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RumDrama

Member

Registered: 2022-04-14

Posts: 5

Notifications log is nothing but blank lines :|

Hi!

Notifications, notifyd, keeps a blank log of past notifications. Every time a notification is sent to the log, only a carriage return or new line is added. Nothing else but a blank line. How can I get it to show text in the log?

I’ve been trying to find an answer in the XFCE Forum without success. Here’s some errors I’m getting and info you’ve asked for in previous posts.

=   =   =   =   =   =   =   =   =
Kernel: Linux 5.4.0-107-generic (x86_64)
Distribution: Linux Lite OS, Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS
XFCE: 4.16 on a desktop computer

=   =   =   =   =   =   =   =   =
$ journalctl -b0 | grep notifyd

Apr 14 11:55:23 dbus-daemon[2900]: [session uid=1000 pid=2900] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.Notifications' unit='xfce4-notifyd.service' requested by ':1.35' (uid=1000 pid=3430 comm="xfce4-volumed " label="unconfined")

Apr 14 11:55:23 xfce4-notifyd[3449]: Theme parsing error: gtk.css:1:0: Expected a valid selector

Apr 14 11:55:23 xfce4-notifyd[3449]: Theme parsing error: gtk.css:4571:14: Invalid name of pseudo-class

Apr 14 11:55:26 xfce4-notifyd[3449]: g_key_file_set_value: assertion 'g_key_file_is_group_name (group_name)' failed

=   =   =   =   =   =   =   =   =
$ xfconf-query -c xfce4-notifyd -lv
/applications/known_applications  <<UNSUPPORTED>>
/applications/muted_applications  <<UNSUPPORTED>>
/do-fadeout  true
/do-not-disturb  false
/do-slideout  true
/expire-timeout  6
/initial-opacity  1.000000
/log-level  1
/log-level-apps  0
/log-max-size  0
/notification-log  true
/notify-location  3
/plugin/log-only-today  false
/primary-monitor  1
/theme  NotifySmoke2

=   =   =   =   =   =   =   =   =
$ xfconf-query -c xfce4-notifyd -p /applications/known_applications

Bleachbit    
blueman
FileZilla
Firefox
kdialog
meteo-qt
nm-applet
notify-send
org.gnome.baobab
org.gnome.DejaDup
org.gnome.Software
org.guido-berhoerster.code.package-update-indicator
org.kde.kdenlive
Pitivi
Session
System Config Printer Notification
thunar
Thunar
thunar-volman
Thunderbird
ulauncher
vlc
Xfce volume control
Xfce volume daemon
Xfce4-notifyd settings
xfce4-power-manager
xfce4-sensors-plugin
xfce4-settings-helper

Thanks for helping me out!
xoxo

Last edited by RumDrama (2022-04-14 20:39:58)

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Notifications log is nothing but blank lines :|

Hello and welcome. Thanks for the detailed information. A few follow-up questions:

1. What version of xfce4-notifyd are you running?

2. Do you have any content in ~/.cache/xfce4/notifyd/log?

3. What is the content of the /applications/muted_applications key?

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RumDrama

Member

Registered: 2022-04-14

Posts: 5

Re: Notifications log is nothing but blank lines :|

ToZ!!! You are famous! I see you everywhere!

xfce4-notifyd is version 0.6.3-1

~/.cache/xfce4/notifyd/log
No characters or spaces, just multiple lines of carriage returns or new lines. When I send “notify-send test test” the line numbers increase in the log file. That’s all that’s happening.

/applications/muted_applications key
Got lost on this request.
Nothing came up when I searched files and directories.
Where can I find this?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Notifications log is nothing but blank lines :|

/applications/muted_applications key
Got lost on this request.
Nothing came up when I searched files and directories.
Where can I find this?

Sorry, should have been clearer:

xfconf-query -c xfce4-notifyd -p /applications/muted_applications

Apr 14 11:55:26 xfce4-notifyd[3449]: g_key_file_set_value: assertion 'g_key_file_is_group_name (group_name)' failed

It looks like someone else has recently reported this. I can't seem to replicate the problem on my Xubuntu 20.04 install though. What does the following return:

systemctl --user status xfce4-notifyd

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RumDrama

Member

Registered: 2022-04-14

Posts: 5

Re: Notifications log is nothing but blank lines :|

I get it now. Applications that you don’t want notifications for.
$ xfconf-query -c xfce4-notifyd -p /applications/muted_applications
Value is an array with 1 items:
FileZilla

( Verbatim... )
$ systemctl --user status xfce4-notifyd
● xfce4-notifyd.service - XFCE notifications service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/xfce4-notifyd.service; static; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: failed (Result: signal) since Thu 2022-04-14 12:44:24 PDT; 6h ago
    Process: 130013 ExecStart=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/notifyd/xfce4-notifyd (code=killed, signal=KILL)
   Main PID: 130013 (code=killed, signal=KILL)

Apr 14 12:11:50 xfce4-notifyd[130013]: g_key_file_set_value: assertion 'g_key_file_is_group_name (group_name)' fail>
Apr 14 12:11:50 xfce4-notifyd[130013]: g_key_file_set_value: assertion 'g_key_file_is_group_name (group_name)' fail>
Apr 14 12:11:50 xfce4-notifyd[130013]: g_key_file_set_value: assertion 'g_key_file_is_group_name (group_name)' fail>
Apr 14 12:11:50 xfce4-notifyd[130013]: g_key_file_set_value: assertion 'g_key_file_is_group_name (group_name)' fail>
Apr 14 12:11:57 xfce4-notifyd[130013]: g_key_file_set_value: assertion 'g_key_file_is_group_name (group_name)' fail>
Apr 14 12:11:57 xfce4-notifyd[130013]: g_key_file_set_value: assertion 'g_key_file_is_group_name (group_name)' fail>
Apr 14 12:11:57 xfce4-notifyd[130013]: g_key_file_set_value: assertion 'g_key_file_is_group_name (group_name)' fail>
Apr 14 12:11:57 xfce4-notifyd[130013]: g_key_file_set_value: assertion 'g_key_file_is_group_name (group_name)' fail>
Apr 14 12:44:24 systemd[2696]: xfce4-notifyd.service: Main process exited, code=killed, status=9/KILL
Apr 14 12:44:24 systemd[2696]: xfce4-notifyd.service: Failed with result 'signal'.

I killed it btw. Playing around and starting it from the terminal.

Thanks for the issues link.

Last edited by RumDrama (2022-04-15 02:07:50)

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Notifications log is nothing but blank lines :|

Try this. First stop the systemd service:

systemctl --user stop xfce4-notifyd

Then run it manually as a simple process:

/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/notifyd/xfce4-notifyd

Does this make a difference?

Edit:

I killed it btw. Playing around and starting it from the terminal.

I see you tried this. Did it make a difference?

Last edited by ToZ (2022-04-15 02:22:58)

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RumDrama

Member

Registered: 2022-04-14

Posts: 5

Re: Notifications log is nothing but blank lines :|

$ systemctl --user stop xfce4-notifyd

$ /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/notifyd/xfce4-notifyd

(xfce4-notifyd:751934): Gtk-WARNING **: 22:25:45.953: Theme parsing error: gtk.css:1:0: Expected a valid selector

(xfce4-notifyd:751934): Gtk-WARNING **: 22:25:45.962: Theme parsing error: gtk.css:4571:14: Invalid name of pseudo-class

I did what you suggest. No g_key errors, just the gtk.css warning that I don’t think affects much. The log is still the same with it’s blank new line for every notify-send test test. Maybe It’s out of ink. (;  It acts like an empty string or variable outputting to the log. Is there something in between notify-send and the log file?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Notifications log is nothing but blank lines :|

Is there something in between notify-send and the log file?

xfce4-notifyd uses glib's Key-value file parser routines ( g_key_file_set_string() ) to do the actual log entries.
Edit2: This isn't totally correct. There is a function within the xfce4-notifyd code that creates the log entries - but is still relies on glib functionality.

Can you try running this command:

xfconf-query -c xfce4-notifyd -p /log-max-size -s 100

...and with the notifyd daemon running, try another notify-send test?

Edit: What version of "libglib2.0" are you running?

Last edited by ToZ (2022-04-15 11:30:26)

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KBar

Member

Registered: 2021-11-05

Posts: 689

Re: Notifications log is nothing but blank lines :|

Could also be a permission or locale issue. Maybe try running the daemon with the default C locale and see if it manages to log its operation.

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ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Notifications log is nothing but blank lines :|

I downloaded Linux Lite 5.8 to have a look. It ships with Xfce 4.14. Did you manually upgrade to 4.16? If so, what process did you use?

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RumDrama

Member

Registered: 2022-04-14

Posts: 5

Re: Notifications log is nothing but blank lines :|

xfconf-query -c xfce4-notifyd -p /log-max-size -s 100
After applying this command I received the same result, more empty lines.

My libglib2.0 version is 2.64.6-1 and noticed there is a 2.72.1-1 available as a Debian download.

Hi KBar!
I changed Lang to C but that didn’t work.
Checked permissions and everything was fine.

ToZ!
How’d you like Linux Lite (:= That was going above and beyond!
I was super excited and wanted the newest version so I updated XFCE by adding the repository ppa:xubuntu-dev/staging and installed 4.16. ( Which is NOT the way of LTS. Haha )

Between you and KBar, I got to thinking I should copy the old xfce4-notifyd version 4.14 to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/notifyd/. It worked with no errors or problems! My notifications log is no longer empty! I am happy and I’ll just wait until an update comes for the next version of XFCE or xfce4-notifyd. I am still open to other ideas but it looks like my problem is solved (:

Thanks so much ToZ! You are an awesome, patient, cordial, person. Your avatar makes me laugh every time I see it. You really mean something to XFCE and this forum. It would not be the same without you. Thanks for making yourself available and helping me!

Much love to ToZ! and thanks KBar for adding your wisdom too!

xoxo