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#1 2025-10-09 11:11:27

athan
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From: EU
Registered: 2023-10-03
Posts: 23

Gnome 49 - GDM error in log

Immediately after clean installation of Arch and Gnome 49, I noticed the following error in the journal.

gdm[880]: Gdm: Can’t find the GDM user “gdm”. Aborting!
gdm[880]: Gdm: The GDM user should not be root. Aborting!

Everything seems to be working normally, but I was surprised because this is the first time I've seen this particular error.
I tried it on a VM installation with archinstall this time, but it still shows the same message in the journal.

I suspect it has to do with the removal of the static gdm user account in Gnome 49 and the use of dynamic systemd.userdb ones, because on another Arch system with Gnome 48 previously installed, upgrading to 49 retained the gdm static user and did not present this particular problem.

Any ideas?

Last edited by athan (2025-10-09 11:12:19)

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#2 2025-10-09 20:05:59

seth
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From: Don't DM me only for attention
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 69,094

Re: Gnome 49 - GDM error in log

I suspect it has to do with the removal of the static gdm user account in Gnome 49 and the use of dynamic systemd.userdb ones

Everything seems to be working normally

For reference:
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gdm/-/merge_requests/289
https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … 58f577140c

Does this result in GDM being restarted and then the second instance doing the job (using the dynamic user now added)?
Or is the "aborting" there a lie?

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#3 2025-10-09 21:43:52

athan
Member
From: EU
Registered: 2023-10-03
Posts: 23

Re: Gnome 49 - GDM error in log

The GDM greeter works after the error and does its job, so it obviously restarts. However, it should not give this ambiguous error since this itself calls for removal of the static gdm user.

Also, in my opinion, the GNOME team should have developed and documented the GDM dconf configuration option for dynamic users long before forcing the removal of the static ones, instead of forcing the end user to resort to hacks.

Last edited by athan (2025-10-09 21:45:36)

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#4 2025-10-10 07:25:17

seth
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From: Don't DM me only for attention
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 69,094

Re: Gnome 49 - GDM error in log

Yes "should" … apparently you're not using gnome for very long?

so it obviously restarts

Is the warning PID gone afterwards?

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#5 2025-10-10 08:01:22

athan
Member
From: EU
Registered: 2023-10-03
Posts: 23

Re: Gnome 49 - GDM error in log

seth wrote:

Yes "should" … apparently you're not using gnome for very long?

About a year and a half after I switched from XFCE, but I've now realized what's going on with the Gnome team... tongue

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