Gnome 3.12 - when system is idle screen never goes to "blank screen"

elia-sh · 2014-09-23 22:15:03

Hi,

I'm actually a newbie with Arch and this is my first post within Arch forums *balloons!! *
so I debated my self if it's ever the right section to post my question (here or in the Newbie Corner),
so if it's in the wrong section, I'm apologize.

To cut to the chase,
Running Arch - updating all packages using yaourt on weekly basis, following the pacman package upgrade guides, currently with Gnome 3.12.2,
(the embarrassing truth, is that I installed Antergos, it is awesome and I super like it!)
but there is one problem that I'm fighting with for very long time already -
my screen never goes "blank" when idle.

So, in gnome power settings, under "power savings", I have selected 5 minutes,
and I verified that it is indeed changed in the "gnome config" -

$ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.session idle-delay
uint32 300

I verified that when I change the value in the gnome power settings menu, it updated in the "gnome config",

I went deeper and noticed that my xscreensaver process is not starting after startup,
I found that the file: /etc/xdg/autostart/xscreensaver.desktop holds a wrong value for the Exec command, and opened a bug within Antergos(I think it can be closed now ).

Now xscreensaver is running an misbehaving - blanking screen when playing movies (with vlc) and while scrolling webpages (I understand why).
So I decided to revert back and disable xscreensaver on startup.

Now my questions -

Does the gnome option of "blank screen" uses xscreensaver - I was not able to find any info about that :\
How to solve/debug the screen not going blank after X time? is it a gnome issue, is it a xorg issue? is it a lightdm issue?

I feel kind of depressed, such a simple option that misbehaving and I do not know how to debug it

Just in case I'm supplying logs(don't know if all of them will be valuable):
lightdm: http://www.datafilehost.com/d/1da6b16a
xorg: http://www.datafilehost.com/d/0b23e6fd
xsession-errors and xsession-errors.old are empty so none there...

Appreciate you kind help,
Elia.

Last edited by elia-sh (2014-10-09 17:37:31)

HiImTye · 2014-09-23 23:07:24

gnome uses it's own screensaver process gnome-screensaver which can be disabled and replaced with xscreensaver. the exact process you will likely find on whatever source of information Antergos uses, be it a wiki, or a help site.

elia-sh · 2014-09-24 10:39:58

Thanks for the help HimTye,
Actually "gnome-screenaver" process is a depricated version (as I understand) -
$ gnome-screensaver --version
gnome-screensaver 3.6.1

and from the package description in pacman:
Legacy GNOME screensaver

So I'm kind of swimming in a mess here,

I understand that gnome replaced the "screen savers" with just blank screens, but can't find the documentation on how it works or how to make it work

P.S, Antergos is a reuglar arch installation, it's not some special build,
it is just an installable media that contains arch with some packages and configuration, so the system will work "out of the box".

So I'm still seeking for help
tryied to play a little bit with the "gnome-screensaer" process, but no sucess, could not even start it properly, and I feel that it is not the direction..

I removed the gnome-screensaver package, and now I'm back to the start(it was not installed until I installed it), no "screen saver binaries":

$ ls -l /usr/bin/gnome* | grep -i screen
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   79176 Mar 29 22:20 /usr/bin/gnome-screenshot

ooo · 2014-09-24 11:14:51

elia-sh wrote:

P.S, Antergos is a reuglar arch installation, it's not some special build,
it is just an installable media that contains arch with some packages and configuration, so the system will work "out of the box".

I think it still counts as 'derivate distribution' and should probably be discussed elsewhere.

Nevertheless, I've had the same issue with screen not blanking in gnome for ages, even though it works by default in any other WM.
I tried to look for a solution myself for some time without luck, and I'd need to ask some help from gnome devs, but still haven't managed to get to it.

I'd be happy to know if you find a solution for this issue.

elia-sh · 2014-09-24 11:48:48

Thanks for the reply OOO, I'm just about to open bug for gnome (did a break for lunch )

Are you still suffering from the issue?
can you please provide some details, for example your gnome version and if you have gnome-screensaver and or xscreensaver installed and or activated?

are you using GDM or lightDM?

I noticed from: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNOME that the display manager has role in the locking/screesaver mechanism:

Note: Native support for screenlocking in GNOME is provided by GDM. If you choose to not use GDM you will need to use a different screen locking program such as XScreenSaver.

about your say for Antergos,
I would like to direct you to: distrowatch
Antergos using standart arch and AUR packages (managed by packman), I would say that Antergos is arch, just with graphical installer..
If you think that it's not arch, we can continue and argue about this fact, but I would like to concentrate on trying to understand and resolve the "blank screen" issue (that I believe is actually a gnome issue )

opened: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=737256
please add your info there as well.

Thanks,
Elia.

higher · 2014-10-09 13:28:43

Hi Elia,

have you managed to solve the issue in the meantime?

I've been struggling with this problem for a while, until I found out, that gnome-screensaver simply needs to be started. If this is done the screen blanks and locks according to the energy and privacy settings you made.

Having resolved this point I copied the file gnome-screensaver.desktop to the system's autostart folder.

$ sudo cp -p /usr/share/applications/gnome-screensaver.desktop /etc/xdg/autostart/.

Screen blanking now works as desired on my Antergos workstation.

HTH, Florian

Last edited by higher (2014-10-09 13:34:43)

elia-sh · 2014-10-09 17:39:12

higher wrote:

Hi Elia,
have you managed to solve the issue in the meantime?
I've been struggling with this problem for a while, until I found out, that gnome-screensaver simply needs to be started. If this is done the screen blanks and locks according to the energy and privacy settings you made.
Having resolved this point I copied the file gnome-screensaver.desktop to the system's autostart folder.
$ sudo cp -p /usr/share/applications/gnome-screensaver.desktop /etc/xdg/autostart/.
Screen blanking now works as desired on my Antergos workstation.
HTH, Florian

Thanks mate, worked like magic

Arch Linux

#1 2014-09-23 22:15:03

Gnome 3.12 - when system is idle screen never goes to "blank screen"

#2 2014-09-23 23:07:24

Re: Gnome 3.12 - when system is idle screen never goes to "blank screen"

#3 2014-09-24 10:39:58

Re: Gnome 3.12 - when system is idle screen never goes to "blank screen"

#4 2014-09-24 11:14:51

Re: Gnome 3.12 - when system is idle screen never goes to "blank screen"

#5 2014-09-24 11:48:48

Re: Gnome 3.12 - when system is idle screen never goes to "blank screen"

#6 2014-10-09 13:28:43

Re: Gnome 3.12 - when system is idle screen never goes to "blank screen"

#7 2014-10-09 17:39:12

Re: Gnome 3.12 - when system is idle screen never goes to "blank screen"

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