[EdLUG] Kubuntu Desktop broken after 'apt-get dist-upgrade'

Wed Sep 21 16:26:17 UTC 2022

Alistair,

I'm a Gentoo user so I can't tell you the steps to fix it but extracting 
some debug information is distro agnostic.

The X server and desktop are two separate bits. It's possible for the X 
Server to start and then for the desktop to fail. Since the desktop 
depends on a working X Server, the other way round is not possible.

Step 1 is narrow the problem space.

 From you failed update system post the output of the dmesg command. If 
you have the wgetpaste script, that will do all the hard work and return 
a URL that you can share, like

$ wgetpaste -c dmesg
Your paste can be seen here: http://dpaste.com/49PQNMDVM

It will tell what your kernel did when it started. Errors or omissions 
here make give a few hints.

Xorg also has a startup log file. If root runs Xorg, its at 
/var/log/Xorg.0.log. If a normal user runs Xorg its in 
/home/<username>/... but I don't know where. That will be good to see too.

$ wgetpaste -s 0x0 /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Your paste can be seen here: https://0x0.st/oVYj.0.log

If you use a graphical login, you will have both. The graphical login 
runs Xorg as root, then when you log in, its run as the logged in user.

The idea, is just to get a few pointers to whats broken.

Those links are my real examples.

Regards,

Roy Bamford.

On 21/09/2022 14:16, Alistair wrote:

> Kevin,
> I created a new user, shutdown, and then booted normally.
> On logging in as the new user I tried to start the desktop, with the same result.
> Last week I extracted the .xsession-errors file from the machine.
> Unfortunately I had booted the box several times before then, such that the first shutdown recorded shows errors and is different to the sequence recorded on a good machine. It is different to all the subsequent entries immediately prior to attempting to startx.
>
> I have yet to find anything meaingful (to me at least) when searching for these messages.
> Last error before first startx attempt:
> XIO:  fatal IO error 4 (Interrupted system call) on X server ":0"
> First error after first startx attempt:
> QDBusConnection: error: could not send signal to service "" path "//home/alistair/.kde/share/config/kdeglobals" interface "org.kde.kconfig.notify" member "ConfigChanged": Invalid object path: //home/alistair/.kde/share/config/kdeglobals
> The file '/home/alistair/.kde/share/config/kdeglobals' does exist and is similar to a good one. Is the extra leading '/' an error? and if so where is the file it is read from?
> Second error:
> Qt: Session management error: networkIdsList argument is NULL
>
> Andrew,
> I cannot now remember if the upgrade included a kernel update, but 'linux-generic' is one of 25 packages now being held back by 'apt-get dist-upgrade'.
> This box has kernels 5.15.0-46, and 5.15.0-47 installed.
> I booted into 5.15.0-46 and tried to start the desktop without success.
> It boots to the console, and after logging in and then starting X, I get the "plasma by kde"(?) black screen with a moveable mouse pointer.
>
> Regards
> Alistair
>
> On Tuesday, 20 September 2022 22:40:10 BST Andrew Robinson wrote:
>> Did the kernel upgrade at the same time? Did you try booting into the older kernel and still get the problem? I have had something similar and I needed to add a boot flag, correctly boot and then update again but it’s tough to say without access. You’re able to login? So you can see a GUI at a login?
>>
>> I know this is not the time to say such a thing as it’s of no help to you now but it’s also a great place to plug using Btrfs and snapshots, you can have it automatically snapshot whenever you do a package manager command, if you destroy it, you can boot to the old snapshot. I recently did this while playing around with new wayland settings, destroyed it, couldn’t boot, went back to the last snapshot (taken automatically when I updated a wayland package) and I was back in the game. (running Arch)
>>
>> From: Kevin Davidson
>> Sent: 20 September 2022 22:26
>> To: Edinburgh Linux Users Group
>> Subject: Re: [EdLUG] Kubuntu Desktop broken after 'apt-get dist-upgrade'
>>
>> I think I missed the beginning of this, but if I were troubleshooting this, the first thing I'd try is to log in as a different user and see if you still have the problem, Create another temporary user account if you need to. If that works, then it’s not the software installation that’s the problem, it’s the configuration. Start looking through all the dot files and see what’s different between the config that works and the one that doesn’t. The .xsession-errors file ought to be a useful log of what went wrong.
>>
>> Kevin
>>
>>
>> On 20 Sep 2022, at 21:54, Alistair <alistair at archerry.plus.com> wrote:
>>
>> I am still struggling to understand how to recover the desktop in a refined manner.
>>
>> Some of the sites I have found discuss re-installing the display manager and/or window manager and/or the desktop environment, but non of them mention kde plasma explicitly.
>> (I see the kde plasma logo and spinning cog wheel when I issue the 'startx' command. It just stops at a black screen.)
>>
>> Taking a "blunderbuss" approach, I have looked at simply re-installing the kubuntu desktop.
>> Is this an acceptable approach? Or are there further questions I can ask to establish the system state and what needs fixing?
>>
>> Using the simulation option of apt-get, I can compare what will be installed / re-installed on the system compared to another working setup:
>> Broken T480:
>> 'sudo apt-get install -s --reinstall kubuntu-desktop
>>
>> Reading package lists...
>> Building dependency tree...
>> Reading state information...
>> The following additional packages will be installed:
>>   fonts-noto-unhinted haveged ibus-data kde-style-oxygen-qt5 kgamma5
>>   kubuntu-settings-desktop libhavege2 libibus-1.0-5 liboxygenstyle5-5
>>   liboxygenstyleconfig5-5 libscim8v5 libxcb-record0 plasma-desktop
>>   plasma-desktop-data plasma-thunderbolt plasma-widgets-addons sddm
>>   sddm-theme-breeze
>> Suggested packages:
>>   ibus quota
>> The following NEW packages will be installed
>>   fonts-noto-unhinted haveged ibus-data kde-style-oxygen-qt5 kgamma5
>>   kubuntu-desktop kubuntu-settings-desktop libhavege2 libibus-1.0-5
>>   liboxygenstyle5-5 liboxygenstyleconfig5-5 libscim8v5 libxcb-record0
>>   plasma-desktop plasma-desktop-data plasma-thunderbolt plasma-widgets-addons
>>   sddm sddm-theme-breeze
>> 0 to upgrade, 19 to newly install, 0 to remove and 67 not to upgrade.'
>>
>> Working T450:
>> 'sudo apt-get install -s --reinstall kubuntu-desktop
>>
>> Reading package lists... Done
>> Building dependency tree
>> Reading state information... Done
>> 0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.
>> Inst kubuntu-desktop [1.398] (1.398 Ubuntu:20.04/focal [amd64])
>> Conf kubuntu-desktop (1.398 Ubuntu:20.04/focal [amd64])'
>>
>> Regards,
>> Alistair
>>
>> On Tuesday, 13 September 2022 21:10:09 BST Ken Robson wrote:
>>
>> OK my bad .Xauthority is right one.
>>
>> ⁣Ken
>>
>> Get BlueMail for Android 
>>
>> On 13 Sep 2022, 19:11, at 19:11, Alistair <alistair at archerry.plus.com> wrote:
>>
>> Ken,
>> Thanks for the suggestion.
>> I cannot find a file called .xauth.
>> In the /home/alistair/ folder are the files:
>> .Xauthority and .xsession-errors.
>> I have 'rsync' these, and the output of 'dmesg' to another box so that
>> I may view them more easily.
>> What clues should I look for in these, or other files ?
>>
>> Regards,
>> Alistair
>>
>> On Tuesday, 13 September 2022 18:15:05 BST Ken Robson wrote:
>>
>> I had a similar issue a few years ago.
>> Try renaming the ~/.xauth file (sudo mv ~/.xauth ~/xauth) and see if
>> x will load then.
>>
>>
>> ⁣Ken
>>
>> Get BlueMail for Android 
>>
>> On 13 Sep 2022, 17:56, at 17:56, Alistair
>> <alistair at archerry.plus.com> wrote:
>>
>> azmodie,
>>
>> Thanks for the prompt reply.
>>
>> "sudo dpkg --configure -a"
>> Reports no actions.
>>
>> "sudo apt-get update", followed by
>> "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade" or "sudo apt-get install -f":
>> Both Reports
>> "0 to upgrade 0 to newly install 0 to remove and 13 not to upgrade"
>>
>> So I need to dig deeper...
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Alistair
>>
>>
>> On Tuesday, 13 September 2022 15:26:18 BST azmodie wrote:
>>
>> Hi Alistar,
>>
>> I'd try the usual recovery commands.
>>
>> sudo apt-get update
>> sudo apt-get upgrade
>>
>> You may need to run
>>
>> sudo dpkg --configure -a
>>
>> or
>>
>> sudo apt-get install -f
>>
>> Regards,
>> azmodie
>>
>>
>> --
>> http://gplus.to/azmodie
>> "Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until
>> you hear
>>
>> them speak."  -- some bright spark
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 13 Sept 2022 at 14:23, Alistair
>> <alistair at archerry.plus.com>
>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Last week I updated my Thinkpad T480 (running Kubuntu 22.04)
>> using
>>
>> the
>>
>> command line. During the process the laptop crashed, and I am no
>> longer
>>
>> able to access the desktop.
>> I can login to console after boot up, but when I try to start
>> the
>>
>> desktop
>>
>> with 'startx' I get a black screen. To get there it asks for a
>> Kwallet
>>
>> password - (never previously used) and a wireless network
>> password.
>>
>> The
>>
>> mouse pointer is a black arrow  with a white outline, which does
>> follow
>>
>> movements of the trackpad but does not respond to right or left
>> buttons.
>>
>>
>> I tried  'apt-get dist-upgrade' with the '-f' option to no
>> avail.
>>
>>
>> I think it stated that several packages would be held back
>> before
>>
>> the
>>
>> update. I booted into recovery mode, ran 'fsck', 'clean',
>> enabled
>>
>> network,
>>
>> then ran 'dpkg' which updated 41 packages, but still no proper
>> desktop.
>>
>>
>> How do I confirm the current state of the system, and then
>> recover
>>
>> /
>>
>> repair the Kubuntu desktop?
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Alistair
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> EdLUG mailing list
>> EdLUG at mailman.lug.org.uk
>> https://lists.edlug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/edlug
>>
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