Problems with GDM [given up]

andre.ramaciotti · 2007-06-10 18:33:54

I've been using KDM for a while now, but I'm not using KDE anymore and I wanted to uninstall it at all.

I installed GDM with all its dependencies via pacman but when I try to start X using it (either with the GDM command or the /etc/rc.d/gdm start), it crashes. Ocasionally this message appears: "The greeter application appears to be crashing. Attempting to use a different one."

Can someone help me please?

Last edited by andre.ramaciotti (2007-06-13 15:23:04)

aris002 · 2007-06-10 22:19:25

I had similar problem and I guess there's something gdm config related.
For me this was helpful:
1.If you still can login into X then launch "gdmsetup" as root.
2. click on "security" tab
3. click "Configure X Server".
4.a if you are satisfied with the settings
4.1. change only what you have in the Launch field.
4.2. Close, close
4.3 repeat all the steps above but set Greeter in the Launch field.
4b if you are NOT satisfied with the settings in "Configure X Server" them just set them and close.

I would also suggest to inspect ALL the GDM settings.

andre.ramaciotti · 2007-06-10 22:50:46

Still getting the same error. If I change the launch field to Chooser, it crashes and at the 6th time it says that'll wait 90 seconds before trying again. If I set it to Greeter, it crashes and says that'll try to use a different greeter (which I believe is the 'chooser' one).

The file I'm using is basically the one that's find in /usr/share/gdm/defaults.conf

aris002 · 2007-06-11 09:12:41

Try to copy my gdm config to /etc/gdm/custom.conf. Also check /etc/gdm dir and files ownership and properties. And I forgotten to mention that you might just need to start GNOME from kdm and from *gnome menu* "Login Window" (or what it is) *OR* additionally reactivate-activate Chooser (Launch field).

# GDM Custom Configuration file.
#
# This file is the appropriate place for specifying your customizations to the
# GDM configuration.   If you run gdmsetup, it will automatically edit this
# file for you and will cause the daemon and any running GDM GUI programs to
# automatically update with the new configuration.  Not all configuration
# options are supported by gdmsetup, so to modify some values it may be
# necessary to modify this file directly by hand.
#
# This file overrides the default configuration settings.  These settings
# are stored in the GDM System Defaults configuration file, which is found
# at the following location.
#
# /usr/share/gdm/defaults.conf.
#
# This file contains comments about the meaning of each configuration option,
# so is also a useful reference.  Also refer to the documentation links at
# the end of this comment for further information.  In short, to hand-edit
# this file, simply add or modify the key=value combination in the
# appropriate section in the template below this comment section.
#
# For example, if you want to specify a different value for the Enable key
# in the "[debug]" section of your GDM System Defaults configuration file,
# then add "Enable=true" in the "[debug]" section of this file.  If the
# key already exists in this file, then simply modify it.
#
# Older versions of GDM used the "gdm.conf" file for configuration.  If your
# system has an old gdm.conf file on the system, it will be used instead of
# this file - so changes made to this file will not take effect.  Consider
# migrating your configuration to this file and removing the gdm.conf file.
#
# If you hand edit a GDM configuration file, you can run the following
# command and the GDM daemon will immediately reflect the change.  Any
# running GDM GUI programs will also be notified to update with the new
# configuration.
#
# gdmflexiserver --command="UPDATE_CONFIG <configuration key>"
#
# e.g, the "Enable" key in the "[debug]" section would be "debug/Enable".
#
# You can also run gdm-restart or gdm-safe-restart to cause GDM to restart and
# re-read the new configuration settings.  You can also restart GDM by sending
# a HUP or USR1 signal to the daemon.  HUP behaves like gdm-restart and causes
# any user session started by GDM to exit immediately while USR1 behaves like
# gdm-safe-restart and will wait until all users log out before restarting GDM.
#
# For full reference documentation see the gnome help browser under
# GNOME|System category.  You can also find the docs in HTML form on
# http://www.gnome.org/projects/gdm/
#
# NOTE: Lines that begin with "#" are considered comments.
#
# Have fun!

[daemon]
TimedLoginDelay=10

[security]

[xdmcp]

[gui]
GtkRC=

[greeter]
Browser=true
DefaultWelcome=false
Welcome=Welcome to Arch Linux %n
IncludeAll=true
Use24Clock=yes
BackgroundType=0
BackgroundImage=/usr/share/pixmaps/backgrounds/cosmos/earth-horizon.jpg
Logo=
TitleBar=false
SoundOnLoginFile=/opt/kde/share/sounds/KDE_Startup.wav
SoundOnLogin=false

[chooser]

[debug]

# Note that to disable servers defined in the GDM System Defaults
# configuration file (such as 0=Standard, you must put a line in this file
# that says 0=inactive, as described in the Configuration section of the GDM
# documentation.
#
[servers]

# Also note, that if you redefine a [server-foo] section, then GDM will
# use the definition in this file, not the GDM System Defaults configuration
# file.  It is currently not possible to disable a [server-foo] section
# defined in the GDM System Defaults configuration file.
#

[server-Standard]
name=Standard server
command=/usr/bin/X -audit 0
chooser=false
handled=true
flexible=true
priority=0

#aris002 added below
[server-XGL]
name=Xgl server
command=/usr/bin/Xgl :1 -accel xv:pbuffer -accel glx:pbuffer
flexible=true
chooser=false
handled=true
priority=0

andre.ramaciotti · 2007-06-12 15:52:06

I think I'm missing a library. I wasn't running gdm with '--nodaemon', so I wasn't seeing the error messages. Here's the message:

"Gtk-Message: Failed to load module atk-bridge: libatk-bridge.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory"

Could this be the problem?

And by the way, who should be the owner of the files in /etc/gdm? root or gdm?

aris002 · 2007-06-12 17:21:17

As I wrote somewhere else: "golden rule: test not working programs from terminal first!"
AIRC, libatk is required.
AFAIK, etc/gdm first choice owner - root (after one pacman -Syu or my experiments I had "nobody" etc..)
but according to man gdm.conf - in some authentication cases e.g /var/gdm - gdm, gdm 755
and gdm is picky for other things like file sizes. So..., in gdm case is really worth to RTFM and be watchful

andre.ramaciotti · 2007-06-12 17:25:10

In which package I find the libatk?

Thanks for the help.

aris002 · 2007-06-12 18:44:50

[i] current/atk (1.18.0-2): A library providing a set of interfaces for accessibility

andre.ramaciotti · 2007-06-12 18:50:04

D'oh! I searched for 'libatk'. Thanks once again.

aris002 · 2007-06-12 20:03:31

Is working?

andre.ramaciotti · 2007-06-12 21:25:12

No, it's not working yet.

About the atk library, I already have it installed here, the library that's missing is the atk-bridge, which I can't find. But it seems to be a accessibility library, do I really need it to run gdm?

aris002 · 2007-06-12 22:49:15

Have you used my /etc/gdm/custom.conf?
I guess you have in your gdm files something like:

[daemon]
 GtkModulesList=gail:atk-bridge:/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/modules/libkeymouselistener:/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/modules/libdwellmouselistener

if yes, try my conf or comment that line above. And/Or dissable "accesability login" in gdm setup.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/107383

quick look at my files doesn't show the file you mentioned.

andre.ramaciotti · 2007-06-12 23:15:32

I disabled the accessibility module and now if I pick "Greeter" in the gdmsetup, at console it prints: "(gdm-binary:6434): Gtk-Warning **: Ignoring the separator setting", otherwise it shows nothing, but it stopped printing the previous message.

I tried using your file, but it didn't work too.

aris002 · 2007-06-13 00:13:29

Can you run other gtk+ apps? From where and how do you start gdm?
btw, why uninstall KDE? Konqueror e.g is the fastest browser and a very good file manager.
if anything is not working then is possible to compare on different desktops.
I personally use gdm and openbox mostly but keep a lot of packages because you never know with those dependancies..
and it looks like gdm daemon is a bad thing, too...

andre.ramaciotti · 2007-06-13 15:22:37

Yes, actually most of apps I use are gtk+.

I don't like KDe very much because I get lots of sigsevs with it, but I haven't tried the 3.5.7 version, maybe I should give a try.

Thanks for the help anyway.

aris002 · 2007-06-13 18:43:31

maybe try an alternative login manager "slim"?

andre.ramaciotti · 2007-06-13 21:02:46

Does it allow me to chose different sessions? I read a little about it and it seems that it doesn't have this freature, I'd need to change a text file to login in a different window manager.

I'll give it a try anyway, I've been using XFCE almost exclusivily

aris002 · 2007-06-13 23:37:09

I've just installed slim. It loads really fast and I can confirm that it works with xfce sessions. Just will need to find out how to use screensavers and lock screen. I might use it for a while...

karsten · 2007-06-14 04:32:11

i'll bet you $10 the problem is a permissions issue on both your /home directory and your /tmp directories. since the new versions of Arch i've had the same issue, and it always boils down to doing a chmod +rw on /home and chmod +rwx or something very similar on /tmp. give it a shot, i just installed two systems, ran into identical issues, and this fixed it on both. your home dir should be rwx for user and read for others.

good luck

josenj · 2008-02-03 20:45:59

I had a similar problem but this was a fresh Arch 64-bit install. The /tmp folder for me wasn't set correctly. I didn't have the write permissions. I ran the following command:

chmod 1777 /tmp

This solved it for me.

andre.ramaciotti · 2008-02-03 21:33:33

Since then I did a fresh install (I bought a new HD), and it worked. But it's been a long time, I got tired of using Openbox and started using KDEMod, so I'm back to KDM.

Thanks anyway.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-06-10 18:33:54

Problems with GDM [given up]

#2 2007-06-10 22:19:25

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#3 2007-06-10 22:50:46

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#4 2007-06-11 09:12:41

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#5 2007-06-12 15:52:06

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#6 2007-06-12 17:21:17

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#7 2007-06-12 17:25:10

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#8 2007-06-12 18:44:50

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#9 2007-06-12 18:50:04

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#10 2007-06-12 20:03:31

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#11 2007-06-12 21:25:12

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#12 2007-06-12 22:49:15

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#13 2007-06-12 23:15:32

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#14 2007-06-13 00:13:29

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#15 2007-06-13 15:22:37

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#16 2007-06-13 18:43:31

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#17 2007-06-13 21:02:46

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#18 2007-06-13 23:37:09

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#19 2007-06-14 04:32:11

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#20 2008-02-03 20:45:59

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

#21 2008-02-03 21:33:33

Re: Problems with GDM [given up]

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