Can't Change Settings in Xfce

RobK · 2005-12-18 14:06:19

I just installed xfce4. I can change the settings in root. But when I log into a non-root regular user account, nothing happens when I click on the Settings icon on the Panel.

Also I see an error when I exit xfce4 -- Critical error cannot save settings.

I tried to delete my .config file in my home folder but that made no difference.

Any ideas?

Rob

Kern · 2005-12-18 14:36:01

maybe check permissions on your
/home/yourname/.config/xfce4/
directory
and edit accordingly (chown / chmod) etc from a root console

RobK · 2005-12-18 15:21:40

Pernissions look good..

Directories are drwx and files rw for owner rob and group users. But when I log into rob, startxfce4 and try to change settings nothing happens.

Next I uninstalled xfce4-goodies and xfce4. Then I manually deleted the .config and .cache directories in the root and rob home folders.. Then I installed xfce4 and xfce4-goodies.

Same problem. Cannot save settings when using my non root account rob.

I also see the following error messages --

(xftaskbar4: 3505): libxfcegui4-WARNING **: Disconnected from session manager

(xfdesktop: 3505): libxfcegui4-WARNING **: ICE I/O Error

(xfdesktop: 3587): libxfcegui4-WARNING**: Disconncted from session manager

/opt/xfce4/etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc: line 73: 3574 Segmentation fault $xfcesm
xscreensaver" 10:06:48: -1: unrecognized ClientMessage "_NET_WM_STATE" received
xscreensaver" 10:06:48: -1: for window 0x80002d ((null)) / (null))
xscreensaver" 10:06:48: -1: SIGHUP received: restarting...
xscreensaver" 10:06:48: -1: running as rob/users (1000/100)

waiting for X server to shut down xfwm4: Fatal IO error 104 (connection reset by peer) on X server :0.0

** (xfce4-panel:3582): CRITICAL **: Could not write config file
ICE default IO error handler doing an exit (), pid = 3590, errno = 0
xfdesktop: Fatal IO error 104 (connection reset by peer) on X server :0.0
** message: xfce4-panel: Exit
XIO : fatal IO error 104 (connection reset by peer) on X server ":0.0"
after 0 request (0 known processed) with 0 events remaining

I believe all this trouble started after I installed xscreensaver.
Anyone else having this problem?

Any sugggestions?

Rob

RobK · 2005-12-18 15:32:04

I just uninstalled xscreensaver. No difference. I still have the same problem..

I am also seeing some other error messages:

(xfce4-panel: 3807): Gdk-WARNING **: GdkWindow 0x8000b4 unexpectedly destroyed

Rob

Kern · 2005-12-18 17:15:24

now u mention, i remember having similar probs including the problem of a fouled default setting on restart ( total grey screen)

Removing the session manager sorted it, maybe try otherwise im out of suggesttions. good luck

k

TomE · 2005-12-18 17:57:22

run xfce-setting-show from an xterm and see what errors you get.

try deleting ~/.ICEauthority ~/.Xauthority

check the permissions of /opt/xfce4/bin/xfce-settings-show and /opt/xfce4/lib/xfce4/mcs-plugins/* maybe there only root executable.

RobK · 2005-12-18 18:22:23

The permissions look good for /opt/xfce4/bin/xfce-settings-show and /opt/xfce4/lib/xfce4/mcs-plugins/* .. Both are rwxr-xr-x and owned by root.

I can run xfce-setting-show but I get the following errors:

[rob@myarch bin]$ xfce-setting-show

(xfce-mcs-manager:5793): libxfce4util-WARNING **: Invalid XDG_CACHE_HOME directory `/root/.cache', program may behave incorrectly.

(xfce-mcs-manager:5793): libxfce4util-WARNING **: Invalid XDG_DATA_HOME directory `/root/.local/share', program may behave incorrectly.

(xfce-mcs-manager:5793): libxfce4util-WARNING **: Invalid XDG_CONFIG_HOME directory `/root/.config', program may behave incorrectly.

(xfce-mcs-manager:5793): libxfce4mcs-CRITICAL **: mcs_manager_add_channel_from_file: assertion `filename != NULL && strlen (filename) > 0' failed

Any ideas??

Rob
P.S. This is a fresh install on arch. I have installed xorg, icewm, fluxbox and xfce and firefox. That is it.

RobK · 2005-12-19 01:53:34

I think I tracked down the cause but I really don't have a good solution at this time.

If I log into root and then do the following I will NOT be able to bring up the settings window:

#su rob
#startxfce4
Click on Settings Icon on Panel

However, if I do the following, I do not have any problems with bringing up the settings screen:

#su - rob
#startxfce4
Click on Settings Icon on Panel

In other words, switching to a login shell for my regular account rob solved the problem. This is a REAL mystery since the .bashrc and .bash_profile files are identical for the root account and my regular account rob. In my case, the only real difference between "su rob"and "su - rob" is the latter changes my working directory to the home directory for rob.

I don't have problems with any other window manager like icewm etc when using su. But xfce4 seems to require a su - <name of account>.

Perhaps there is a bug in startxfce4?

Rob

Kern · 2005-12-19 10:21:59

i just got rid of the session manager - seemed to cure all ills. not sure if its a bug, or i screwed up some setting.

RobK · 2005-12-19 13:27:35

I filed a bug with on the xfce4 website. I got a very quick response. Here it is:

"No, there's no bug here. The script uses things like $HOME and $USER to
determine the location of your home directory, and thus your configuration
directory. If you don't do 'su -', these values are apparently being inherited
from root's session, hence why it didn't work. I would think this shouldn't be
the case, but this is a problem with your setup, not Xfce."

The folks at xfce are blaming the default setup environment files provided with arch.

I think the real problem is when you do a "su <regular account name>" when logged in as root, the $HOME and $USER environment variable are not reset -- they continue to point to root. I don't see a way around this other than using an "su - <regular account name>"

Perhaps some has a bright idea that would fix the problem so that users who use "su <regular account name>" do not run into problems when using xfce.

Rob

TomE · 2005-12-19 16:30:00

for some reason it looks like your home dir is not recognized.

do you have another partition mounted as /home/ ?

how did you make this user and is the entry right in /etc/passwd eg.
user name:x:1000:100::/home/user:/bin/bash

RobK · 2005-12-19 22:16:58

No my home directory is being recognized.

When I log in as root and then just do a "su rob", $HOME and $USER are being updated.

#su rob
$echo $HOME
/home/rob
$echo $USER
rob

Something else is going on. I do not think this has anything to do with my setup. (I am just using the default .bashrc and .bash_profile that somes with arch. I have not had time to modify them yet).

If you did this on any other distro, I expect you would get the same results.

I suspect that there still is a bug with xfce but there is a work around.. Just use su -.

Rob

RobK · 2005-12-21 00:54:24

I have looked further into this problem.

It would appear that startxfce4 uses two environment variables that arch sets during each login -- $XDG_CONFIG_DIR and $XDG_CONFIG_HOME.

#echo $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS
/etc/xdg:/etc/xdg:/opt/xfce4/etc/xdg
#echo $XDG_CONFIG_HOME
/root/.config
#su rob
$echo $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS
/etc/xdg:/etc/xdg:/opt/xfce4/etc/xdg
$echo $XDG_CONFIG_HOME
/home/rob/.config

Whenever a new LOGIN shell is created or a new LOGIN occurs, arch sources /etc/profile. /etc/profiles sources /etc/profile.d/xorg,sh which sets these two environment variables.

export XDG_CONFIG_HOME=$HOME/.config
etc etc.

Since it looks like the xfce startup scripts (including startxfce4) are using
these environment variables, I don't tink much can be done other than making sure one uses "su -" when switching users. If one uses "su -" then /etc/profile will be sourced again, resetting XDG_CONFIG_HOME to the right value.

I do not know whether the problem I described in my original post affects ALL linux distros or just arch (because of the way arch has set up its /etc/profile file). I suspect it will affect all linux distros.

In any event, when using the default arch /etc/profile file, make sure you "su - <name of account>" when switching users. Otherwise xfce4 will NOT work properly.

Rob

syd · 2006-02-05 23:26:03

I know this is a few months old. But there is no fix posted on the forums yet.

Just letting you know that the `session manager` that is in testing at the moment has fixed the problem for me.

I still had to delete the .config file from my home dir.

Arch Linux

#1 2005-12-18 14:06:19

Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#2 2005-12-18 14:36:01

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#3 2005-12-18 15:21:40

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#4 2005-12-18 15:32:04

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#5 2005-12-18 17:15:24

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#6 2005-12-18 17:57:22

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#7 2005-12-18 18:22:23

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#8 2005-12-19 01:53:34

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#9 2005-12-19 10:21:59

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#10 2005-12-19 13:27:35

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#11 2005-12-19 16:30:00

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#12 2005-12-19 22:16:58

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#13 2005-12-21 00:54:24

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

#14 2006-02-05 23:26:03

Re: Can't Change Settings in Xfce

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