KDE applications crash at start

English Applications
1

Hello,

suddenly all my KDE applications are crashing at launch
For example, lauching Konsole from xterm yields the following error:

KCrash: Application 'konsole' crashing...
KCrash: Attempting to start /usr/lib64/libexec/drkonqi

[1]+  Stopped                 konsole

Backtrace for that:

Application: Konsole (konsole), signal: Segmentation fault

 [KCrash Handler]
 #4  0x00007feea79c94e0 in QWidget::hide() () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #5  0x00007feea7b2139d in ?? () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #6  0x00007feea7b25941 in QMenuBar::changeEvent(QEvent*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #7  0x00007feea79e0185 in QWidget::event(QEvent*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #8  0x00007feea7b25a5b in QMenuBar::event(QEvent*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #9  0x00007feea799ff2c in QApplicationPrivate::notify_helper(QObject*, QEvent*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #10 0x00007feea79a7540 in QApplication::notify(QObject*, QEvent*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #11 0x00007feea6b1a328 in QCoreApplication::notifyInternal2(QObject*, QEvent*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Core.so.5
 #12 0x00007feea79d12c5 in QWidgetPrivate::updateFont(QFont const&) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #13 0x00007feea79e0a25 in QWidget::event(QEvent*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #14 0x00007feea7b25a5b in QMenuBar::event(QEvent*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #15 0x00007feea799ff2c in QApplicationPrivate::notify_helper(QObject*, QEvent*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5

 #16 0x00007feea79a7540 in QApplication::notify(QObject*, QEvent*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #17 0x00007feea6b1a328 in QCoreApplication::notifyInternal2(QObject*, QEvent*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Core.so.5

 #18 0x00007feea79fa9b6 in ?? () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #19 0x00007feea79faa25 in ?? () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #20 0x00007feea79faa5b in ?? () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #21 0x00007feea6b49e35 in QMetaObject::activate(QObject*, int, int, void**) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Core.so.5
 #22 0x00007feea7124cdf in QWindow::screenChanged(QScreen*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Gui.so.5
 #23 0x00007feea7125503 in QWindowPrivate::emitScreenChangedRecursion(QScreen*) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Gui.so.5
 #24 0x00007feea712bdc6 in QWindowPrivate::setTopLevelScreen(QScreen*, bool) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Gui.so.5
 #25 0x00007feea79d2afe in QWidgetPrivate::create() () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #26 0x00007feea79d2ebe in QWidget::create(unsigned long long, bool, bool) () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #27 0x00007feea7b235fd in ?? () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #28 0x00007feea7b23735 in ?? () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5
 #29 0x00007feea7ae884a in QMainWindow::menuBar() const () from /usr/lib64/libQt5Widgets.so.5

 #30 0x00007feeaa8231ed in ?? () from /usr/lib64/libkdeinit5_konsole.so

 #31 0x00007feeaa825f3b in ?? () from /usr/lib64/libkdeinit5_konsole.so
 #32 0x00007feeaa81ce5a in ?? () from /usr/lib64/libkdeinit5_konsole.so
 #33 0x00007feeaa81d365 in ?? () from /usr/lib64/libkdeinit5_konsole.so
 #34 0x00007feeaa81e2ea in ?? () from /usr/lib64/libkdeinit5_konsole.so
 #35 0x00007feeaa82dc8d in kdemain () from /usr/lib64/libkdeinit5_konsole.so
 #36 0x00007feeaa46534a in __libc_start_main () from /lib64/libc.so.6
 #37 0x000056530281d80a in _start ()

 Inferior 1 (process 12295) detached

Very similar outputs if I try to launch any other KDE application, e.g. dolphin

deleting ./kde4 as suggested in some other forums did not solve the issue.
Any suggestion?

2

Of course we should try to investigate the “suddenly”.

No updates? Other changes?

3

UPDATE:
I have discovered that I can run the applications as root.

4

I did not run any update.
Last thing I did was using

prime-select

to switch from the intel to the nvidia video card, logged off, when I logged in again KDE apps stopped working
Switching back to the intel video card did not solve the issue

5

Please post:

zypper lr -d
6 
#  | Alias                                          | Name                           | Enabled | GPG Check | Refresh | Priority | Type   | URI                                                                                                     | Service
---+------------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------+----------+--------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------
 1 | dell-system-update_dependent                   | dell-system-update_dependent   | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | https://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/dsu/mirrors.cgi/osname=suse15&basearch=x86_64&native=1&redirpath=/ | 
 2 | dell-system-update_independent                 | dell-system-update_independent | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | https://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/dsu/os_independent                                                 | 
 3 | download.nvidia.com-$releasever                | nVidia Graphics Drivers        | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | https://download.nvidia.com/opensuse/leap/15.2                                                          | 
 4 | opensuse-guide.org-openSUSE_Leap_$releasever_1 | Libdvdcss Repository           | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://opensuse-guide.org/repo/openSUSE_Leap_15.2/                                                      | 
 5 | packman.inode.at-openSUSE_Leap_$releasever     | Packman Repository             | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://packman.jacobs-university.de/suse/openSUSE_Leap_15.2/                                            | 
 6 | repo-non-oss                                   | Non-OSS Repository             | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/leap/15.2/repo/non-oss/                                       | 
 7 | repo-oss                                       | Main Repository                | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/leap/15.2/repo/oss/                                           | 
 8 | repo-update                                    | Main Update Repository         | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/update/leap/15.2/oss                                                       | 
 9 | repo-update-non-oss                            | Update Repository (Non-Oss)    | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/update/leap/15.2/non-oss/                                                  |
7

That is not a good thing to try. Better create a new user and try with that one.

8

KDE apps work for new users as well

9

As you have already concluded now it is something you did as user. Nothing to do with the system apparently.

10

How do I reset the KDE settings to revert to the previous situation?

11

You can try (from your home directory)

rm -rf .config .cache .local

That might reset more than you want, but perhaps that’s what you need.

Logout from your desktop before you do this. Maybe login to “icewm” and run it there. Or use CTRL-ALT-F1 to get to a virtual console, and run it there.

Then login again to KDE. You can then try configuring things the way that you want them.

12

I now have a good news followed by a bad news:

Good news:
I have removed the folders as suggested, and that actually fixed the issue.

Bad news:
After rebooting the system, I now have exactly the same issue has before. This time I did not switch between intel and nvidia graphic cards

13

It is probably related to have nvidia graphics. I have no recent experience with that, so I have no useful suggestions.

14

After you have removed the suggested directories, you need recreate the missing directories listed in /etc/skel/ before logging out and logging back in again …

  • .config
    and .local …
15

In my experience, those are automatically created on login to the desktop. That might depend on which desktop, but KDE surely does create them and “icewm” probably doesn’t.

16

I finally fixed the issue, but not sure it’s best practice and I would suggest to make a backup before trying it:

I have deleted .cache
I have created a new user and switched to it
I have copied the content of the new user’s .config, .local and .kde4 folders into mine, overwriting the existing files
I have switched back to my old user

This trick, at least in my case, has worked and has allowed me to keep most of my existing settings.
Once again, I would not recommend doing it without a solid backup first