whisker menu favorites not saved?

[wellsey]

I have moved from mx19 xfce to mx23.4 recently and noticed that adjustments to whiskermenu favorites ( using mouse , not directly editing the config file) were not saved between reboots. In order to get the changes to be saved I have to enable "automatically save Session on logout" option in "Sessions & Startup". I am pretty sure I did not have to do this in mx19. I dont always want all previous session programs popping up on a restart especially as vscode takes about a minute before it suddenly appears stealing focus.

Has something changed?

Code: Select all

Snapshot created on: 20241029_1714
System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-26-amd64 [6.1.112-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-26-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.18.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.26.0 Distro: MX-23.4_x64 Libretto September 15  2024 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E4310 v: 0001 serial: <superuser required> Chassis:
    type: 9 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0D8H24 v: A00 serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Dell v: A06 date: 02/15/2011
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 22.1 Wh (82.5%) condition: 26.8/48.8 Wh (55.0%) volts: 11.9 min: 11.1
    model: SMP DELL 9H41496 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: charging
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5 M 560 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Westmere gen: core 1 level: v2
    built: 2010-11 process: Intel 32nm family: 6 model-id: 0x25 (37) stepping: 5 microcode: 0x7
  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: 1350 high: 1463 min/max: 1199/2667 boost: enabled scaling:
    driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: ondemand cores: 1: 1367 2: 1278 3: 1463 4: 1292 bogomips: 21281
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable
  Type: mds status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW; STIBP: conditional; RSB
    filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel
    arch: Gen-5.75 process: Intel 45nm built: 2010 ports: active: HDMI-A-1,eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2,
    HDMI-A-2, VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0046 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Primax Dell Laptop Integrated Webcam 2Mpix type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-1.4:5
    chip-ID: 0461:4db1 class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.18.0 driver: X: loaded: intel
    dri: crocus gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x286mm (20.00x11.26") s-diag: 583mm (22.95")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI1 model: Samsung T24D390 built: 2013 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60
    dpi: 94 gamma: 1.2 size: 521x293mm (20.51x11.54") diag: 598mm (23.5") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  Monitor-2: eDP-1 mapped: eDP1 pos: primary model: LG Display 0x024d built: 2010 res: 1913x1076
    hz: 60 dpi: 165 gamma: 1.2 size: 294x166mm (11.57x6.54") diag: 338mm (13.3") ratio: 16:9
    modes: 1366x768
  API: OpenGL v: 2.1 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics (ILK) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio vendor: Dell 5 driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:3b57 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-26-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel 82577LM Gigabit Network vendor: Dell driver: e1000e v: kernel port: 6040
    bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:10ea class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel modules: wl pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:422c class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Dell DW375 Bluetooth Module type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 2-1.7:3
    chip-ID: 413c:8187 class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.0 lmp-v: 3.0
    sub-v: 4203 hci-v: 3.0 rev: 205
  Info: acl-mtu: 1021:8 sco-mtu: 64:1 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff park
    link-mode: peripheral accept service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio,
    telephony
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci v: 3.0 port: 6020
    bus-ID: 00:1f.2 chip-ID: 8086:282a rev: N/A class-ID: 0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 223.57 GiB used: 42.7 GiB (19.1%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: SanDisk model: SDSSDA240G size: 223.57 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 70RL scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 176.7 GiB size: 172.86 GiB (97.83%) used: 42.7 GiB (24.7%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.79 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda1
    maj-min: 8:1
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 60.0 C mobo: N/A sodimm: SODIMM C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2232 libs: 1130 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/brave-browser-release.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
  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/microsoft-edge.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/edge/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://mxlinux.mirrors.uk2.net/packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64,arm64,armhf] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main
Info:
  Processes: 241 Uptime: 27m wakeups: 2 Memory: 7.56 GiB used: 2.55 GiB (33.8%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: BIOS (legacy, CSM, MBR)

[Kester]

Hi @wellsey :
What happens if you find and right click the program in the menu that you wish to add to 'Favourites'. The right click menu should offer you the option to add the program to 'Favourites'. That is the way I do it and it always works for me. If you find you have programs listed in 'Favourites' that you don't want there then try Menu > Favourites and right click on the unwanted program and choose 'Remove from Favourites'.

I'm sorry if I have misunderstood the problem you have but, to me,it appears you are using 'Favourites' in an unconventional and over-complicated way.

[wellsey]

Yes @Kester that is the way I am doing it. It all appears to be fine until I close down and restart the laptop and I find the favorites are back to as they were on first install of mx23

[Kester]

@wellsey: Sorry I misunderstood you. I cannot understand why this is happening on your laptop but hopefully someone more expert than I will come to your aid. Just one thought however, if you run Menu > Settings > Menu Editor, do you get any parsing error warnings? Also, while in the menu editor, what happens if you create a temporary folder and add those programs you are trying to place into 'Favourites' into it? Does the temporary and contents show on the next start?

Edit- Afterthought added:
Hope you don't think I'm being pedantic here but just to rule this out as a possibility for your problem:
Is MX23 fully installed on your laptop and you are not booting from a live usb device plugged into the laptop? I ask this because the live usb will run everything included and allow you to make session changes but such changes will not normally be retained after shutting down or restarting (depending on how you set up the live usb). If MX23 is fully installed on your laptop, have other changes you have made such as installing programs been successful?

Cheers.

[wellsey]

No @Kester , im not booting from a live-usb ( though perfectly capable of making a mistake like that ).
And it seems somehow I have made some sort of mistake because it now works. I don't know what has happened it appeared to need the session saving to retain changes to the menu .... now i've turned session saving off and it still retains the changes at next boot.

I have discovered that gui manipulation of the whisker menu is not written to the file until a shutdown ( probably any session end eg logout ).

Your Menu Editor Idea was interesting and yes launching it did produce an error

"Following file failed parsing usr/share/application/kcm_trash.desktop
the command kcmshell5 kcm_trash has not been found in the path"

and it suggested I install package kde_cli. I have not done that yet I just renamed the .desktop file for moment and menu editor now launches without errors.

But this file problem had no relevance to the issue ( I thought?) I was seeing and maybe is a subject for another post

I am beginning to doubt my sanity , thanks for your help and interest, apologies to those who spent time pondering this. I dont think I should mark this post solved - as I cant identify what has happened

[Kester]

Glad things are now working for you - like you I find it all a bit of a mystery but perhaps one of the forum experts may throw som light on what was happening.

Cheers.

[oskar]

I had the same problem after installing MX Linux 23 recently: The whisker menu favorites were reset again to the default "favorites" each time after logging in. After using the whisker menu editor, the problem seems to have vanished.