system corrupted without apparent reason [Solved]

[dolphin_oracle]

I can think of a few ways to screw up a desktop, besides just random crashes. the easiest would be modification of privileges on files in the home folder, or the home folder itself, and not necessarily desktop config files. a sudo operation in the wrong place could change a permission or an ownership, and then all heck breaks loose.

its one reason we got rid of some right-click options to change file permissions and ownership that long ago we had. They were dangerous for both skilled and unskilled users alike. and a reason we do not ship with bleachbit installed and why the much safer mx-cleanup was born.

not saying an issue like that is in play here, but back in the day users would report problems on multiple machines and it often came down to the same ownership change being done on all machines.

something to consider anyway.

[harrykar]

Not convinced it was ActivityWatch as I have seen this same result a couple of times now, but it is indeed interesting and as I said I am not too hot on believing a coincidence :-)

@CharlesV Where? only in MX's boxes or in other Linux distros too?

I have seen this in two mx21 xfce machines, one of mine (which has done it twice) and then in one machine I support.

So as I can understand the point is if is a xfce or MX's problem

[CharlesV]

pretty sure this is an XFCE issue

[harrykar]

pretty sure this is an XFCE issue

What u did in that occasion? you tried to understand what happened? someone reported the issue in xfce team?

[CharlesV]

I remember finding topics in the xfce forums, for me the fix was to restore my config ( timeshift - I back up my configs) The weird thing on one of mine was there was no updates or anything it was a reboot as the system was starting to leak memory ( I was up to 8gb used with nothing running ) .

The other one was after an update, but it rolled back perfectly .

My clients machine, I also restored timeshift - and they said there was 'nothing they did' .. but .. I take that with a grain.

All three times I had no real clue, only the update was questionable, and when I applied it again.. no issue.

[harrykar]

I remember finding topics in the xfce forums, for me the fix was to restore my config ( timeshift - I back up my configs) The weird thing on one of mine was there was no updates or anything it was a reboot as the system was starting to leak memory ( I was up to 8gb used with nothing running ) .

The other one was after an update, but it rolled back perfectly .

My clients machine, I also restored timeshift - and they said there was 'nothing they did' .. but .. I take that with a grain.

All three times I had no real clue, only the update was questionable, and when I applied it again.. no issue.

@CharlesV OK next time you & others who experience that inconvenience first thing first try to rename .cache dir and reboot or maybe only logout/relogin in your box.
As last step I have to take a glance in my messed backuped .cache dir to see if can understand something more about

PS: I noticed after system's restoration the screen becomes black when xscreensave have to operate. The first time I did CTRL+ALT+delete + xscreensave required password and saw xscreensave's multicolor screensavers.
But if shutdown and start the system the screen (in screensave's operating time) is always black. You have a clue about how to restore the normal behaviour?

[harrykar]

I remember finding topics in the xfce forums, for me the fix was to restore my config ( timeshift - I back up my configs) The weird thing on one of mine was there was no updates or anything it was a reboot as the system was starting to leak memory ( I was up to 8gb used with nothing running ) .

The other one was after an update, but it rolled back perfectly .

My clients machine, I also restored timeshift - and they said there was 'nothing they did' .. but .. I take that with a grain.

All three times I had no real clue, only the update was questionable, and when I applied it again.. no issue.

@CharlesV OK next time you, I & others who experience that inconvenience first thing first to try is to rename .cache dir and reboot (or maybe only logout/relogin might be enough don't remember when .cash dir is generated) in your box.
As a last step I have to take a glance in my messed backuped .cache dir to see if can understand something more about.

What tool you use for home's backup? Timeshift as I understand is used only for system's backup/recover and is not recommended for home

PS: I noticed after system's restoration the screen becomes black when xscreensave have to operate. The first time I did CTRL+ALT+delete + xscreensave required password and saw xscreensave's multicolor screensavers til shoutdown.
But after a shutdown when the system start the screen (in screensave's operating time) is always black(and continue to be black if I last it as is). You have a clue about how to restore the normal behaviour?

[harrykar]

I can think of a few ways to screw up a desktop, besides just random crashes. the easiest would be modification of privileges on files in the home folder, or the home folder itself, and not necessarily desktop config files. a sudo operation in the wrong place could change a permission or an ownership, and then all heck breaks loose.

its one reason we got rid of some right-click options to change file permissions and ownership that long ago we had. They were dangerous for both skilled and unskilled users alike. and a reason we do not ship with bleachbit installed and why the much safer mx-cleanup was born.

not saying an issue like that is in play here, but back in the day users would report problems on multiple machines and it often came down to the same ownership change being done on all machines.

something to consider anyway.

@dolphin_oracle Yeah as I can remember in my use case haven't tinkering with privileges.
For learning/knowledge sake can you provide a concrete example of your thesis?
TIA

[dolphin_oracle]

I can think of a few ways to screw up a desktop, besides just random crashes. the easiest would be modification of privileges on files in the home folder, or the home folder itself, and not necessarily desktop config files. a sudo operation in the wrong place could change a permission or an ownership, and then all heck breaks loose.

its one reason we got rid of some right-click options to change file permissions and ownership that long ago we had. They were dangerous for both skilled and unskilled users alike. and a reason we do not ship with bleachbit installed and why the much safer mx-cleanup was born.

not saying an issue like that is in play here, but back in the day users would report problems on multiple machines and it often came down to the same ownership change being done on all machines.

something to consider anyway.

@dolphin_oracle Yeah as I can remember in my use case haven't tinkering with privileges.
For learning/knowledge sake can you provide a concrete example of your thesis?
TIA

well, if your home folder permissions are such that files can't be created in it by the user, then anything from X not starting to configs that won't update can happen.

[CharlesV]

@CharlesV OK next time you, I & others who experience that inconvenience first thing first to try is to rename .cache dir and reboot (or maybe only logout/relogin might be enough don't remember when .cash dir is generated) in your box.
As a last step I have to take a glance in my messed backuped .cache dir to see if can understand something more about.

What tool you use for home's backup? Timeshift as I understand is used only for system's backup/recover and is not recommended for home

PS: I noticed after system's restoration the screen becomes black when xscreensave have to operate. The first time I did CTRL+ALT+delete + xscreensave required password and saw xscreensave's multicolor screensavers til shoutdown.
But after a shutdown when the system start the screen (in screensave's operating time) is always black(and continue to be black if I last it as is). You have a clue about how to restore the normal behaviour?

Good to know and I will give this a try if it happens again.

Yes, I use Timeshift for a regular timed backup and then I have BackInTime for my big backup, and then SpiderOak backing up off site every 15 min. I run my /home a little different than most, carrying only confg's and a small amount of data there. 99% of my data ( docs, pictures, everything else) is on a completely different drive, and I have links to get there . ( ie my ~/Documents ~/Pictures etc are all symlinks )

Yes, people say not to use Timeshift to 'backup' your data. And I believe the main reason is that a restore will drop you BACK to where you were when it last run. (ie you LOSE all data since that timeshift! ) ... So.. easy to do as long as you remember, if your going to restore using TImeShift you either a) make another TImeShift right before you restore, or you copy out your entire ~/ ... and replace anything 'new' since that TimeShift that you restored. ( obviously ... better to NOT do this - but I like the timed save, and I have SpiderOak too.)

For your xscreensaver, there is a ~/.xscreensaver that holds all config data, I would remove that and see if it resolves your black saver. (also - mine does that on occasion, but is always good the next round - but then I rarely shut my machines down, locking them each time i walk away. )