[SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

Rew · 2015-02-24 15:39:14

I've used SLiM for a while but decided today that I wanted to remove it. Unfortunatly now my window manager (XFCE) doesn't function after I login.

Steps I took to remove SLiM:
1. pacman -R slim
2. systemctl disable slim

Results:
After logging in on the console and typeing "startx", I see the desktop (XFCE) with all my panels and desktop icons, etc. The mouse moves, however nothing is clickable. It is as if I am looking at a static picture of my desktop.

Probably something simple that I'm overlooking but I can't figure it out. Ideas? Thanks in advance!

Last edited by Rew (2015-02-24 17:49:00)

dice · 2015-02-24 15:46:35

What is in your .xinitrc?

Rew · 2015-02-24 15:48:16

My .xinitrc:

#!/bin/sh
#
# ~/.xinitrc
#
# Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)

if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ]; then
  for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/*; do
    [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
  done
  unset f
fi

# exec gnome-session
# exec startkde
 exec startxfce4
# ...or the Window Manager of your choice

Knute · 2015-02-24 15:49:04

Also check out your .xprofile as display managers usually source that rather than the .xinitrc file.

Rew · 2015-02-24 15:50:25

I do not have a .xprofile
Do I need this? I can't recall ever having one.

Knute · 2015-02-24 15:53:57

No. but it was worth checking.

I know this is going to sound like Microsloth tech support, but have you rebooted yet?

Rew · 2015-02-24 15:55:47

Haha yes indeed I have rebooted The problem persists.

Knute · 2015-02-24 15:57:53

Just checking!

Have you moved your xfce config files? If the problem lies in one of them, by moving they'll be recreated. I'm talking the ones in your /home.

Rew · 2015-02-24 16:00:36

Which files/folders specifically? .config/? or more?

Thanks for all the help my friend!

Knute · 2015-02-24 16:02:23

I don't actually use xfce, so I'm not sure. I believe that the files you are looking for are in .config. You might also check .local as well.

Rew · 2015-02-24 16:31:30

I did some research and it looks like ~/.cache/sessions is the folder you're getting at. I moved both though, and the result was a blank screen after running "startx".

"pacman -S slim && systemctl enable slim" restores functionality.

drcouzelis · 2015-02-24 16:50:14

I'm pretty sure SLiM just uses your "~/.startx" file to start X, so that shouldn't be an issue.

It sounds like something is super messed up. Either you made a change that you don't remember or a some software was naughty and changed something it wasn't supposed to. So here's my advice:

Create a new user, copy your ".startx" file to the new user's home directory, and start X. Does XFCE work correctly? If yes, then there's something super funky going on in your XFCE configuration files.

Knute · 2015-02-24 17:05:52

This may sound kind of wierd, but do you have another window manager installed?

What I am suggesting is to change the startxfce4 line in your .xinitrc file to something else, and try it with the different window manager, without slim.
If the different window manager comes up normally, then it's your config. If it doesn't, then my guess would be that somethings screwy in X.

Rew · 2015-02-24 17:48:32

Well, I got it fixed! drcouzelis and Knute, you were both right. (user error, haha)

I created a new user and it worked just fine. I also tried AwesomeWM and that worked fine too. So I started going through the folders in ~/.config trying to find the problem via proccess of elimination.

The culprit was a manually created entry in ~/.config/autostart/ that I had added a while back to automatically adjust the screen brightness on boot. This script used sudo (I had it setup to work without a password), but recently I switched back to requiring a password. For whatever reason that didn't matter when I was using a display manager, however once it was removed that locked it up. I assume XFCE was just waiting for a password in the background and thus froze. I removed that autostart entry and now everything works.

Thanks for the help everyone! I appreciate it.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-02-24 15:39:14

[SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#2 2015-02-24 15:46:35

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#3 2015-02-24 15:48:16

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#4 2015-02-24 15:49:04

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#5 2015-02-24 15:50:25

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#6 2015-02-24 15:53:57

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#7 2015-02-24 15:55:47

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#8 2015-02-24 15:57:53

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#9 2015-02-24 16:00:36

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#10 2015-02-24 16:02:23

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#11 2015-02-24 16:31:30

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#12 2015-02-24 16:50:14

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#13 2015-02-24 17:05:52

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

#14 2015-02-24 17:48:32

Re: [SOLVED] Uninstalling SLiM breaks WM

Board footer