Xfce configs screwed up: unusable [Solved]

[b3ta]

This relates to my wife's laptop, who uses it for work (she's self-employed, and I'm her IT support, so there's some pressure ). In the past this issue was easily resolved, but I've run into a wall here.

TL;DR: Restoring from a backup didn't help, so I'm not sure if I might have missed something I should have restored, or if somehow Xfce itself is damaged. I read all the posts in this group which I thought could apply, all the way back to the end of 2023, but didn't see anything applicable.

It happens about once in every three blue moons that Xfce suddenly loses a great deal of its config, with your entire desktop gone (no background or icons) and the panel empty of almost everything. Clicking on anything that is on the panel leads to a please wait animation that doesn't stop, while any clicking on the desktop does nothing. Logging out requires Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to be activated, which takes me back to the display manager login screen. Sometimes I need to do another Ctrl+Alt+Backspace there for it not to have the power button options greyed out.

This has been happening to me for years, and across many different machines, kernels, and distros.

In the past I'd correct this by not being logged in from the GUI, going to a VT as the problem user, and running "rm -Rf ~/.cache/sessions/*".

Now, that did nothing.

First, QSI from a VT:

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Snapshot created on: 20240815_1306
System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-37-amd64 [6.1.140-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-37-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
    resume=UUID=<filter> resume_offset=66183168
  Console: pty pts/0 DM: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: MX-23.6_x64 Libretto August 15  2024
    base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: HP product: HP 250 G4 Notebook PC v: Type1ProductConfigId
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: HP model: 8135 v: 31.37 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Insyde v: F.20
    date: 02/23/2016
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 18.6 Wh (100.0%) condition: 18.6/32.1 Wh (57.9%) volts: 16.1 min: 14.6
    model: Hewlett-Packard PABAS0241231 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: full
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5-6200U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Skylake gen: core 6 level: v3
    note: check built: 2015 process: Intel 14nm family: 6 model-id: 0x4E (78) stepping: 3
    microcode: 0xF0
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 tpc: 2 threads: 4 smt: enabled cache: L1: 128 KiB
    desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB desc: 2x256 KiB L3: 3 MiB desc: 1x3 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 455 high: 622 min/max: 400/2800 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
    governor: powersave cores: 1: 400 2: 400 3: 622 4: 400 bogomips: 19200
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Skylake GT2 [HD Graphics 520] vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: i915 v: kernel
    arch: Gen-9 process: Intel 14n built: 2015-16 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1,HDMI-A-2
    bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:1916 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Cheng Uei Precision Industry (Foxlink) HP Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 1-5:4 chip-ID: 05c8:022a class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: server: X.org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: Compton v: 1 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 tty: 100x57
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: LG Display 0x0465 built: 2014 res: 1366x768 dpi: 101 gamma: 1.2
    size: 344x194mm (13.54x7.64") diag: 395mm (15.5") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1366x768
  API: OpenGL Message: GL data unavailable in console. Try -G --display
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci_intel_skl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d70
    class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-37-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active (process) with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: off 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 4000 bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: rtl8723be v: kernel modules: wl pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 3000
    bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:b723 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Realtek Bluetooth Radio type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-4:3
    chip-ID: 0bda:b006 class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1 lmp-v: 4.0
    sub-v: 9f73 hci-v: 4.0 rev: e2f
  Info: acl-mtu: 820:8 sco-mtu: 255:16 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff park
    link-mode: peripheral accept
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 447.13 GiB used: 271.01 GiB (60.6%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Apacer model: AS330 480GB size: 447.13 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 7PD0 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 446.88 GiB size: 438.79 GiB (98.19%) used: 271.01 GiB (61.8%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 256 MiB size: 252 MiB (98.46%) used: 274 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 5.72 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swap/swap
  ID-2: swap-2 type: zram size: 256 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 27.0 C pch: 22.5 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2184 libs: 1077 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kopia.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kopia-keyring.gpg] http://packages.kopia.io/apt/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb https://mirrors.aliyun.com/mxlinux/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
Info:
  Processes: 152 Uptime: 1h 55m wakeups: 2 Memory: 3.72 GiB used: 733.9 MiB (19.2%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Shell: quick-system-in default: Bash v: 5.2.15 running-in: pty pts/0 (SSH) inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI

I have a script which shows me the youngest n files (n defaults to 20) in the current directory tree, and using that I saw that only the following files were newer than the last known good state:

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/home/user/.config/xfce4/desktop/accels.scm
/home/user/.config/xfce4/desktop/icons.screen0.yaml
/home/user/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-13/17496707101.desktop
/home/user/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-13/17496714411.desktop
/home/user/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-14/17496707102.desktop
/home/user/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-14/17496714422.desktop
/home/user/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-15/17496707103.desktop
/home/user/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-15/17496714423.desktop
/home/user/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-16/17496707104.desktop
/home/user/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-16/17496714424.desktop
/home/user/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/thunar.xml
/home/user/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-notifyd.xml
/home/user/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml
/home/user/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-power-manager.xml

My next step was to over-write these from the backup made two days prior, when the Xfce state was still fine, but then I saw in the backup that it contained a number of files which were not on her laptop any longer. These included things like "/home/user/.config/xfce4/panel/whiskermenu-7.rc", which explains a lot.

As a result I simply restored the following directory trees:

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/home/user/.cache/xfce4
/home/user/.config/xfce4
/home/user/.config/xfce4-session  
/home/user/.config/xfce-superkey

Not sure if it's important, but "/home/user/.config/xfce4-session" in the backup was empty. But then, it gets deleted as first step in potential restoration, so that's probably OK.

Sadly, this left me with a functionally unchanged machine, so all I can think of is that I did not restore from every location I should have. Does anyone know what other than the above four directory trees should also have been restored?

Also, I did not have enough time before leaving for work to create another user and see if Xfce itself is working.

[m_pav]

Create a new user account on her machine, make sure it has sudo rights. Login into that account and open nothing but the MX User Manager. In the copy/Sync tab, select the new user ac you're logged into as the copy from location and set your Wifes login account as the copy to, then click the Apply button.

If that doesn't fix it, the sync option may be more successful, but use it with caution. I have used this a few times when I have tinkered beyond the point of safety and it works for all officially supported MX versions.

[MikeR]

TL;DR: Restoring from a backup didn't help,

in an somewhat unconnected issue, I would remark (apology for quoting myself):

If you backup, but have not tested your restore procedure to completion, there in an unfortunate accident waiting for you.

from a previous post viewtopic.php?t=84242&start=22

Just a data point,
Mike

[b3ta]

@m_pav: Thank you for that suggestion. I'll let you know. Unfortunately I'm working a 12+ hour day today, so it might only be tomorrow.

@MikeR: Thank you for the reference. I, too, learned a lot from my stint in global corporate. In this case I have automated differential backups every hour, and restoring user files is a doddle. The problem comes in when something as fundamental as your DE has a bug that screws up its own configs and it's not particularly well documented. As stated, this is not a once-off, and what worked in every previous case didn't work now. When I got to the point of needing more help than I was able to figure out in the circumstances, I reached out.

[dreamer]

I have used XFCE a lot (with SysV) and I have never had any problems. In the past the "session restore" feature could "break" things, but it was removed from the logout dialog in XFCE 4.20. So your problems are a mystery. The suggestions I have are similar to those above:

1. Try a new user account and see if it works there - maybe your affected account has permission problems of some sort
2. Try booting with systemd and see if it makes a difference
3. Try a different DE or window manager to see if your problems are really tied to XFCE or if you have deeper problems

[b3ta]

My next post has a summary, as there I reply to m_pav's suggestions.

Detail

I have used XFCE a lot (with SysV) and I have never had any problems. In the past the "session restore" feature could "break" things, but it was removed from the logout dialog in XFCE 4.20. So your problems are a mystery. The suggestions I have are similar to those above:

1. Try a new user account and see if it works there - maybe your affected account has permission problems of some sort
2. Try booting with systemd and see if it makes a difference
3. Try a different DE or window manager to see if your problems are really tied to XFCE or if you have deeper problems

Thanks for the tips, @dreamer.

1. It is not at the system level of Xfce, as my new account works fine, so "dpkg-reconfigure xfce4" won't help. Also, I made sure that there are no files in her directory tree that she doesn't own ("find /home/user /home/keep ! -user USER"), and that she has write permission to all her files ("find /home/USER /home/keep.h -type f ! -perm -u=w").

2. See point 3.

3. I installed fluxbox and it works as expected when I log in as her using that. I doubt she'd be happy to learn it, though, and I have neither the desire nor the time to attempt to configure it to look and work like she is used to.

[b3ta]

Create a new user account on her machine, make sure it has sudo rights. Login into that account and open nothing but the MX User Manager. In the copy/Sync tab, select the new user ac you're logged into as the copy from location and set your Wifes login account as the copy to, then click the Apply button.

If that doesn't fix it, the sync option may be more successful, but use it with caution. I have used this a few times when I have tinkered beyond the point of safety and it works for all officially supported MX versions.

Thank you so much, m_pav. I certainly learned more about the user manager.

My next post might suggest something to someone who knows more about Xfce than I do.

Summary

Details follow, but it definitely looks like it's Xfce-related at the user account level. My question is thus two-fold:

1. Where are all the places that Xfce writes its user-related stuff?
2. What is the correct format of said stuff?

I could give up, bite the bullet, and manually copy everything except the files obviously part of Xfce to the new user, but would really like to solve this so we can at least work out how to recover from a recurrence. My hope is rather to help getting the cause addressed. I say that based on a comment she made yesterday about it recently taking longer than usual to log out / shut down, coupled with a comment by an Xfce developer I read while researching this — it makes me think it boils down to a serialisation issue between loosely-coupled processes at log-out time.

Some detail

Hers was the only user on the machine, so I had to create two new users, as the User Manager would not let me do the copy to the active user (for good reason!).

Since the drive doesn't have enough free space to make a copy of all her files, plus the chances of it being related to a file outside of "~/.*" are tiny, I did the following as root.

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cd /home
mkdir keep
mv USER/* keep/.

While that leave a large amount of unrelated rubbish (Firefox cache files, for example) for the User Manager copy, it is small enough to work, plus it won't miss any of the Xfce files. [Sentence edited for clarity.]

As an aside, after the copy I saw a tree size discrepancy, but that was just the "~/.config/autostart/mx-welcome.desktop" which she had deleted and which the new installation had.

Sadly, logging in as this new user with all my wife's "~/.*" files was no different, hence I really do need answers to questions one and four, above.

[b3ta]

This might suggest something to someone who knows Xfce well.

Since I can't do anything other than Ctrl+Alt+Backspace when I log in via Xfce as "tempuser", I logged in as my own user and then ran this:

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$ sudo -u tempuser dbus-launch xfconf-query -l
Authorization required, but no authorization protocol specified

Channels:
  accessibility
  displays
  keyboards
  pointers
  thunar
  thunar-volman
  xfce4-appfinder
  xfce4-desktop
  xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts
  xfce4-mime-settings
  xfce4-mixer
  xfce4-notifyd
  xfce4-panel
  xfce4-power-manager
  xfce4-screensaver
  xfce4-screenshooter
  xfce4-session
  xfce4-settings-editor
  xfce4-settings-manager
  xfce4-terminal
  xfwm4
  xsettings
$ 

[j2mcgreg]

Question: Why does your QSI show this:

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Console: pty pts/0 DM: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: MX-23.6_x64 Libretto August 15  2024
    base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)

instead of the standard:

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Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.0 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.38 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm
    v: 4.20.0 vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: MX-23.5_ahs_x64 Libretto
    January 21 2024 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)

have you modified your systems in some fashion that is now causing problems?

[b3ta]

I just checked my installation notes and nothing seems out of the ordinary, but I looked into it and it is because I ran from the command line in an SSH session via "quick-system-info-mx >QSI" (because I couldn't get into the GUI). Then it gives a "Console" line under "System" as opposed to a "Desktop" line.

That the console is "pty pts/0" means it is a pseudo-terminal, if memory serves. If it was from the first text interface terminal on her laptop, that line would have started " Console: tty 1" instead.

Just a word of warning for those who want to run it from a text terminal: if you want to pipe its output to "less", call it as "less -R", otherwise your terminal can get so messed up that you'll have to run "reset", as happened to me.