ISSUE RESOLVED ITSELF? xfce4-panel intermittent startup failure

tunsoffun · 2023-02-22 22:58:53

I searched for anything concerning this. I am absolutely certain this has been asked before, but I'm darned if the search will show it to me.

For that matter, can't find it anywhere online.

I run Void with musl, 64-bot. Xfce versopm 4.18, GTK version 3.24.34, Kernel version 6.1.12_1.

More often than not a cold start or a reboot will net me a desktop with no panels showing.

Attempting to start xfce4-panel from terminal emulator results in notification that an instance is already running. Attempting to restart (xfce4-panel -r) is also futile.

Taskmanager shows some, but not all, of my panel plugins have PIDs. And there are always TWO instances of xfce-4-panel present.

The only way I can get my panels to run is to kill all of the plugins and both of the xfce4-panel instances. At this point, all of my plugins and a single xfce4-panel instance show up properly in Taskmanager, and my panels appear on the desktop.

I'm baffled because I have two other systems configured exactly the same, and neither of them ever has this problem. I even completely deleted xfce4 configuration options under my /home and reconfigured everything from scratch, and I get the same behavior.

Ideas?

Addendum: There was a gtk3+ upgrade to my operating system last night. I have no idea whether or not this upgrade may have resolved my problem. And, if it did, why weren't two other systems configured identically misbehaving before the upgrade? I did also deactivate expansion on one separator in the panel. I have always mistrusted WYSIWYG editors for things like this. I always wonder if they may be dropping garbage characters (non-displaying, non-printing) in configurations. If this happens again, I'm going to search for such junk, though it didn't show up when I ran diffs on the configurations from the two machines that were unaffected and the one that was.

I do not like mysteries of this sort.

Last edited by tunsoffun (2023-03-08 15:00:26)

ToZ · 2023-02-22 23:54:42

I'd be interested in seeing:

xfce4-panel -lv

Does void log xsession errors anywhere (like ~/.xsession-errors)? It would also be interesting to see that log file after an unsuccessful start.

And finally, a bit of a long shot, delete the contents of ~/.cache/sessions while not logged in (go to a different tty, log in to the text console and delete that folder. Perhaps something is cached that is interfering with the start.

tunsoffun · 2023-02-23 02:57:12

Hi, ToZ! Thanks for responding!

I can provide some data now and will try to get back with more within the next couple of days.

$ xfce4-panel -lv
xfce4-panel: Unknown option -lv.
Type "xfce4-panel --help" for usage.

Was that command a typo?

$ xfce4-panel -V
xfce4-panel 4.18.2 (Xfce 4.18)

Please report bugs to <https://gitlab.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-panel/-/issues>.

.xsession-errors is 0 bytes. I'll look to see if Void might put the information elsewhere, but the standard log files other than .xsession-errors don't seem to contain pertinent information.

Deleting the session cache from a TTY while logged out of the DM was one of the first things I did. But I have to say that there does seem to be some sort of spookiness wrt the way session saving is handled. I've had to turn off automatic session saving (and have left it off) in my troubleshooting attempts.

I'll come back to this tomorrow when my head is clearer.

Thanks again!

ToZ · 2023-02-23 12:24:16

tunsoffun wrote:

$ xfce4-panel -lv
xfce4-panel: Unknown option -lv.
Type "xfce4-panel --help" for usage.
Was that command a typo?

It sure was, sorry about that. Try instead:

xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv

tunsoffun · 2023-02-24 21:24:50

Don't quite know what else to do.

As per your suggestion, issuing xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv resulted in:

---8<---

/configver 2
/panels <<UNSUPPORTED>>
/panels/dark-mode false
/panels/panel-1/icon-size 0
/panels/panel-1/length 100
/panels/panel-1/plugin-ids <<UNSUPPORTED>>
/panels/panel-1/position p=6;x=0;y=0
/panels/panel-1/position-locked true
/panels/panel-1/size 57
/panels/panel-2/autohide-behavior 1
/panels/panel-2/length 27.083333
/panels/panel-2/plugin-ids <<UNSUPPORTED>>
/panels/panel-2/position p=12;x=974;y=1175
/panels/panel-2/position-locked true
/panels/panel-2/size 57
/plugins/plugin-1 applicationsmenu
/plugins/plugin-1/show-button-title false
/plugins/plugin-10 notification-plugin
/plugins/plugin-11 separator
/plugins/plugin-11/expand false
/plugins/plugin-11/style 0
/plugins/plugin-12 clock
/plugins/plugin-12/digital-date-font Linux Libertine Mono O 18
/plugins/plugin-12/digital-time-font Linux Libertine Mono O 18
/plugins/plugin-12/digital-time-format %H:%M:%S
/plugins/plugin-12/tooltip-format %A of Week %V
/plugins/plugin-13 separator
/plugins/plugin-13/expand false
/plugins/plugin-13/style 0
/plugins/plugin-14 actions
/plugins/plugin-14/appearance 0
/plugins/plugin-14/items <<UNSUPPORTED>>
/plugins/plugin-15 separator
/plugins/plugin-15/expand false
/plugins/plugin-15/style 0
/plugins/plugin-16 thunar-tpa
/plugins/plugin-17 separator
/plugins/plugin-17/expand false
/plugins/plugin-17/style 0
/plugins/plugin-18 tasklist
/plugins/plugin-18/grouping true
/plugins/plugin-18/window-scrolling false
/plugins/plugin-19 separator
/plugins/plugin-19/expand false
/plugins/plugin-19/style 0
/plugins/plugin-20 separator
/plugins/plugin-20/expand false
/plugins/plugin-20/style 0
/plugins/plugin-21 cpufreq
/plugins/plugin-22 cpugraph
/plugins/plugin-23 xfce4-sensors-plugin
/plugins/plugin-24 separator
/plugins/plugin-24/expand true
/plugins/plugin-24/style 0
/plugins/plugin-25 separator
/plugins/plugin-25/expand true
/plugins/plugin-25/style 0
/plugins/plugin-26 separator
/plugins/plugin-26/expand true
/plugins/plugin-26/style 0
/plugins/plugin-27 separator
/plugins/plugin-27/expand true
/plugins/plugin-27/style 0
/plugins/plugin-3 separator
/plugins/plugin-3/expand true
/plugins/plugin-3/style 0
/plugins/plugin-4 pager
/plugins/plugin-4/miniature-view false
/plugins/plugin-4/rows 2
/plugins/plugin-5 separator
/plugins/plugin-5/expand false
/plugins/plugin-5/style 0
/plugins/plugin-6 systray
/plugins/plugin-6/icon-size 0
/plugins/plugin-6/known-legacy-items <<UNSUPPORTED>>
/plugins/plugin-6/single-row true
/plugins/plugin-6/square-icons true
/plugins/plugin-7 weather
/plugins/plugin-7/cache-max-age 172800
/plugins/plugin-7/forecast/days 10
/plugins/plugin-7/forecast/layout 0
/plugins/plugin-7/labels/label0 3
/plugins/plugin-7/labels/label1 11
/plugins/plugin-7/labels/label2 5
/plugins/plugin-7/labels/label3 7
/plugins/plugin-7/labels/label4 4
/plugins/plugin-7/labels/label5 9
/plugins/plugin-7/location/latitude XX.XXXXXX
/plugins/plugin-7/location/longitude -XX.XXXXXX
/plugins/plugin-7/location/name XXXXXXXXXXXxx, XXXXXXXXXXXX
/plugins/plugin-7/msl 129
/plugins/plugin-7/offset -05:00
/plugins/plugin-7/power-saving true
/plugins/plugin-7/round false
/plugins/plugin-7/scrollbox/animate false
/plugins/plugin-7/scrollbox/color rgb(170,204,255)
/plugins/plugin-7/scrollbox/font Linux Libertine Mono O 18
/plugins/plugin-7/scrollbox/lines 2
/plugins/plugin-7/scrollbox/show true
/plugins/plugin-7/scrollbox/use-color true
/plugins/plugin-7/single-row true
/plugins/plugin-7/theme-dir /usr/share/xfce4/weather/icons/liquid-dark
/plugins/plugin-7/timezone America/New_York
/plugins/plugin-7/tooltip-style 1
/plugins/plugin-7/units/altitude 1
/plugins/plugin-7/units/apparent-temperature 0
/plugins/plugin-7/units/precipitation 1
/plugins/plugin-7/units/pressure 2
/plugins/plugin-7/units/temperature 1
/plugins/plugin-7/units/windspeed 1
/plugins/plugin-8 pulseaudio
/plugins/plugin-8/enable-keyboard-shortcuts true
/plugins/plugin-8/mpris-players firefox.instance15622;firefox.instance2710;firefox.instance5327;firefox.instance5342;firefox.instance6098;firefox.instance8363
/plugins/plugin-8/show-notifications true
/plugins/plugin-9 separator
/plugins/plugin-9/expand false
/plugins/plugin-9/style 0

---8<---

ToZ · 2023-02-25 00:23:49

Do you have any log files during startup that might capture the failure?

tunsoffun · 2023-02-25 01:18:44

I can find absolutely nothing pertaining to Xfce4 or its components in the logs.

Void uses runit for startup. Its logging facilities are, by default, pretty minimal. I should be asking the Void folks about this because they do make use of a slightly unusual (in my mind) approach to logging. I examined the system to no avail.

At least if you can see no obvious issue with the panel configuration I can (probably) assume that this particular system is somehow running afoul of runit's everything-in-parallel approach to startup.

Thank you for your attention to this.

I'll get back to you if I learn something.

tunsoffun · 2023-03-06 01:13:38

ToZ wrote:

Do you have any log files during startup that might capture the failure?

I finally found a log that pertains to the problem. It's at /home/username/.local/share/sddm/xorg-session.log

Contents at most recent failure listed here:

bash: cannot set terminal process group (882): Not a tty
bash: no job control in this shell
/etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc: 76: xrdb: not found
/usr/bin/iceauth: creating new authority file /run/user/1000/ICEauthority
discover_other_daemon: 1discover_other_daemon: 1discover_other_daemon: 1
(xfce4-power-manager:1252): xfce4-power-manager-WARNING **: 15:16:35.433: could not map keysym 1008ffa8 to keycode

** (xfce4-power-manager:1252): WARNING **: 15:16:35.438: No outputs have backlight property

(xfce4-power-manager:1252): xfce4-power-manager-WARNING **: 15:16:35.446: Failed to get keyboard max brightness level : GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: Object does not exist at path “/org/freedesktop/UPower/KbdBacklight”

** (xfce4-screensaver:1262): WARNING **: 15:16:35.507: screensaver already running in this session

(wrapper-2.0:1220): xfce4-panel-wrapper-WARNING **: 15:17:09.845: ProviderSignal call failed: Timeout was reached

(wrapper-2.0:1224): xfce4-panel-wrapper-WARNING **: 15:17:09.910: ProviderSignal call failed: Timeout was reached

(wrapper-2.0:1222): xfce4-panel-wrapper-WARNING **: 15:17:09.911: ProviderSignal call failed: Timeout was reached

(wrapper-2.0:1221): xfce4-panel-wrapper-WARNING **: 15:17:09.916: ProviderSignal call failed: Timeout was reached

(wrapper-2.0:1223): xfce4-panel-wrapper-WARNING **: 15:17:09.917: ProviderSignal call failed: Timeout was reached

(wrapper-2.0:1224): xfce4-panel-wrapper-WARNING **: 15:17:34.936: ProviderSignal call failed: Timeout was reached

(wrapper-2.0:1223): xfce4-panel-wrapper-WARNING **: 15:17:34.942: ProviderSignal call failed: Timeout was reached

(wrapper-2.0:1221): xfce4-panel-wrapper-WARNING **: 15:17:34.945: ProviderSignal call failed: Timeout was reached

(wrapper-2.0:1223): xfce4-panel-wrapper-WARNING **: 15:17:59.967: ProviderSignal call failed: Timeout was reached

ToZ · 2023-03-06 17:53:26

Strange that this is an intermittent problem. Perhaps a bug report would be best to get the developer to look at it.

tunsoffun · 2023-03-06 20:17:47

I've been under the weather, and making excuses. But you are right. I'll stop being lazy and file a bug report.

Thank you again for your help. Much appreciated!

Xfce Forum

Sub domains

#1 2023-02-22 22:58:53

ISSUE RESOLVED ITSELF? xfce4-panel intermittent startup failure

#2 2023-02-22 23:54:42

Re: ISSUE RESOLVED ITSELF? xfce4-panel intermittent startup failure

#3 2023-02-23 02:57:12

Re: ISSUE RESOLVED ITSELF? xfce4-panel intermittent startup failure

#4 2023-02-23 12:24:16

Re: ISSUE RESOLVED ITSELF? xfce4-panel intermittent startup failure

#5 2023-02-24 21:24:50

Re: ISSUE RESOLVED ITSELF? xfce4-panel intermittent startup failure

#6 2023-02-25 00:23:49

Re: ISSUE RESOLVED ITSELF? xfce4-panel intermittent startup failure

#7 2023-02-25 01:18:44

Re: ISSUE RESOLVED ITSELF? xfce4-panel intermittent startup failure

#8 2023-03-06 01:13:38

Re: ISSUE RESOLVED ITSELF? xfce4-panel intermittent startup failure

#9 2023-03-06 17:53:26

Re: ISSUE RESOLVED ITSELF? xfce4-panel intermittent startup failure

#10 2023-03-06 20:17:47

Re: ISSUE RESOLVED ITSELF? xfce4-panel intermittent startup failure

Board footer