc/skel/.config/autostart/xfce-pbw.sh” (No such file or directory)
** Message: 18:12:15.941: tray.vala:166: checking updates is not enabled, exiting

(xfce4-power-manager:1167): xfce4-power-manager-WARNING **: 18:12:15.943: could not map keysym 1008ffa8 to keycode


(xfce4-screensaver:1177): libxfce4ui-WARNING **: 18:12:15.950: org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver running but unused: using org.xfce.ScreenSaver instead

(xfce4-session:948): libxfce4ui-WARNING **: 18:12:15.950: org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver running but unused: using org.xfce.ScreenSaver instead

** (xfce4-power-manager:1167): WARNING **: 18:12:15.952: could not get output property
xfce4-power-manager-Message: 18:12:15.984: Set kernel brightness switch to 0

(xfce4-power-manager:1167): xfce4-power-manager-WARNING **: 18:12:15.988: Failed to get keyboard max brightness level : GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: Object does not exist at path “/org/freedesktop/UPower/KbdBacklight”

(xfce4-power-manager:1167): libxfce4ui-WARNING **: 18:12:15.988: org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver running but unused: using org.xfce.ScreenSaver instead

(xfce4-power-manager:1167): xfconf-WARNING **: 18:12:15.988: Failed to set property "xfce4-power-manager::/xfce4-power-manager/brightness-switch": Operation was cancelled
xfce4-power-manager-Message: 18:12:16.000: Set kernel brightness switch to 0
blueman-applet 18.12.16 WARNING  PluginManager:151 __load_plugin: Not loading DhcpClient because its conflict has higher priority
blueman-applet 18.12.16 WARNING  PluginManager:151 __load_plugin: Not loading PPPSupport because its conflict has higher priority

(wrapper-2.0:1032): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: 18:12:16.373: Unable to replace properties on 0: Error getting properties for ID

(wrapper-2.0:1032): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: 18:12:16.483: Unable to replace properties on 0: Error getting properties for ID

(Thunar:1122): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: 18:14:34.204: GFileInfo created without standard::size

(Thunar:1122): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: 18:14:34.204: file ../glib/gio/gfileinfo.c: line 1846 (g_file_info_get_size): should not be reached

yetanotheroldnewbie · 2023-11-10 21:59:36

Update: if I run "/usr/bin/xfwm4 --replace" it works as expected.
I am still flabbergasted as to why it decided by itself to run from /usr/local/bin instead of /usr/bin. Even more interesting is the fact that there are 2 xfwm4 files: one in /usr/bin and another in /usr/local/bin and both are actual files not symlinks.
file /usr/bin/xfwm4

/usr/bin/xfwm4: ELF 64-bit LSB pie executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, BuildID[sha1]=c348d023c8ecd3dccfbe5cab50685938284a0d6a, for GNU/Linux 4.4.0, stripped

file /usr/local/bin/xfwm4

/usr/local/bin/xfwm4: ELF 64-bit LSB pie executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, BuildID[sha1]=c2ba024c478e7a9ad296d4e896f66787a92c96b9, for GNU/Linux 3.2.0, with debug_info, not stripped

Last edited by yetanotheroldnewbie (2023-11-11 00:30:05)

toz · 2023-11-11 01:51:04

yetanotheroldnewbie wrote:

I am still flabbergasted as to why it decided by itself to run from /usr/local/bin instead of /usr/bin.

Probably because /usr/local/bin is first in your $PATH.

Even more interesting is the fact that there are 2 xfwm4 files: one in /usr/bin and another in /usr/local/bin and both are actual files not symlinks.
file /usr/bin/xfwm4

This is really odd and there shouldn't be one in /usr/local/bin. I usually see this when an attempt is made to build from source and not specify a "--prefix" parameter (the default prefix is /usr/local/bin). Check to see if you have corresponding xfwm4 files in "/usr/local/share/xfwm4" as this would be indicative of a separate manual build. Either way, you should uninstall or delete those files.

yetanotheroldnewbie · 2023-11-11 02:16:51

Since the copy at /usr/local/bin was a debug build I've deleted it and moved on. Hopefully that's the end of it. Thanks.

Arch Linux

#1 2023-11-10 03:21:16

[SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

#2 2023-11-10 08:44:29

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

#3 2023-11-10 11:57:01

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

#4 2023-11-10 13:57:00

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

#5 2023-11-10 15:24:13

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

#6 2023-11-10 18:07:34

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

#7 2023-11-10 20:59:28

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

#8 2023-11-10 21:18:50

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

#9 2023-11-10 21:25:21

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

#10 2023-11-10 21:59:36

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

#11 2023-11-11 01:51:04

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

#12 2023-11-11 02:16:51

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start xfwm4

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