My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

Vincintosh · 2018-04-28 12:43:31

Hello everybody.
I am running an Arch Installation on a laptop with nVidia optimus technology and Gnome 3. Everything wprked until today. For no apparent reason (I don't know if I did something wrong, I was messing with some libraries in order to try and get DaVinci Resolve software to work), all of my programs except for Terminal stopped working: they didn't respond and I could not open any other program.
After rebooting, I see this message
http://i68.tinypic.com/66cei0.jpg
And this is the report of systemctl status polkit
http://i68.tinypic.com/s0x6r6.jpg

I'm sorry but I wasn't able to find anything on the internet. I've also searched for the exit status of polkit but nothing useful turned out. Now everytime I boot I'm stuck on a blank screen until I try to open a virtual console: the latter works but only if I press CTRL+ALT+F2 a couple of times and after a couple of minutes the screen turns blank again and I have to press that key combination a couple of times more in orde to get back to the console.

I'm always been able to solve or look for a solution for most of the problems I got, but this time I really feel like a noob because I'm stuck at this point and seriousely considering to reinstall the whole system. Do I really need to? Please help me, thanks for your attention

Mod edit: Replaced oversized images with URLs -- V1del

Last edited by V1del (2018-04-28 13:45:41)

judd1 · 2018-04-28 13:14:46

Look in your journal:

journalctl -b 1

Vincintosh · 2018-04-28 13:39:53

judd1 wrote:

Look in your journal:
journalctl -b 1

Thank you for answering: the problem is I don't know what to look for: this part of the system is completely unexplored for me

Here's the last page of "journalctl" ("journalctl -b 1" only outputs stuff from february 24th)

http://i66.tinypic.com/2j60iyv.jpg

Last edited by V1del (2018-04-28 13:46:31)

judd1 · 2018-04-28 13:44:56

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Polkit
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=225447

Vincintosh · 2018-04-28 13:47:06

judd1 wrote:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Polkit
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=225447

I've already read the wiki page but I still don't know what to do: my problem isn't mentioned. And I've already done a full system upgrade but nothing changed.

V1del · 2018-04-28 13:49:32

Please don't embed huge images like that directly, if you have a working terminal use pastebin clients - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … s_and_code

Sudden polkit issue might also stem from a broken PAM setup, have you seen https://www.archlinux.org/news/glibc-22 … ervention/ and what did you do with that information? Also elaborate on "messing around with libraries", what exactly did you do? Can you post a pacman.log?

Vincintosh · 2018-04-28 14:08:24

V1del wrote:

Please don't embed huge images like that directly, if you have a working terminal use pastebin clients - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … s_and_code
Sudden polkit issue might also stem from a broken PAM setup, have you seen https://www.archlinux.org/news/glibc-22 … ervention/ and what did you do with that information? Also elaborate on "messing around with libraries", what exactly did you do? Can you post a pacman.log?

Those pictures were posted on tinypic and then linked here, I hope that's the right way to do that. I can't copy the output because I can't run a GUI at the moment and I don't have a working terminal.

Anyway, I don't know what to do with that link you posted. The stuff explained there sounds like a foreign language to me unfotunately. I think I'm going to need to reinstall the whole system.
I was linking some libraries Resolve needs from somewhere around /lib to /usr/lib. Unfortunately I don't remember what libraries. Also, after doing that Resolve gave me another error concerning a QT extension named "xdg". I found somewhere on github a solution that told to delete libstdc++.so.6* from /usr/lib but that didn't solve my issue, instead I think this actually broke my system. I tried to reinstall that library by searching with yaourt, I have those files again in /usr/lib but this didn't solve anything.

Scimmia · 2018-04-28 14:15:34

Unreal; that was one of the dumber things I've seen someone post. If you really thought that deleting libstdc++.so.6 was a good idea, you really should be running a system that protects itself from you, not Arch.

seth · 2018-04-28 14:22:35

No, that's not the right way. Don't post images > 200*200px
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Li … in_clients

The stuff explained there sounds like a foreign language to me

How did you install archlinux if you're not able to process this "stuff"??

I was linking some libraries

Do. Not. Do. That. Ever!
It's a certain path to trouble.

I found somewhere on github a solution that told to delete libstdc++.so.6* from /usr/lib

So you basically broke your entire system based on some random comment on the interwebz... this won't fix online, you'll have to boot a live system, arch-chroot and fix your installation from there, see the two paragraphs below https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … an_upgrade

Vincintosh · 2018-04-28 14:26:49

Scimmia wrote:

Unreal; that was one of the dumber things I've seen someone post. If you really thought that deleting libstdc++.so.6 was a good idea, you really should be running a system that protects itself from you, not Arch.

That's a good point and you are totally right. I was just upset and thought to myself that if that didn't work I would have been able to revert to the previous state. I was wrong, but I still don't see anybody coming up with a solution. Also I don't see any reason why the two things might be related. The files are back therez they're exactly the same version and honestly this doesn't sound like a problem related to libraries. I might be wrong, I don't want to defend my argument too much since I am the one who did the stupid thing, but hey... The whole internet doesn't report any solution to the problem and nobody here seems to have any idea on what's going on: this sounds like a big mess and honestly I think the system might have some major flow. I hoped someone could help me figure out where it is, but if nothing turns out I will reinstall the system or even change distribution, because lasly Arch has been giving to me not many problems but some very time consuming ones.

Vincintosh · 2018-04-28 14:31:28

seth wrote:

No, that's not the right way. Don't post images > 200*200px
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Li … in_clients
The stuff explained there sounds like a foreign language to me
How did you install archlinux if you're not able to process this "stuff"??
I was linking some libraries
Do. Not. Do. That. Ever!
It's a certain path to trouble.
I found somewhere on github a solution that told to delete libstdc++.so.6* from /usr/lib
So you basically broke your entire system based on some random comment on the interwebz... this won't fix online, you'll have to boot a live system, arch-chroot and fix your installation from there, see the two paragraphs below https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … an_upgrade

I know how to install the system, I know how to configure my hardware, I know how to create a working desktop environment with my own settings, I've even had i3wm running for a while and I still use it on my secondary machine. I know how to chroot into the my system from a live booted system. The problem is that I don't know what to do because we don't know where the actual problem is. You guys keep linking me stuff and I appreciate your work, but really that doesn't match my problem. For istance, my Pacman hasn't crashed during an update. I wasn't updating the system nor installing any package while this happened. I just rebooted the machine and I have that error.
Speaking of the previous link instead (https://www.archlinux.org/news/glibc-22 … ervention/) I don't know what PAM and NIS refer to and I've never touched that /etc/nsswitch.conf file. Do you understand that instructions like "Please make sure to merge pacnew file if it exists prior to upgrade" or "review PAM configuration files in the /etc/pam.d directory and replace removed modules with pam_unix.so" mean basically nothing to the average user, even the most advanced one (insted he specifically knows that part of the system because he regularly works with it)? It's like telling a cardiologist to do a surgeon's work only because they both graduated to a medical school

Last edited by Vincintosh (2018-04-28 14:39:38)

V1del · 2018-04-28 14:36:05

Post in code tags

egrep "pam_unix(_.*|2)" /etc/pam.d/*
pacman -Qkk
cat /var/log/pacman.log

Vincintosh · 2018-04-28 14:44:53

V1del wrote:

Post in code tags

egrep "pam_unix(_.*|2)" /etc/pam.d/*
pacman -Qkk
cat /var/log/pacman.log

Thanks for your interest. I would love to do that but, as I said, my console is very difficult to access and every couple of seconds my screen turns blank until I press multiple times CTRL+ALT+F2 several times and hope for the console to come back. I'm sure you understand it's nearly impossible to configure and use a pastebin client at the moment.

V1del · 2018-04-28 14:46:54

Then this seriously sounds beyond salvaging, or you do them from a livecd chroot as already suggested.

Edit: Regarding that link: If you never adjusted these files and do not have a pacnew file, everything will be as it should, with regards to that message. Which makes the only remaining plausibility that you did indeed break something completely and whatever files you added as a replacement not being the correct thing.

Last edited by V1del (2018-04-28 14:50:31)

Vincintosh · 2018-04-28 15:03:20

V1del wrote:

Then this seriously sounds beyond salvaging, or you do them from a livecd chroot as already suggested.
Edit: Regarding that link: If you never adjusted these files and do not have a pacnew file, everything will be as it should, with regards to that message. Which makes the only remaining plausibility that you did indeed break something completely and whatever files you added as a replacement not being the correct thing.

Dear V1del, I really appreciate your help because you are showing serious interest into solving the problem in a pratical way, if possible.
I agree with you and I was thinking the same thing (in a more basic form of course) so I took a break, relaxed for a couple of minutes and then what I did was reinstalling basically everything by just logging in as root and running "pacman -Qnq | pacman -S -". This reinstalled all of my packages and accordingly fixed all of the needed permissions. Lightdm now starts successfully and I'm able to log back in into the usual Gnome environment.

seth · 2018-04-28 15:24:29

For istance, my Pacman hasn't crashed during an update.

Nobody said that - the *stated* point was that you needed to perform an offline update and that link explains how to do this.
The pretense there is just more innocent that "i deliberately deleted my libc++", but the result is FUBAR and that pretty much matched your situation.

Vincintosh · 2018-04-28 15:28:24

seth wrote:

For istance, my Pacman hasn't crashed during an update.
Nobody said that - the *stated* point was that you needed to perform an offline update and that link explains how to do this.
The pretense there is just more innocent that "i deliberately deleted my libc++", but the result is FUBAR and that pretty much matched your situation.

Well at least I can say that today I've learned two new things. One is this and the other is "FUBAR": I've never heard this word and searched for it and the result made me laugh so much. Thanks

Last edited by Vincintosh (2018-04-28 16:00:36)

cirrus · 2018-04-28 22:47:10

OP if you continue running random commands from the interwebs yourself & FUBAR will become well acquainted, please don't let that happen.

Arch Linux

#1 2018-04-28 12:43:31

My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#2 2018-04-28 13:14:46

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#3 2018-04-28 13:39:53

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#4 2018-04-28 13:44:56

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#5 2018-04-28 13:47:06

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#6 2018-04-28 13:49:32

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#7 2018-04-28 14:08:24

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#8 2018-04-28 14:15:34

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#9 2018-04-28 14:22:35

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#10 2018-04-28 14:26:49

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#11 2018-04-28 14:31:28

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#12 2018-04-28 14:36:05

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#13 2018-04-28 14:44:53

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#14 2018-04-28 14:46:54

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#15 2018-04-28 15:03:20

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#16 2018-04-28 15:24:29

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#17 2018-04-28 15:28:24

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

#18 2018-04-28 22:47:10

Re: My system can't start polkit.service for no apparent reason

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