Message "Error launching kmail.desktop", but kmail starts anyway

dhave · 2010-02-18 21:58:18

Is anybody else getting this message when trying to launch kmail? The strange thing is that, after issuing this message, kmail starts just fine.

Error launching /usr/share/applications/kde4/KMail.desktop. Either KLauncher is not running anymore, or it failed to start the application.

.

dhave · 2010-02-18 22:19:12

Actually, it turns out this is happening with most if not all KDE4.4 applets. I'll search the forum and see if there's mention of the prob; before, I searched only on the kmail-specific error message.

dhave · 2010-02-18 22:28:23

This thread blames the problem on "excessive swapping preventing KLauncher from responding to the application's request in a timely manner," and says it's due to a dbus timeout. It also says the message can be safely ignored. Hmm. I'll occasionally let an innocuous boot message go unaddressed, but I can't see doing that with a screen notification that shows up every time I launch a kde applet.

Does anybody know a fix?

dhave · 2010-02-18 22:33:34

Well, I found one related bug report, and a post in Russian which, since it's marked "solved", may present a fix. If I could just understand Russian ....

Last edited by dhave (2010-02-18 22:45:27)

xCrucialDudex · 2010-02-26 08:24:07

This is the problem that heavily affects my system. I have got a fairly powerful laptop:

root@sega:/home/ilj % cat /proc/cpuinfo |grep "model name"
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM) Duo CPU      T2250  @ 1.73GHz
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM) Duo CPU      T2250  @ 1.73GHz

root@sega:/home/ilj % cat /proc/meminfo |grep Total
MemTotal:        3113296 kB
HighTotal:       2234952 kB
LowTotal:         878344 kB
SwapTotal:       8388600 kB
VmallocTotal:     122880 kB

Nevertheless, I quickly start seeing this error message. I've noticed that I get get this error message only when I launch a program using K Menu or plasma widget (or whatever it's called) "Search & Launch". If I click a document in Dolphin it opens up an application (e.g. Okular) without presenting me with the aforementioned error message.

So, what's it all about? Is it a bug? Is my system low on resources? I have akonadi set up to make a 1Gb database and I can see that it generates a pretty heavy load on the system. Restart of the KDE session temporarily solves the problem but only for a short period of time.

xCrucialDudex · 2010-02-26 08:39:03

One more detail when I start getting Either KLauncher is not running anymore, or it failed to start the application. error message I can't open Widget Dashboard anymore. Either by pressing Ctrl+F12 or by using top right screen edge. Sometimes application running applet (Alt+F2) won't appear either but there's not necessarily a relation between it and the Widget Dashboard. Almost always WD stops working altogether (not showing up) while application running applet may still continue to function properly. Sometimes WD doesn't appear on the screen but the system stops responding to mouse and keyboard events effectively resulting in a freeze-like state but eventually, after a short time, I regain control over my mouse and keyboard. Some operations from within a Digikam, for instance, result in a slowed down, increased response time.

Last edited by xCrucialDudex (2010-02-26 08:40:09)

xCrucialDudex · 2010-02-26 12:38:17

Okay, so here's the deal. I "suspended indexing" in akonadi settings and:

a) my system's performance quadrupled
b) I stopped getting this error

Also, when akonadi is indexing files and system is under heavy load I discovered that Pastebin widget wouldn't work at all. Once I suspended indexing the widget is operable again.

Food for thought. So far, I haven't seen much of use in akonadi. It is indeed very convenient to let the software remember where your files are located but when it is done at such a price (take into consideration that my configuration is fairly powerful) I'm better off doing it with my own brain.

dhave · 2010-02-26 15:31:23

@xCrucialDudex: I suspended akonadi and nepomuk a few days ago but am still getting the error I described.

Like you, I decided that any benefits offered by akonadi and nepomuk were offset by the strain on my system. Like yours, my system is reasonably powerful (2 x 2.5GHz CPUs, 4Gb RAM). Maybe after the indexing finally completes there are some advantages, but I couldn't stand the drag on my machine.

xCrucialDudex · 2010-02-26 17:42:32

dhave wrote:

@xCrucialDudex: I suspended akonadi and nepomuk a few days ago but am still getting the error I described.

Hmm... I need more time to observe if the search indexing is the culprit. So far, I've spent almost a whole day:

ilj@sega:/home/ilj/video % uptime
 19:38:04 up 13:34,  4 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.02, 0.08

10+ hours of non-stop work in KDE and no single occurrence of KLauncher isn not running error. If it stays this way for at least a couple of days it is probably a working solution in my case.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-02-18 21:58:18

Message "Error launching kmail.desktop", but kmail starts anyway

#2 2010-02-18 22:19:12

Re: Message "Error launching kmail.desktop", but kmail starts anyway

#3 2010-02-18 22:28:23

Re: Message "Error launching kmail.desktop", but kmail starts anyway

#4 2010-02-18 22:33:34

Re: Message "Error launching kmail.desktop", but kmail starts anyway

#5 2010-02-26 08:24:07

Re: Message "Error launching kmail.desktop", but kmail starts anyway

#6 2010-02-26 08:39:03

Re: Message "Error launching kmail.desktop", but kmail starts anyway

#7 2010-02-26 12:38:17

Re: Message "Error launching kmail.desktop", but kmail starts anyway

#8 2010-02-26 15:31:23

Re: Message "Error launching kmail.desktop", but kmail starts anyway

#9 2010-02-26 17:42:32

Re: Message "Error launching kmail.desktop", but kmail starts anyway

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