gdm or gnome login seems to be broken after zypper update last night

iDominic42 · October 25, 2017, 10:03am

Hi

on boot, I get a mouse pointer, but no login screen

Immediate workaround is to get a console “Ctrl Alt F1” and login as my user
then do


sudo killall gdm
startx

Looking at journalctl, this may be the problem


Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-session-binary[2085]: WARNING: App 'org.gnome.Shell.desktop' exited with code 1
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-shell[2149]: Some code accessed the property 'LIBMUTTER_API_VERSION' on the module 'config'. That property was defined 
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-shell[2149]: Some code accessed the property 'PopupMenu' on the module 'popupMenu'. That property was defined with 'let
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-shell[2149]: Some code accessed the property 'ModalDialog' on the module 'modalDialog'. That property was defined with 
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-shell[2149]: Some code accessed the property 'SwitcherPopup' on the module 'switcherPopup'. That property was defined w
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-shell[2149]: Some code accessed the property 'SwitcherList' on the module 'switcherPopup'. That property was defined wi
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-shell[2149]: Some code accessed the property 'PopupBaseMenuItem' on the module 'popupMenu'. That property was defined w
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-shell[2149]: Some code accessed the property 'Button' on the module 'panelMenu'. That property was defined with 'let' o
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-shell[2149]: JS ERROR: SyntaxError: missing ] after element list @ resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/messageTray.js:1045
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-shell[2149]: Execution of main.js threw exception: JS_EvaluateScript() failed
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ /usr/lib/gdm/gdm-x-session[2021]: gnome-session-binary[2085]: WARNING: App 'org.gnome.Shell.desktop' exited with code 1
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ /usr/lib/gdm/gdm-x-session[2021]: gnome-session-binary[2085]: WARNING: App 'org.gnome.Shell.desktop' respawning too quickly
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-session-binary[2085]: WARNING: App 'org.gnome.Shell.desktop' exited with code 1
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-session-binary[2085]: WARNING: App 'org.gnome.Shell.desktop' respawning too quickly
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ /usr/lib/gdm/gdm-x-session[2021]: Unable to init server: Could not connect: Connection refused
Oct 25 08:42:19 LennyZ gnome-session-f[2165]: Cannot open display:

V_ido · October 25, 2017, 11:13am

I also had problems with login manager after yesterday’s last update.
I had set up with Yast> sysconfig editor> display manager> displaymanager> lightdm.

And he started with Gdm…!!!
I have installed sddm and set by yast, and that works

nrickert · October 25, 2017, 1:19pm

The last Tumbleweed update changed how DM (display manager, graphic login program) is set. It used to be set in “/etc/sysconfig”. Now it is handled by “update-alternatives”.

For details on how “update-alternatives” works:

man update-alternatives

To change the displaymanager:

sudo update-alternatives --config default-displaymanager

You will be given a list of what your options are, and you can select one (or hit enter to leave it as it is).

That has to be done at the command line.

nrickert · October 25, 2017, 1:52pm

I should have added some comments about how it affected me (to illustrate what to expect).

On the system that I first updated, I had been using “lightdm” for login. I rebooted after the update, and I saw the “gdm” login screen (instead of that from “lightdm”). However, when I logged in, it did still take me to KDE. I ran “update-alternatives” as described in the previous post, and I’m back at using “lightdm”.

On another system, I was already using “gdm” and my logins were to KDE. I rebooted after the update. I still got the “gdm” login screen. But it took me into Gnome (which I also have installed), instead of to KDE. I logged out, then used the “gdm” menu to reselect KDE for login.

Several people have reported similar experiences (of changed display manager) at the factory mailing list.

xorbe · October 25, 2017, 9:00pm

nrickert:

The last Tumbleweed update changed how DM (display manager, graphic login program) is set. It used to be set in “/etc/sysconfig”. Now it is handled by “update-alternatives”.

For details on how “update-alternatives” works:
man update-alternatives
To change the displaymanager:
sudo update-alternatives --config default-displaymanager
You will be given a list of what your options are, and you can select one (or hit enter to leave it as it is).

That has to be done at the command line.

Is this permanently documented in an accessible location?

nrickert · October 25, 2017, 9:54pm

I don’t know. However, you can probably make changes to the opensuse Wiki yourself.

And note that the change is for Tumbleweed. It still works the old way in 42.3.

iDominic42 · October 25, 2017, 10:36pm

Hi

Thanks for that, I’ve used this to set lightdm as my default display manager, and I now have a gui login screen

I have a feeling that lightdm was my default anyway, but on running that above command gdm was configured as the default

But to be honest I didn’t really have time to investigate further this morning before I had to leave for work, just figure out a workaround, and create this thread in case others were having the same problem

I assume at this point gdm is still broken - possibly that “missing ]” as per the JS Error in the code of my original post.?

But I see there are now a further 209 software updates waiting for me… Perhaps one of those fixes gdm?

V_ido · October 25, 2017, 10:47pm

nrickert:

I should have added some comments about how it affected me (to illustrate what to expect).

On the system that I first updated, I had been using “lightdm” for login. I rebooted after the update, and I saw the “gdm” login screen (instead of that from “lightdm”). However, when I logged in, it did still take me to KDE. I ran “update-alternatives” as described in the previous post, and I’m back at using “lightdm”.

On another system, I was already using “gdm” and my logins were to KDE. I rebooted after the update. I still got the “gdm” login screen. But it took me into Gnome (which I also have installed), instead of to KDE. I logged out, then used the “gdm” menu to reselect KDE for login.

Several people have reported similar experiences (of changed display manager) at the factory mailing list.

Thank you very much
Perfect … I’m working lightdm again, Gdm is made with hammer and chisel

nrickert · October 25, 2017, 11:44pm

“gdm” might be trying to run a wayland session. And your graphics card might not be supported for wayland.

iDominic42 · October 28, 2017, 11:17am

Hi
thanks for the reply

I’ve just reverted to attempt gdm as my DisplayManager again, just to see if this is the case
/var/log/Xorog.0.log tells me

    62.854] (--) intel(0): Integrated Graphics Chipset: Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500

I do have some wayland packages installed, but the only reference to wayland in journalctl are those from PackageKit or RPM as there have been some recent updates

I can confirm that gdm did not work, still had to do the

sudo killall gdm && startx

to get a gui working.

Looking again at journalctl, these seem to be the issue

Oct 28 09:48:50 LennyZ /usr/lib/gdm/gdm-x-session[2030]: gnome-session-binary[2038]: WARNING: App 'org.gnome.Shell.desktop' exited with code 1
Oct 28 09:48:50 LennyZ /usr/lib/gdm/gdm-x-session[2030]: gnome-session-binary[2038]: WARNING: App 'org.gnome.Shell.desktop' exited with code 1
Oct 28 09:48:50 LennyZ /usr/lib/gdm/gdm-x-session[2030]: gnome-session-binary[2038]: WARNING: App 'org.gnome.Shell.desktop' respawning too quickly
Oct 28 09:48:50 LennyZ /usr/lib/gdm/gdm-x-session[2030]: Unable to init server: Could not connect: Connection refused

and grepping - case insensitive - for ERROR in journalctl these seem to be relevant

Oct 28 09:48:50 LennyZ gnome-shell[2057]: JS ERROR: SyntaxError: missing ] after element list @ resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/messageTray.js:1045
Oct 28 09:48:50 LennyZ gnome-shell[2104]: JS ERROR: SyntaxError: missing ] after element list @ resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/messageTray.js:1045
Oct 28 09:48:51 LennyZ gsd-xsettings[2122]: Failed to get current display configuration state: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner: Name "org.gnome.Mutter.DisplayConfig" does not exist

Regards

iDominic42 · October 28, 2017, 7:43pm

Hi again

A bit of further research on the

missing ] after element list @ resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/messageTray.js:1045

actually found me another thread on these forums from September 15th

https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/527149-gdm-crash-after-upgrade

Looking at that, I tried to force a re-install of gnome-shell but that complained about libmutter

So


sudo zypper remove mutter
sudo zypper in gnome-shell
sudo zypper in gdm
sudo update-alternatives --config default-displaymanager

selecting gdm as the default

A reboot, and gdm does now give me a login screen

This only really confirms that I had been previously using lightdm - which is what I thought - and that the update the other day probably broke things by swapping from using yast to manage the displaymanager to using update-alternatives, and that picked the first option on the list ie gdm, which was slightly broken by issues with mutter, which I see is referenced in my last post

Oct 28 09:48:51 LennyZ gsd-xsettings[2122]: Failed to get current display configuration state: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner: Name "org.gnome.Mutter.DisplayConfig" does not exist

So, we now have both a couple of workarounds,and a way to get gdm working again.

Meanwhile, I’ll be reverting to LightDM as my displaymamager

iDominic42 · December 4, 2017, 9:23pm

Not sure if I should start a new thread or not, but it’s sort of the same issue…

After a zypper dup this monrning, my laptop had been reset through no will of my own to having GDM as it’s login screen. not LightDM which I had manually set it to

I could easily fix this, as per the above thread

 sudo update-alternatives --config default-displaymanager

and picking my preferred display manager

However, I’m not sure that just doing an update should over-ride a user’s preferred display manager, particularly when the one it defaults to has been in a broken state recently, requiring manual intervention to make it work

(although, obviously, anyone reading this thread would have the information needed to fix those issues, as they have been documented… )

comments?

nrickert · December 4, 2017, 10:05pm

Supposedly, the update should not override this.

However, it did for me (I was switched to “sddm”). And it did for some others (see the factory mailing list discussion.

It looks as if this was a major change to how update-alternatives is organized, so we can hope that this won’t be a regular occurrence.

iDominic42 · December 5, 2017, 8:58pm

Ok, thanks for the info, at least because of how GDM was broken recently , I have all the info on how to revert to my preferred DisplayManager on this thread.

I suppose this is one of the accepted risks of running a rolling release1 So I can’t sayy I didn’t sign up to it.

My last post was more of a “heads up, this has happened again” type thing…

Hopefully the feedback on these forums allows those prepping the rolling releases to see the issues and take note.

GermanGT · January 2, 2018, 12:28am

Wath can I do if I’m unable to get a console and run “update-alternatives”? After run gdm I only ser TVE mouse cursor and a message about a job that is running. If I press control-alt-f1 or any other f key

GermanGT · January 2, 2018, 12:32am

Wath can I do if I’m unable to get a console and run “update-alternatives”? After run gdm I only see the mouse cursor and a message about a job that is running. If I press control-alt-f1 or any other F key, I get the same screen, no promt to enter commands. Is there a file where I can change this. I was using xdm and xfce.

GermanGT · January 2, 2018, 2:17am

Solve the problem, with a live CD copy the content of xfce.desktop (at /usr/share/xsession) into gnome.desktop. And the content of xdm (at /usr/lib/X11/displaymanager) into gdm. And cross fingers in the hope this things will not happen again. Regards.