[Solved] startxfce4 Long Delay (~ 2 min) To Desktop

jeff story · 2020-09-27 02:05:23

Long ~ 2 min delay, at blank, black desktop with mouse cursor, after running "startx" from the terminal. This effects only one of many XFCE installs. This system ran/started fine prior to this delayed startup issue.

Root can run startx, starts immediately.

User can run default xinitrc config, twm, starts immediately.

User can open second session on different TTY, "dbus-run-session startx" starts immediately.

Removed ~/.config/xfce4/, for default setup, still takes ~ 2 min.

I'm at a loss on how to proceed troubleshooting. I see others occasionally posting on various forums, same problem with no replies or solutions.

This system:

Intel Atom 4 core x5-Z8500 w' on board "HD Graphics" from around 2015

Arch Linux up to date running Linux kernel open source drivers.

Log into terminal, use startx (rootless xorg)

.xinitrc (copied from /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc), appropriately edited with "exec startxfce4 &> /home/jeff/Desktop/xinit.log" last line for troubleshooting.

Logs indicate xfsettingsd is repeatedly starting - crashing dozens of times if I'm reading things correctly. Can provide complete logs if it'd help.

From /xinit.log:

(xfsettingsd:1723): xfsettingsd-ERROR **: 17:27:04.946: Unable to open display.
Maximum number of clients reachedUnable to init server: Could not connect: Connection refused

From journalctl:

Sep 26 17:28:52 TinyBox systemd-coredump[5115]: Process 5096 (xfsettingsd) of user 1000 dumped core.
                                                
                                                Stack trace of thread 5096:
                                                #0  0x00007f06235404e8 g_log_structured_array (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x594e8)
                                                #1  0x00007f0623540b06 g_log_default_handler (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x59b06)
                                                #2  0x00007f0623541ef9 g_logv (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x5aef9)
                                                #3  0x00007f06235421a0 g_log (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x5b1a0)
                                                #4  0x000055b8e542b469 n/a (xfsettingsd + 0x6469)
                                                #5  0x00007f0623324152 __libc_start_main (libc.so.6 + 0x28152)
                                                #6  0x000055b8e542b69e n/a (xfsettingsd + 0x669e)
Sep 26 17:28:52 TinyBox audit: BPF prog-id=656 op=UNLOAD
Sep 26 17:28:52 TinyBox audit: BPF prog-id=657 op=UNLOAD
Sep 26 17:28:51 TinyBox systemd[1]: systemd-coredump@322-5097-0.service: Succeeded.
Sep 26 17:28:51 TinyBox systemd-coredump[5111]: Process 5089 (xfsettingsd) of user 1000 dumped core.
                                                
                                                Stack trace of thread 5089:
                                                #0  0x00007fe6fad634e8 g_log_structured_array (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x594e8)
                                                #1  0x00007fe6fad63b06 g_log_default_handler (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x59b06)
                                                #2  0x00007fe6fad64ef9 g_logv (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x5aef9)
                                                #3  0x00007fe6fad651a0 g_log (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x5b1a0)
                                                #4  0x000055833305d469 n/a (xfsettingsd + 0x6469)
                                                #5  0x00007fe6fab47152 __libc_start_main (libc.so.6 + 0x28152)
                                                #6  0x000055833305d69e n/a (xfsettingsd + 0x669e)
Sep 26 17:28:51 TinyBox systemd[1]: systemd-coredump@321-5098-0.service: Succeeded.

EDIT TO ADD INFO:

This problem began around Jun 10, 2020 going by searching journal log with grep "(xfsettingsd) of user 1000 dumped core"

Additional info from journalctl:

$ journalctl -b -3 -p 2 -x
-- Logs begin at Sun 2020-05-10 08:28:52 PDT, end at Sat 2020-09-26 20:18:12 PDT. --
Sep 26 17:26:58 TinyBox systemd-coredump[1395]: Process 1356 (xfsettingsd) of user 1000 dumped core.
                                                
                                                Stack trace of thread 1356:
                                                #0  0x00007f48c8d374e8 g_log_structured_array (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x594e8)
                                                #1  0x00007f48c8d37b06 g_log_default_handler (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x59b06)
                                                #2  0x00007f48c8d38ef9 g_logv (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x5aef9)
                                                #3  0x00007f48c8d391a0 g_log (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x5b1a0)
                                                #4  0x000055ac0c8e4469 n/a (xfsettingsd + 0x6469)
                                                #5  0x00007f48c8b1b152 __libc_start_main (libc.so.6 + 0x28152)
                                                #6  0x000055ac0c8e469e n/a (xfsettingsd + 0x669e)
░░ Subject: Process 1356 (xfsettingsd) dumped core
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ Documentation: man:core(5)
░░ 
░░ Process 1356 (xfsettingsd) crashed and dumped core.
░░ 
░░ This usually indicates a programming error in the crashing program and
░░ should be reported to its vendor as a bug.

Number of times xfsettingsd core dumped during previous boot.

$ journalctl -b -3 -p 2 | grep "(xfsettingsd) of user 1000 dumped core" | wc -l
328

Last edited by jeff story (2020-09-27 23:12:53)

ToZ · 2020-09-27 10:58:38

Can you post the contents of ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css (if you have one)?

It looks like its dumping core right away. Once logged in can you run xfsettingsd in debug mode?

XFSETTINGSD_DEBUG=1 xfsettingsd --replace --no-daemon

...and post back the output.

Also :

xfsettingsd -V

jeff story · 2020-09-27 17:42:42

Don't have ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css.

$ ls ~/.config/gtk-3.0/
settings.ini

This was ran in /dev/pts (xfce4-terminal) after desktop was running.

$ XFSETTINGSD_DEBUG=1 xfsettingsd --replace --no-daemon
xfce4-settings(xsettings): _XSETTINGS_S0 registered on screen 0
xfce4-settings(xsettings): 30 settings changed (serial=0, len=1164)
xfce4-settings(xsettings): resource manager (xft) changed (len=139)
xfce4-settings(displays): Detected CRTC 63.
xfce4-settings(displays): Detected CRTC 64.
xfce4-settings(displays): Detected CRTC 65.
xfce4-settings(displays): Detected output 67 HDMI-1.
xfce4-settings(displays): CRTC 65 assigned to HDMI-1.
xfce4-settings(displays): CRTC 65, output list[0] -> 67.
xfce4-settings(displays): Total 1 active output(s).
xfce4-settings(displays): Normalized CRTC 65: size=1920x1080, pos=0x0.
xfce4-settings(displays): min_h = 200, min_w = 320, max_h = 16384, max_w = 16384, prev_h = 1080, prev_w = 1920, prev_hmm = 285, prev_wmm = 508, h = 1080, w = 1920, hmm = 286, wmm = 508.
xfce4-settings(displays): Applying desktop dimensions: 1920x1080 (px), 508x286 (mm).
xfce4-settings(displays): Configuring CRTC 63.
xfce4-settings(displays): Configuring CRTC 64.
xfce4-settings(displays): Configuring CRTC 65.
xfce4-settings(pointers): initialized xi 2.3
xfce4-settings(keyboards): initialized xkb 1.0
xfce4-settings(keyboards): set auto repeat on
xfce4-settings(keyboards): set key repeat (delay=500, rate=50)
xfce4-settings(keyboards): set numlock off
xfce4-settings(accessibility): AccessXKeys disabled
xfce4-settings(accessibility): stickykeys disabled
xfce4-settings(accessibility): slowkeys disabled
xfce4-settings(accessibility): bouncekeys disabled
xfce4-settings(accessibility): mousekeys disabled
xfce4-settings(keyboard-shortcuts): 10 shortcuts loaded
xfce4-settings(fontconfig): monitoring 63 paths
xfce4-settings(workspaces): 2 desktop names set from xfconf

Would not run alone from terminal:

$ XFSETTINGSD_DEBUG=1 xfsettingsd --replace --no-daemon
Unable to init server: Could not connect: Connection refused

(xfsettingsd:12483): xfsettingsd-ERROR **: 10:39:37.581: Unable to open display.
Trace/breakpoint trap (core dumped)

xfsettings version:

$ xfsettingsd -V
xfsettingsd 4.14.3 (Xfce 4.14)

Copyright (c) 2008-2019
	The Xfce development team. All rights reserved.

Please report bugs to <https://bugzilla.xfce.org/>.

Also as a test, I disabled my .bashrc in case anything I've put in there potentially cause issues. Made no difference.

Last edited by jeff story (2020-09-27 17:44:15)

ToZ · 2020-09-27 18:47:23

You have an HDMI-connected display device. Are you able to try with another display device connected using another connection?

Can you post back:

ps -ef | grep xf

...and:

ls -al $HOME | grep authority

Also try this. In your startup file prior to startxfce4, export "XFSETTINGSD_DEBUG=1" and redirect the output like you did before. Lets see if something shows up in the output.

jeff story · 2020-09-27 19:18:41

The only monitor connection is HDMI. The hardware: https://www.newegg.com/kangaroo-kj2b-00 … 6856659001

$ ps -ef | grep xf
jeff         492     400  0 10:06 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/xfconf/xfconfd
jeff        6622    6610  0 10:21 tty1     00:00:04 xfce4-session
jeff        6650    6622  0 10:21 tty1     00:00:22 xfwm4 --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 25ee2ea44-6b65-4b5f-8a24-7a36089bde7b
jeff       11848    6622  0 10:23 tty1     00:00:02 xfce4-panel --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 2ac9aa17e-cca3-4201-a73d-0fa7f808f0b9
jeff       12059    6622  0 10:23 tty1     00:00:03 xfdesktop --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 2f3b8e32e-7a08-48c7-bd8b-b8bd463d70fc
jeff       12185       1  0 10:24 ?        00:00:03 xfce4-power-manager --restart --sm-client-id 2eddb9800-c679-43e5-bf33-29ddec077f60
jeff       12194   11848  0 10:24 tty1     00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper-2.0 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libsystray.so 6 432013319 systray Notification Area Area where notification icons appear
jeff       12197    6622  0 10:24 tty1     00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/notifyd/xfce4-notifyd
jeff       12198   11848  0 10:24 tty1     00:00:15 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper-2.0 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libpulseaudio-plugin.so 13 432013320 pulseaudio PulseAudio Plugin Adjust the audio volume of the PulseAudio sound system
jeff       12203   11848  0 10:24 tty1     00:00:04 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper-2.0 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libweather.so 19 432013326 weather Weather Update Show current weather conditions
jeff       12347       1  0 10:27 tty1     00:00:01 /usr/bin/xfce4-terminal
jeff       12360   12352  0 10:27 pts/1    00:00:00 xfsettingsd

$ ls -al $HOME | grep authority
-rw-------  1 jeff users  37K Dec 20  2019 .ICEauthority
-rw-------  1 jeff users   52 Sep 26 16:47 .Xauthority

I'll post the debug stuff soon.... And here it is.

https://pastebin.com/Sr0EH7Y6

Last edited by jeff story (2020-09-27 19:34:54)

ToZ · 2020-09-27 22:12:46

Based on the debug file, xfsettingsd is starting and re-starting multiple times, then noting that it is already running and leaving. Eventually you run out of handles which generates the error message. Do you have something in your startup files that is doing this?

fgrep -ri xfsettingsd $HOME | grep -v Binary

Also try clearing your sessions cache (delete the contents of ~/.cache/sessions while not logged in).

jeff story · 2020-09-27 23:11:48

Thanks for your time and expertise Toz and I'll mark this as solved. Deleting the 4 files (no sub directories) in ~/.cache/sessions solved the issues.

Hundreds of the following showed up grepping home for xfsettingsd. (keeping your command for reference and looking into fgrep, nice!)

/home/jeff/.cache/sessions/xfce4-session-TinyBox:0.bak:Client144_CloneCommand=xfsettingsd

Also try clearing your sessions cache (delete the contents of ~/.cache/sessions while not logged in).

TIL ...Was not aware cached sessions could have any effect, good or bad on the current session. Any negatives to regularly deleting those files? Would being logged in as user, and setting up an automated script as root to regularly clean cause issues? My main box has 177 files in ~/.cache/sessions!

Any idea what that CloneCommand thing is and was it possibly responsible?

ToZ · 2020-09-28 01:24:37

jeff story wrote:

TIL ...Was not aware cached sessions could have any effect, good or bad on the current session. Any negatives to regularly deleting those files? Would being logged in as user, and setting up an automated script as root to regularly clean cause issues? My main box has 177 files in ~/.cache/sessions!

That information is useful is you are using the saved sessions feature. If not, there is nothing wrong with deleting the content.

Any idea what that CloneCommand thing is and was it possibly responsible?

No. I've never come across that before. A quick search indicates that it has something to do with session management (see: https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.5/doc/libSM/xsmp.pdf). For some reason there were multiple clonecommands stored in your saved sessions and this was the result. Might be worth a bug report so the developers are aware of it.

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#1 2020-09-27 02:05:23

[Solved] startxfce4 Long Delay (~ 2 min) To Desktop

#2 2020-09-27 10:58:38

Re: [Solved] startxfce4 Long Delay (~ 2 min) To Desktop

#3 2020-09-27 17:42:42

Re: [Solved] startxfce4 Long Delay (~ 2 min) To Desktop

#4 2020-09-27 18:47:23

Re: [Solved] startxfce4 Long Delay (~ 2 min) To Desktop

#5 2020-09-27 19:18:41

Re: [Solved] startxfce4 Long Delay (~ 2 min) To Desktop

#6 2020-09-27 22:12:46

Re: [Solved] startxfce4 Long Delay (~ 2 min) To Desktop

#7 2020-09-27 23:11:48

Re: [Solved] startxfce4 Long Delay (~ 2 min) To Desktop

#8 2020-09-28 01:24:37

Re: [Solved] startxfce4 Long Delay (~ 2 min) To Desktop

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