[Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

bradwiggo · 2025-07-19 17:48:13

Suddenly I can't use pinentry-gtk, as typing the character "c" will "cancel" the popup. This just started happening today. Has ayone else experienced this? I experienced it using the pass password manager.

Workaround for now is to add:

pinentry-program /usr/bin/pinentry-tty

to

 ~/.local/share/gnupg/gpg-agent.conf

or

~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf

if you haven't set

GNUPGHOME

to something different

Update:

Changing the mod key in my i3 config to Alt (Mod1), and then back to Super (Mod4), fixed the issue. Not sure how or why this fixed it.

Last edited by bradwiggo (2025-07-21 14:00:14)

seth · 2025-07-19 19:14:33

This almost sounds like a stuck ctrl key - except that pinentry-gtk doesn't respond to ctrl+c here.

xev -event keyboard

make sure the state isn't &0x4 (should be 0x10 or 0x0)
Do you get this when running

echo GETPIN | pinentry-gtk

?

bradwiggo · 2025-07-20 09:56:56

seth wrote:

This almost sounds like a stuck ctrl key - except that pinentry-gtk doesn't respond to ctrl+c here.
xev -event keyboard
make sure the state isn't &0x4 (should be 0x10 or 0x0)
Do you get this when running
echo GETPIN | pinentry-gtk
?

State is 0x0 in xev

It does happen when running pinentry-gtk by itself

seth · 2025-07-20 11:54:00

What does pinentry-gtk print to the console in that case?
Is this on X11 or some wayland compositor?
Do you use a custom IM?

printenv

Same for

echo GETPIN | NO_AT_BRIDGE=1 GDK_CORE_DEVICE_EVENTS=1 GTK_IM_MODULE=gtk-im-context-simple pinentry-gtk

bradwiggo · 2025-07-20 14:49:13

seth wrote:

What does pinentry-gtk print to the console in that case?
Is this on X11 or some wayland compositor?
Do you use a custom IM?
printenv
Same for
echo GETPIN | NO_AT_BRIDGE=1 GDK_CORE_DEVICE_EVENTS=1 GTK_IM_MODULE=gtk-im-context-simple pinentry-gtk

On X11, running i3.

Not sure what an IM is sorry

printenv output:

SHELL=/usr/bin/bash
WINDOWID=20971523
COLORTERM=truecolor
XDG_SESSION_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Session0
HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth:erasedups
ICEAUTHORITY=/home/user/.cache/ICEauthority
I3SOCK=/run/user/1000/i3/ipc-socket.732
XDG_DATA_HOME=/home/user/.local/share
XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/home/user/.config
GNUPGHOME=/home/user/.local/share/gnupg
DESKTOP_SESSION=i3
EDITOR=nano
GTK_MODULES=canberra-gtk-module
XDG_SEAT=seat0
PWD=/home/user
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=i3
LOGNAME=user
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11
XAUTHORITY=/home/user/.Xauthority
XDG_GREETER_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/lightdm-data/user
TERMINAL=alacritty
MOTD_SHOWN=pam
GTK2_RC_FILES=/home/user/.config/gtk2rc
HOME=/home/user
LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=i3
CARGO_HOME=/home/user/.local/share/cargo
XDG_SEAT_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Seat0
WGETRC=/home/user/.config/wgetrc
XDG_CACHE_HOME=/home/user/.cache
ALACRITTY_SOCKET=/run/user/1000/Alacritty-:0-562793.sock
XDG_SESSION_CLASS=user
WINIT_X11_SCALE_FACTOR=2
PASSWORD_STORE_CLIP_TIME=120
TERM=alacritty
RUSTUP_HOME=/home/user/.local/share/rustup
USER=user
NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG=/home/user/.config/npm/npmrc
VISUAL=micro
DISPLAY=:0
SHLVL=1
XDG_VTNR=7
XDG_SESSION_ID=2
NUGET_PACKAGES=/home/user/.cache/NuGetPackages
XDG_STATE_HOME=/home/user/.local/state
GRIPHOME=/home/user/.config/grip
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000
DEBUGINFOD_URLS=https://debuginfod.archlinux.org 
NODE_REPL_HISTORY=/home/user/.local/share/node_repl_history
BROWSER=firefox
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/lib/jvm/default/bin:/usr/bin/site_perl:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl:/usr/lib/rustup/bin:/home/user/.local/bin:/home/user/.npm/bin:/home/user/.local/share/npm/bin
ALACRITTY_LOG=/tmp/Alacritty-562793.log
GDMSESSION=i3
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/1000/bus
PASSWORD_STORE_DIR=/home/user/.local/share/pass
MAIL=/var/spool/mail/user
_FASD_NOCASE=1
ALACRITTY_WINDOW_ID=20971523
GOPATH=/home/user/.local/share/go
MICRO_TRUECOLOR=1
_=/usr/bin/printenv

pinentry-gtk says :

ERR 83886179 Operation cancelled <Pinentry>

Same result using the command you posted

Issue doesn't occur when typing Shift+C

Last edited by bradwiggo (2025-07-20 14:50:28)

seth · 2025-07-20 15:12:14

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Input_method

XDG_GREETER_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/lightdm-data/user
GDMSESSION=i3

Are you using lightdm or GDM?
Does the same happen on eg. openbox?
Since this started "just today" but most relevant pacakges haven't been updated in months, check your pacman log for what actually did change.

The problem isn't the ctrl but the alt key, alt+c will activate the cancel button (didn't realize that as it's localized here), state would be &0x8

bradwiggo · 2025-07-20 15:23:39

seth wrote:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Input_method
XDG_GREETER_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/lightdm-data/user
GDMSESSION=i3
Are you using lightdm or GDM?
Does the same happen on eg. openbox?
Since this started "just today" but most relevant pacakges haven't been updated in months, check your pacman log for what actually did change.
The problem isn't the ctrl but the alt key, alt+c will activate the cancel button (didn't realize that as it's localized here), state would be &0x8

Using lightdm at the moment.
Doesn't happen on openbox, although running xev the output is the same (i.e. the state is 0x0)

Programs that were recently updated:

libxml2
libldap
spirv-tools
chromium
fastfetch
glslang
vulkan-icd-loader
shaderc
libplacebo
x264
ffmpeg
perl
graphviz
gstreamer
gst-plugins-base-libs
gst-plugins-bad-libs
gst-plugins-base
libev
i3lock
imagemagick
libngtcp2
net-snmp
perl-error
perl-image-exiftool
perl-io-tty
perl-timedate
perl-mailtools
perl-rename
socat
curl
archlinux-keyring
intel-gpu-tools
libmicrohttpd
mesa
libimagequant
sqlite
linux
python-certifi
thunar

seth · 2025-07-20 15:40:43

I guess Alt is your special modifier on i3 (to switch windows)?
Does it happen w/ a clean i3 config? Did you alter anything there?
The modifier might get triggered by the pinentry-gtk window, is it configured to be floating?

bradwiggo · 2025-07-20 15:46:12

seth wrote:

I guess Alt is your special modifier on i3 (to switch windows)?
Does it happen w/ a clean i3 config? Did you alter anything there?
The modifier might get triggered by the pinentry-gtk window, is it configured to be floating?

My i3 config uses Super as the mod key
It does open as a floating window. I never specifically configured it that way, it's just like that by default

Changing i3 to use Mod 1 (Alt) as the mod key, and the issue doesn't happen. So it seems to be linked to Super being the mod key (not sure why, as Super has nothing to do with the close action)

seth · 2025-07-20 19:39:57

So it seems to be linked to Super being the mod key (not sure why, as Super has nothing to do with the close action)

Have you tried to change it back?
Post your i3 config… I guess - this is super-weird. Unless you know that and what you recently might have changed there, we'll have to squint at the config and hope that something flares up

bradwiggo · 2025-07-21 09:04:49

seth wrote:

So it seems to be linked to Super being the mod key (not sure why, as Super has nothing to do with the close action)
Have you tried to change it back?
Post your i3 config… I guess - this is super-weird. Unless you know that and what you recently might have changed there, we'll have to squint at the config and hope that something flares up

Changing to Alt then back to Super seems to have fixed it. What could have been causing this? Did you see any updated packages that could cause it?

Here is my i3 config: https://github.com/randomcoder67/Dotfil … /i3/config

Last edited by bradwiggo (2025-07-21 09:05:13)

seth · 2025-07-21 13:31:29

Did you see any updated packages that could cause it?

Nope… :\
Did all failures happen on the same i3 PID (maybe there was a bad internal state?)?

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

bradwiggo · 2025-07-21 13:59:12

seth wrote:

Did you see any updated packages that could cause it?
Nope… :\
Did all failures happen on the same i3 PID (maybe there was a bad internal state?)?
Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

Must have been on different i3 instances as I rebooted a few times. Not sure why changing (or maybe just reloading?) the config fixed it. Will report back if it happens again.

I'll edit the main post and mark as resolved, thanks for your help.

seth · 2025-07-21 14:21:46

It's a HUUUGE stretch, but there's a mix of tab and space indentions in your config and while all lines (now) terminate LF, maybe there has been some CRLF sneaked in by using the wrong™ editor?
(Reminder: "HUUUGE stretch" - it's not like I believe that but it's "some" explanation for the behavior…)

Let's see whether the problem returns.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-07-19 17:48:13

[Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#2 2025-07-19 19:14:33

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#3 2025-07-20 09:56:56

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#4 2025-07-20 11:54:00

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#5 2025-07-20 14:49:13

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#6 2025-07-20 15:12:14

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#7 2025-07-20 15:23:39

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#8 2025-07-20 15:40:43

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#9 2025-07-20 15:46:12

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#10 2025-07-20 19:39:57

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#11 2025-07-21 09:04:49

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#12 2025-07-21 13:31:29

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#13 2025-07-21 13:59:12

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

#14 2025-07-21 14:21:46

Re: [Resolved] pinentry-gtk Suddenly not working (c cancels)

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