KDEInit could not launch “/usr/bin/xxx“

Have searched all forums including KDE without any results.

I am not any experienced Linux user so I cannot figure what is going on. I have a clean Leap 42.3 installation working perfect except that after a few days or a week when I click on my desktop icons to launch a program I get this error: - KDEInit could not launch “/usr/bin/xxx“ where xxx refers to the program i try to open.

If I go to the left down corner menu and find the program and click on it it will launch correctly.

A log out and in again and it is solved until next “loss”.

Would really appreciate some guidance.

Please, give at least one example of xxx. Now it is very, very vague for anybody who wants to help you by looking together with you at the problem.

And did you check if /usr/bin/xxx does exist at that moment in time and what it’s permissions are

ls -l /usr/bin/xxx

And did you try to start it from the CLI to see if there are any messages

/usr/bin/xxx

And did you look into the icons properties to see what is there? And did you repeat that after the logout/login to see if there are differences?

The xxx can be changed with whatever icon / shortcut I have up on the desktop such as: dolphin, trash, KMahjong, gimp, Libreoffice, yast, Firefox so on and on…

After restart or logging out and in, everything is back to normal now until next time the problem occur again and I click on program icon and get the; KDEInit could not launch “/usr/bin/xxx“

ls -l /usr/bin/gimp

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Jan 28 16:11 /usr/bin/gimp -> gimp-2.8

The commando in gimp icon shows: gimp-2.8 %U now when everything is working.

I have not tried from CLI - I will have to wait until I get the problem again.

Best regards

Aage

Now nothing starts from the icons on my desktop, however everything starts from the console and the CLI - no messages shows up.

his is strange behavior

Best regards

Aage

A couple of questions:

  • Does the issue exist for a newly created user ( if so, it’s a system issue, if not it’s an issue in your homedir
  • Any other repos active, apart from the distribution ones?
zypper lr -d
  1. Does the issue exist for a newly created user? - Additional to root hav only one user not newly created.

  2. zypper lr -d

Repository priorities are without effect. All enabled repositories share the same priority.

| Alias | Name | Enabled | GPG Check | Refresh | Priority | Type | URI | Service

—±---------------------------------±-------------------------------------------------±--------±----------±--------±---------±-------±---------------------------------------------------------------------------------±-------
1 | home_fsundermeyer | fsundermeyer’s Home Project (openSUSE_Leap_42.3) | Yes | (r ) Yes | No | 99 | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/fsundermeyer/openSUSE_Leap_42.3/ |
2 | http-opensuse-guide.org-827e3c0e | libdvdcss repository | Yes | (r ) Yes | Yes | 99 | rpm-md | http://opensuse-guide.org/repo/openSUSE_Leap_42.3/ |
3 | http-packman.inode.at-e82b938e | Packman Repository | Yes | (r ) Yes | Yes | 99 | rpm-md | http://packman.inode.at/suse/openSUSE_Leap_42.3/ |
4 | openSUSE-Leap-42.3-0_1 | openSUSE-Leap-42.3-0 | Yes | (r ) Yes | Yes | 99 | yast2 | dir:///home/aage/openSUSE-Leap-42.3-DVD-x86_64 |
5 | repo-debug | openSUSE-Leap-42.3-Debug | No | ---- | ---- | 99 | NONE | http://download.opensuse.org/debug/distribution/leap/42.3/repo/oss/ |
6 | repo-debug-non-oss | openSUSE-Leap-42.3-Debug-Non-Oss | No | ---- | ---- | 99 | NONE | http://download.opensuse.org/debug/distribution/leap/42.3/repo/non-oss/ |
7 | repo-debug-update | openSUSE-Leap-42.3-Update-Debug | No | ---- | ---- | 99 | NONE | http://download.opensuse.org/debug/update/leap/42.3/oss/ |

++++ 7 more (if needed)

The idea behind this questions is that you then create a new user (that can be removed again after the test) to see if the problem presents itself with this new user (that has only very fresh configuration files and no files with any history).

If the new user does not have the problem, the problems origin is somewhere inside the "normal’ (old) users files (in his home directory).
When the problem also pesters the new user, we have something to be searched for at the system level.

This is an important step on the path to a solution.

So short question, but work for yoy: create user (YaST > Security and users > Users and Groups) > log in as the new user > try to re-create the problem > report here.

======

On and about your zypper listing, to make it readable:
Please in the future use CODE tags around copied/pasted computer text in a post. It is the # button in the tool bar of the post editor. When applicable copy/paste complete, that is including the prompt, the command, the output and the next prompt.

And of course we need it COMPLETE, else we would not ask for it.

Tried it with a new user - after two days when all had been working, than back to same problem - all works from application menu, but from the icons on the screen, - same old problem

It might be that I am the only one with this kind of a problem, so I would appreciate if someone could advise me; - Would it be the best or only solution to reinstall from scratch and if so, what to remove from my home directory to avoid dragging the problem over to the new installation?

Since it worked for a while and then stopped working I’d have to guess it was something you are doing. The question is what.

See if you can start the affected programs via command line ie type the program name and report any errors

View the properties of the short cuts and be sure all have the full path to the programs

Maybe a path problem?? show $PATH

Most of the things start up well when I use the Program Menu in the left lower corner - When I am running the command, say like chromium %u, ksysguard %U, gimp-2.8 %U, gimp-2.8 %U, and so on - also no problems.

Problem is on the desktop screen clicking on my icons - than I get this error KDEInit could not launch /usr/bin/xxx

Please, several people are trying to get a grip on this strange phenomenon. But at least you could answer to the questions they have:

Maybe a path problem?? show $PATH

How to do this $PATH ?

echo $PATH

This what I got:

Viking:~ # echo $PATH
/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:/root/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games

Did you check the paths set in the short cuts?

Did you try starting the problem programs from the command line to perhaps get more error info

The PATH looks OK

It works well from the command line using the paths set in the short cuts. The error is only when clicking on the desktop icons.

Please answer to ALL questions asked. You only answered the second one, but not the first one:

Did you check the paths set in the short cuts?

Yes, I checked them (and tested them) and everything is the same after a restart when everything is working again. Do you want me to post them here?

It is always the best to post things (computer output) instead of your personal conclusions. After all you have a problem, when you want the best possible help it is best that the helpers see as much as possible from the the same information you saw. I assume you are human, that means that you will make all sorts of human errors, like jumping to conclusions, leaving out details you think are unimportant, being biased by lack of knowledge, etc.,etc. One of the most important things when asking for help is that others will look into your problem with a fresh and unbiased mind. For that they need facts, not interpretations.