Session Lock / Screensaver inhibitet on KDE

simon-77 · February 17, 2024, 11:13am

Dear community

I am a bit irritated, as I am no longer able to lock my user session. (Neither with shortcut Meta+L, nor via KDE Application Launcher > Leave > Lock.)

Shutdown & Log Out are working always without any issues.

I additionally noticed that after logging in it is possible to lock the sessions for the first few seconds. I assume some application that starts up within a few seconds then blocks the session lock feature?

How can I find out which process is preventing the session lock?

Some further information about my Installation:

OpenSUSE Leap 15.5
Desktop: KDE (Plasma Version: 5.27.9)
Graphics Platform: X11

Best wishes
Simon

simon-77 · February 21, 2024, 7:22am

I found out in the meantime, that this issue only persists when Firefox or Thunderbird are open.
If I close both applications, I can lock the screen again. If I open any or both of them, I can’t lock the screen again.

Just to be clear, I am talking about manually locking the screen. This is prevented if Firefox or Thunderbird are open.

Does someone have a clue what might be going on, or how I could debug this issue?

Best wishes
Simon

hcvv · February 21, 2024, 8:18am

Hm, strange.

I have openSUSE Leap15.5 and KDE like you and I can lock the session right now, when typing this in a Firefox window.

Back again. No problem.

I can even do this while running some movie (YouTube). The movie runs on (I hear the sound), but the screen is locked and shows a tiny icon of the movie with a possibility to pause it.

BTW, your thread title says “Session Lock / Screensaver”. But you story is only about Session Lock.
Does the Screensaver function also not work? Or have you switched that off?

simon-77 · February 21, 2024, 8:35am

Thank you for the answer.

I am pretty sure that the session lock has worked some time ago on my workstation too …

The Title says “Session Lock / Screensaver” because I was not sure what the correct term is. I thought the thing shown after locking the Session is the Screensaver

But the automatic Session Lock after inactivity (is this called “Screensaver”?) does also not work.

hcvv · February 21, 2024, 9:14am

“Screensaver” was invented long ago for character Cathode Ray Tube terminals where the text was mostly in the upper left of the screen (including the blinking text cursor for hours if not in use) and that wore out the phosphor on on the screen upper left. Thus it switched off the electronic ray after a certain time of no activity. It was a build-in function of the terminal. Nowadays it is more about energy saving then screen saving and in KDE it is configured in System settings > Hardware > Energy Saving. Simplest: switch off the screen after n seconds. But “heavier” actions like also Locking, Sleeping, Hibernating and even Shutdown can be configured.
Note that the so called “Screen Saver” image you see nowadays, is a misnomer. It does not “save” the screen (which would mean not to send any information to the screen, so it will be dark, thus saving the phosphor) and it certainly does not save energy.

“Session Locking” is a security action. The user wants to walk away and wants to avoid that others see what is there and do things with his/her data (mark that from the Locked Session screen, logging in in a different session for others is still possible). In KDE it is configurable in System settings > Workspace > Workspace behaviour > Screen Locking.
And as we have seen above, it can be added to Screen Saving, so that when the user walks away forgetting to lock, this will happen anyway after n seconds.
Note that the “Session Lock” screen (in fact an “Unlock screen”) also can go into “Screen Saving” after n seconds.

But they are still two different things.

PS. My system is not in English, thus the wording in KDE System settings may be a bit different.

simon-77 · February 21, 2024, 9:47am

Very interesting, thank you for explaining this.
I have never thought or wondered about the word “Screen Saver” (btw. the german word “Bildschirmschoner” has literally the same meaning - I have never thought about that too).

Never the less, on my system nothing of these things is working - neither “Screen Energy Saving” nor automatic “Screen Locking”.

But what bothers me most, that I can’t manually lock the session (Log Out & Shutdown are always working)

hcvv · February 21, 2024, 10:46am

Yes, and that is why I said “Strange, …” Because I acn do that without problems.

And my story was not only to educate , but also to point you to the different places of configuration.

You could try to create a fresh user and see how it goes there. When that is OK we know it is somewhere (but where?) in your config data.

simon-77 · February 21, 2024, 11:32am

I know the places of configuration in KDE, but the first issue that should be solved is that manually locking the screen does not work.

I just created a new user as you suggested - it can lock the session without any issues with firefox or/and thunderbird open (but not configured).

I additionally noticed, that on my personal user - when opening thunderbird & firefox I can still lock the session within the first few seconds, only afterwards it is prevented until I close both applications.

For debugging, I thought more about looking at some log-files, …
But I have no clue where such things could be logged (dmesg show no related output).

Or is there maybe somewhere a “list” of programs that currently prevent shutdown/log-out/session lock?
Unfortunately I could not find anything on the internet regarding this.

simon-77 · February 21, 2024, 11:38am

Just in case someone is curious about Plugins / configuration I am using in Firefox /Thunderbird:

I would say nothing too exotic that the issue might come from this in the first place:

Firefox Extensions:

Clockify Time Tracker
DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials
KeePassCX Browser
Tab Session Manager

Thunderbird Extensions:

Provider for Google Calendar

In Thunderbird I have about 10 mail boxes configured, about 10 synchronized calendars (WebDAV for Nextcloud & Google Calendar) and a synchronised Contact Book (WebDAV for Nextcloud)

hcvv · February 21, 2024, 11:55am

As you already understood, a difference in FF/TB configs (and probably not in KDE).
The difficulty is always to find out which one. Removing all FF/TB config files will probably cure it. You can then add your personal settings/plugins one, testing each time.

pavinjoseph · February 21, 2024, 2:00pm

Could you share the output of:

strace -tt loginctl lock-session

simon-77 · February 21, 2024, 2:42pm

Sure,
there is a lot of output - I am not allowed to post the full output in one post.

Here is the full output: [simon@Bussard: ~]$ strace -tt loginctl lock-session15:36:14.918396 execve("/u - Pastebin.com

And here are only the first and last few lines:

[simon@Bussard: ~]$ strace -tt loginctl lock-session
15:36:14.918396 execve("/usr/bin/loginctl", ["loginctl", "lock-session"], 0x7ffc143663f0 /* 102 vars */) = 0
15:36:14.919525 brk(NULL)               = 0x563eb76dc000
15:36:14.919551 mmap(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f2249a00000
15:36:14.919579 access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919628 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/systemd/tls/x86_64/x86_64/libsystemd-shared-249.so", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919652 stat("/usr/lib/systemd/tls/x86_64/x86_64", 0x7ffc9039cb80) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919675 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/systemd/tls/x86_64/libsystemd-shared-249.so", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919694 stat("/usr/lib/systemd/tls/x86_64", 0x7ffc9039cb80) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919711 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/systemd/tls/x86_64/libsystemd-shared-249.so", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919729 stat("/usr/lib/systemd/tls/x86_64", 0x7ffc9039cb80) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919747 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/systemd/tls/libsystemd-shared-249.so", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919765 stat("/usr/lib/systemd/tls", 0x7ffc9039cb80) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919782 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/systemd/x86_64/x86_64/libsystemd-shared-249.so", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919801 stat("/usr/lib/systemd/x86_64/x86_64", 0x7ffc9039cb80) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919818 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/systemd/x86_64/libsystemd-shared-249.so", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919836 stat("/usr/lib/systemd/x86_64", 0x7ffc9039cb80) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919853 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/systemd/x86_64/libsystemd-shared-249.so", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919871 stat("/usr/lib/systemd/x86_64", 0x7ffc9039cb80) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.919889 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/systemd/libsystemd-shared-249.so", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
15:36:14.919908 read(3, "\177ELF\2\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 832) = 832
15:36:14.919926 fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=2975352, ...}) = 0
15:36:14.919949 mmap(NULL, 2977256, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x7f2249729000
15:36:14.919967 mmap(0x7f22499e7000, 98304, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x2be000) = 0x7f22499e7000
15:36:14.919992 mmap(0x7f22499ff000, 3560, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f22499ff000
15:36:14.920029 close(3)                = 0
15:36:14.920052 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/systemd/libpthread.so.0", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.920073 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
15:36:14.920092 fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=139444, ...}) = 0
15:36:14.920109 mmap(NULL, 139444, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f2249706000
15:36:14.920126 close(3)                = 0
15:36:14.920147 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/lib64/libpthread.so.0", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
15:36:14.920166 read(3, "\177ELF\2\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0\236\222\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 832) = 832
15:36:14.920184 fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=162000, ...}) = 0
15:36:14.920203 mmap(NULL, 146104, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x7f22496e2000
15:36:14.920221 mmap(0x7f2249700000, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x1d000) = 0x7f2249700000
15:36:14.920246 mmap(0x7f2249702000, 15032, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f2249702000
15:36:14.920268 close(3)                = 0
15:36:14.920286 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/systemd/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.920308 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/lib64/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
15:36:14.920327 read(3, "\177ELF\2\1\1\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0\316S\3\0\0\0\0\0"..., 832) = 832
15:36:14.920345 fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=2300456, ...}) = 0
15:36:14.920362 mmap(NULL, 2058296, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x7f22494eb000
15:36:14.920380 mmap(0x7f22496d3000, 45056, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x1e7000) = 0x7f22496d3000
15:36:14.920404 mmap(0x7f22496de000, 14392, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f22496de000
15:36:14.920427 close(3)                = 0

[…]

15:36:14.928177 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/de_AT.UTF-8/LC_NUMERIC", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.928196 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/de_AT.utf8/LC_NUMERIC", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
15:36:14.928215 fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=54, ...}) = 0
15:36:14.928232 mmap(NULL, 54, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f2249718000
15:36:14.928250 close(3)                = 0
15:36:14.928271 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_CTYPE", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
15:36:14.928289 openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_CTYPE", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
15:36:14.928307 fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=340640, ...}) = 0
15:36:14.928324 mmap(NULL, 340640, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f2248c79000
15:36:14.928342 close(3)                = 0
15:36:14.928373 getpid()                = 20545
15:36:14.928411 fstat(2, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0600, st_rdev=makedev(0x88, 0x4), ...}) = 0
15:36:14.928434 prlimit64(0, RLIMIT_NOFILE, {rlim_cur=512*1024, rlim_max=512*1024}, NULL) = 0
15:36:14.928451 rt_sigaction(SIGBUS, {sa_handler=0x7f2249894fa0, sa_mask=[], sa_flags=SA_RESTORER|SA_SIGINFO, sa_restorer=0x7f22496f8910}, {sa_handler=SIG_DFL, sa_mask=[], sa_flags=0}, 8) = 0
15:36:14.928480 newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "/run/systemd/system/", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=40, ...}, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
15:36:14.928520 socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM|SOCK_CLOEXEC|SOCK_NONBLOCK, 0) = 3
15:36:14.928544 getsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVBUF, [212992], [4]) = 0
15:36:14.928565 setsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVBUF, [8388608], 4) = 0
15:36:14.928582 getsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVBUF, [425984], [4]) = 0
15:36:14.928599 setsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVBUFFORCE, [8388608], 4) = -1 EPERM (Operation not permitted)
15:36:14.928617 getsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_SNDBUF, [212992], [4]) = 0
15:36:14.928635 setsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_SNDBUF, [8388608], 4) = 0
15:36:14.928651 getsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_SNDBUF, [425984], [4]) = 0
15:36:14.928669 setsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_SNDBUFFORCE, [8388608], 4) = -1 EPERM (Operation not permitted)
15:36:14.928686 connect(3, {sa_family=AF_UNIX, sun_path="/run/dbus/system_bus_socket"}, 30) = 0
15:36:14.928713 getsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_PEERCRED, {pid=1, uid=0, gid=0}, [12]) = 0
15:36:14.928732 getsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_PEERSEC, 0x563eb76e2580, [64]) = -1 ENOPROTOOPT (Protocol not available)
15:36:14.928750 getsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_PEERGROUPS, 0x563eb76e25d0, [256 => 0]) = 0
15:36:14.928784 fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFSOCK|0777, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
15:36:14.928802 getsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_ACCEPTCONN, [0], [4]) = 0
15:36:14.928820 getsockname(3, {sa_family=AF_UNIX}, [128 => 2]) = 0
15:36:14.928839 sendmsg(3, {msg_name=NULL, msg_namelen=0, msg_iov=[{iov_base="\0AUTH EXTERNAL\r\nDATA\r\n", iov_len=22}, {iov_base="NEGOTIATE_UNIX_FD\r\n", iov_len=19}, {iov_base="BEGIN\r\n", iov_len=7}], msg_iovlen=3, msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 48
15:36:14.928876 gettid()                = 20545
15:36:14.928897 futex(0x7f22499ff2a4, FUTEX_WAKE_PRIVATE, 2147483647) = 0
15:36:14.928917 gettid()                = 20545
15:36:14.928937 geteuid()               = 1000
15:36:14.928953 ioctl(0, TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
15:36:14.928972 pipe2([4, 5], 0)        = 0
15:36:14.928998 rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, ~[RTMIN RT_1], [], 8) = 0
15:36:14.929017 clone(child_stack=NULL, flags=CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID|CLONE_CHILD_SETTID|SIGCHLD, child_tidptr=0x7f224940bdd0) = 20546
15:36:14.929180 rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, [], NULL, 8) = 0
15:36:14.929196 close(5)                = 0
15:36:14.929212 ppoll([{fd=4, events=POLLHUP}], 1, NULL, NULL, 8) = 1 ([{fd=4, revents=POLLHUP}])
15:36:14.935019 close(4)                = 0
15:36:14.935069 recvmsg(3, {msg_name=NULL, msg_namelen=0, msg_iov=[{iov_base="DATA\r\nOK 12dba63460109232c08ec61"..., iov_len=256}], msg_iovlen=1, msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC}, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC) = 58
15:36:14.935114 sendmsg(3, {msg_name=NULL, msg_namelen=0, msg_iov=[{iov_base="l\1\0\1\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0m\0\0\0\1\1o\0\25\0\0\0/org/fre"..., iov_len=128}], msg_iovlen=1, msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 128
15:36:14.935146 recvmsg(3, {msg_namelen=0}, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
15:36:14.935172 ppoll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, {tv_sec=24, tv_nsec=999939000}, NULL, 8) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}], left {tv_sec=24, tv_nsec=999710098})
15:36:14.935428 recvmsg(3, {msg_name=NULL, msg_namelen=0, msg_iov=[{iov_base="l\2\1\1\v\0\0\0\1\0\0\0=\0\0\0\6\1s\0\6\0\0\0", iov_len=24}], msg_iovlen=1, msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC}, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC) = 24
15:36:14.935454 recvmsg(3, {msg_name=NULL, msg_namelen=0, msg_iov=[{iov_base=":1.675\0\0\5\1u\0\1\0\0\0\10\1g\0\1s\0\0\7\1s\0\24\0\0\0"..., iov_len=67}], msg_iovlen=1, msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC}, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC) = 67
15:36:14.935490 sendmsg(3, {msg_name=NULL, msg_namelen=0, msg_iov=[{iov_base="l\1\4\1\0\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\207\0\0\0\1\1o\0$\0\0\0/org/fre"..., iov_len=152}], msg_iovlen=1, msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 152
15:36:14.935516 recvmsg(3, {msg_name=NULL, msg_namelen=0, msg_iov=[{iov_base="l\4\1\1\v\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\215\0\0\0\1\1o\0\25\0\0\0", iov_len=24}], msg_iovlen=1, msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC}, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC) = 24
15:36:14.935542 recvmsg(3, {msg_name=NULL, msg_namelen=0, msg_iov=[{iov_base="/org/freedesktop/DBus\0\0\0\2\1s\0\24\0\0\0"..., iov_len=147}], msg_iovlen=1, msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC}, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC) = 147
15:36:14.935568 recvmsg(3, {msg_namelen=0}, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
15:36:14.935590 ppoll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, {tv_sec=24, tv_nsec=999926000}, NULL, 8) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}], left {tv_sec=24, tv_nsec=999476332})
15:36:14.936063 recvmsg(3, {msg_name=NULL, msg_namelen=0, msg_iov=[{iov_base="l\2\1\1\0\0\0\0\242\6\0\0%\0\0\0\5\1u\0\2\0\0\0", iov_len=24}], msg_iovlen=1, msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC}, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC) = 24
15:36:14.936088 recvmsg(3, {msg_name=NULL, msg_namelen=0, msg_iov=[{iov_base="\6\1s\0\6\0\0\0:1.675\0\0\7\1s\0\4\0\0\0:1.5\0\0\0\0", iov_len=32}], msg_iovlen=1, msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC}, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC) = 32
15:36:14.936118 close(3)                = 0
15:36:14.936146 kill(20546, SIGTERM)    = 0
15:36:14.936166 kill(20546, SIGCONT)    = 0
15:36:14.936288 waitid(P_PID, 20546, {si_signo=SIGCHLD, si_code=CLD_KILLED, si_pid=20546, si_uid=1000, si_status=SIGTERM, si_utime=0, si_stime=0}, WEXITED, NULL) = 0
15:36:14.936739 --- SIGCHLD {si_signo=SIGCHLD, si_code=CLD_KILLED, si_pid=20546, si_uid=1000, si_status=SIGTERM, si_utime=0, si_stime=0} ---
15:36:14.936884 exit_group(0)           = ?
15:36:14.937461 +++ exited with 0 +++

pavinjoseph · February 21, 2024, 3:25pm

That looks surprisingly normal!
I was hoping to trigger the fault condition and have it show what the blocker was

So did the above strace +loginctl lock-session not activate the lock screen?

simon-77 · February 21, 2024, 3:40pm

No lock screen was triggered by running this command.

pavinjoseph · February 21, 2024, 3:52pm

Hmm, it calls a DBus service and doesn’t do the locking itself.

Shot in the dark, do you see polkit Register/Unregister actions corresponding to running loginctl lock-session:

sudo journalctl -b | grep 'polkitd' | tail -n10

It’s the only thing visible in my journal when I lock/unlock the session (and by extension the lock screen). Hopefully your journal would have some errors around this time.

simon-77 · February 21, 2024, 4:20pm

My output:

[simon@Bussard: ~]$ sudo journalctl -b | grep 'polkitd' | tail -n10
Feb 21 08:12:38 Bussard polkitd[1142]: Loading rules from directory /usr/share/polkit-1/rules.d
Feb 21 08:12:38 Bussard polkitd[1142]: Finished loading, compiling and executing 3 rules
Feb 21 08:12:38 Bussard polkitd[1142]: Acquired the name org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 on the system bus
Feb 21 08:12:45 Bussard polkitd[1142]: Registered Authentication Agent for unix-session:4 (system bus name :1.49 [/usr/lib/polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1], object path /org/kde/PolicyKit1/AuthenticationAgent, locale en_US.UTF-8)
Feb 21 12:22:03 Bussard polkitd[1142]: Operator of unix-session:4 successfully authenticated as unix-user:root to gain TEMPORARY authorization for action org.freedesktop.accounts.user-administration for system-bus-name::1.352 [/usr/bin/systemsettings] (owned by unix-user:simon)
Feb 21 12:22:19 Bussard polkitd[1142]: Unregistered Authentication Agent for unix-session:4 (system bus name :1.49, object path /org/kde/PolicyKit1/AuthenticationAgent, locale en_US.UTF-8) (disconnected from bus)
Feb 21 12:22:32 Bussard polkitd[1142]: Registered Authentication Agent for unix-session:10 (system bus name :1.382 [/usr/lib/polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1], object path /org/kde/PolicyKit1/AuthenticationAgent, locale en_US.UTF-8)
Feb 21 12:23:45 Bussard polkitd[1142]: Registered Authentication Agent for unix-session:15 (system bus name :1.457 [/usr/lib/polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1], object path /org/kde/PolicyKit1/AuthenticationAgent, locale en_US.UTF-8)
Feb 21 15:36:14 Bussard polkitd[1142]: Registered Authentication Agent for unix-process:20545:2662296 (system bus name :1.674 [/usr/bin/pkttyagent --notify-fd 5 --fallback], object path /org/freedesktop/PolicyKit1/AuthenticationAgent, locale en_US.UTF-8)
Feb 21 15:36:14 Bussard polkitd[1142]: Unregistered Authentication Agent for unix-process:20545:2662296 (system bus name :1.674, object path /org/freedesktop/PolicyKit1/AuthenticationAgent, locale en_US.UTF-8) (disconnected from bus)

The lines in the journal should correspond to the successfull log-outs.
When I try to log-out now (either via shortcut or via KDE Application Launcher), nothing in the journal does change.

pavinjoseph · February 21, 2024, 4:37pm

So no luck with errors in the journals?
I saw here it’s possible for even websites to disable the screen saver from activating.

Could you close all website tabs and email (tabs if any) and check if issue persists.
Does it happen with only firefox, thunderbird, or both?
What about without extensions when running in safe mode

<firefox | thunderbird> --safe-mode

hcvv · February 21, 2024, 5:00pm

That would mean that the OP is accessing such a web site. Until now he only reported that FF is running and not that it happens with certain webpages only. Also I doubt that Thunderbird opens web sites.

BTW, re-reading that it starts after e few seconds, checking what is autostarted in the session might be a point.

pavinjoseph · February 21, 2024, 5:11pm

Thunderbird can open websites, most emails are complex webpage like beasts these days.
But I acknowledge your point that since the lock-screen stops working after a few seconds it could be something that is tied to session auto-start apps. I forgot about that somewhere along the way.

Edit 1: OP also says in the second post that the issue persists only when both Firefox and Thunderbird are open. Could be some addon or extension that works in the background, Chrome has that enabled by default so it starts the background apps/addons without any user interaction on user login.

nrickert · February 21, 2024, 5:15pm

In my experience, if I click on the “Power Management” icon, it will tell me what is blocking power management functions. You might have to look at the hidden tray icons (the “^” in the system tray) to find it.