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sddm running but only gnome available - [SOLVED]

Graphical Environments, Managers, Multimedia & Desktop questions.
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walter69
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sddm running but only gnome available - [SOLVED]

#1 Post by walter69 »

I truly hit a bad button which got me into this amazing mess:
When I boot the machine I only can get gnome up and running although I had debian/stable Plasma going for the last year after a clean install. I needed a more modern version of a package (youtube-dl) and forced a newer version via synaptic from testing. All went fine until i was asked for GDM3 or SDDM and I answered GDM3 - insane - I know ;).

Now I have to switch at bootup to an older kernel to get to the login (which I assume I can fix in synaptic and force it too) which gets me to login and loading Gnome ( 4 optins of versions) only.

On the assumption that I still try to start SDDM but it stuffs up on initializing I checked step by step and got one bit further using info from http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php? ... se#p661126

on
sudo pgrep dm -l

I get: 525 sddm
996 sddm-helper
2089 gvfsd-admin

so sddm is actually running but it must be configured to run only gnome :(

a google search for: configure sddm debian didn't leave me any wiser although I found a SDDM Configuration Editor (https://www.linux-apps.com/p/1131720/) but its not under Synaptic - but a KCM module for SDDM - would be available.

After hitting insanely a wrong button - whats the sane / wise thing to do next?

In my experience: the more I try the more I stuff the machine up until I go for a clean install (again) and that's what I want to avoid as much as possible as it will take me weeks (I'm too often too sick to do anything).

Thank You kindly,
Walter
Last edited by walter69 on 2018-10-10 09:06, edited 2 times in total.

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GarryRicketson
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Re: sddm running but only gnome available

#2 Post by GarryRicketson »

When I boot the machine I only can get gnome up and running although I had debian/stable Plasma going for the last year after a clean install. I needed a more modern version of a package (youtube-dl) and forced a newer version via synaptic from testing.
I had debian/stable-------and forced a newer version via synaptic from testing
That was not a good idea: https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian
Debian Stable should not be combined with other releases. If you're trying to install software that isn't available in the current Debian Stable release, it's not a good idea to add repositories for other Debian releases. The problems might not happen right away, but the next time you install updates.

The reason things can break is because the software packaged for one Debian release is built to be compatible with the rest of the software for that release. For example, installing packages from buster on a stretch system could also install newer versions of core libraries including libc6. This results in a system that is not testing or stable but a broken mix of the two.
Debian stretch is the current stable release, Debian testing (buster) is a different release, not really a release at all , since it is testing, Debian Buster has not yet been released.
I am not sure what would be easier, try to remove the packages that are for testing, or re-install, or upgrade the whole thing to Debian Testing.

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walter69
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Re: sddm running but only gnome available

#3 Post by walter69 »

Thank You kindly,

So far there are no signs that debian is broken and actually I don't expect trouble but if needed I will upgrade to buster.

What is broken is the sddm configuration due to my fat finger and that needs to be fixed in any case as without a clean install configuration is not overwritten.

So one little step at a time:
How do I fix an insufficient sddm configuration?

Thank You
W

Background:

Back in 2006/2007 I was able to find example configuration files as need and build from that conf files but this time I seem to strike a kind of a black hole where I can't get the info out. It could easily be that I do not ask the right Q to get a good answer as me using debian a lot was 12 years ago. (but at medical research I became a wizard ;)

A year ago buster came freshly from unstable and it was broken on delivery. So I went reluctantly for stable knowing that I'd run into the too old sw problem over time and soon.

Around 2006 I had several machines going under linux and yes, a lot has changed, I'm a dinosaur now ;) and on top of it I got a fat finger which led to the misconfiguration of sddm.

Around 2006 I had testing with upgraded packages from unstable and after some trial and error I had a stable and quite snazzy machine but compared to windoze I had the problem that sw on linux in general could not cover everything I needed, wine was by far not as good as it is now (although I'll need an update asap) and so I went reluctantly back to to windoze. I ran XP up until a year ago, it was extremely tweaked and I was flying high and supersonic with it. Just XP could not run HD's over 2TB and totally out of support for over a year at the time.

I tested WIN10 and turned my head in sorrow. Next was debian testing with Gnome, - just as bad. Then I went for plasma5, again under testing but meanwhile testing was upgraded from unstable => poof. So I ended up with stable the first time in my life ;)
Last edited by walter69 on 2018-10-10 09:03, edited 1 time in total.

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GarryRicketson
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Re: sddm running but only gnome available

#4 Post by GarryRicketson »

What happens if you try :

Code: Select all

sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm 
If you don't use sudo, use su to become root.

Code: Select all

# dpkg-reconfigure gdm 

Code: Select all

# dpkg-reconfigure <package>
dpkg-reconfigure gdm3 
If using "gdm3" does not seem what you want , maybe

Code: Select all

dpkg-reconfigure sddm
You should get something like this, but with sddm in it as well, assuming sddm is installed:
Image
Select sddm as your default, the "ok", and I suppose you will need to reboot.

https://wiki.debian.org/DisplayManager
=== kind of of topic, but to explain ===
There is, and has been someone editing the wiki, and they removed the details:
The current wiki page shows:
Selecting default display manager
Try the dpkg-reconfigure solution of this page.
How ever when the "this page" link is followed, it goes to a butchered page,
with almost no details. Makes me mad, but I did find the details they removed:
https://wiki.debian.org/DesktopDefaultS ... econfigure

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walter69
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Re: sddm running but only gnome available

#5 Post by walter69 »

Thanks HEAPS for the link to
https://wiki.debian.org/DesktopDefaultS ... econfigure
it got me a step further, but I'm not there yet ;)

I had tried the dpkg-reconfigure option before and (many other things that should work, like the ones you mentioned) but they didn't. Finding the page above helped, thank you heaps, as reading on from #dpkg-reconfigure got me to the desktop-profiles package, installed it via synaptic but, weird enough, gnome can't find it to run it and there is a folder in/usr/share/dpkg-reconfigure with 3 files that are well beyond me. So I looked for documentation and found http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/tru ... les.7.html which told me about system variables being involved:

=> console
printenv

brought up a long list (full list at bottom below) where gnome is mentioned several times:

XDG_MENU_PREFIX=gnome-
DESKTOP_SESSION=/usr/share/xsessions/gnome
GNOME_TERMINAL_SCREEN=/org/gnome/Terminal/screen/9458502f_fdbd_4a5f_bead_b85bc70d993e
XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/share/gnome:/usr/local/share/:/usr/share/
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=GNOME
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE=:1.152
GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID=this-is-deprecated

I'm reasonably sure that putting KDEDIRS in the right place(s) as the man page says and perhaps some other changes of just system variables would activate Plasma - BUT - I have no clue how to get that right ;)

On the other hand I seem to have found what my fat finger triggered and I think I have found a bug as dpkg-reconfigure sddm should imho set / overwrite / reconfigure such things but as sddm can handle a number of different desktops this will probably involve some dialog which may already be addressed via desktop-profiles . . . and I'm perfectly lost here.

Looking very much forward to your advice,
W

full list from printenv:

LS_COLORS=rs=0:di=01;34:ln=01;36:mh=00:pi=40;33:so=01;35:do=01;35:bd=40;33;01:cd=40;33;01:or=40;31;01:mi=00:su=37;41:sg=30;43:ca=30;41:tw=30;42:ow=34;42:st=37;44:ex=01;32:*.tar=01;31:*.tgz=01;31:*.arc=01;31:*.arj=01;31:*.taz=01;31:*.lha=01;31:*.lz4=01;31:*.lzh=01;31:*.lzma=01;31:*.tlz=01;31:*.txz=01;31:*.tzo=01;31:*.t7z=01;31:*.zip=01;31:*.z=01;31:*.dz=01;31:*.gz=01;31:*.lrz=01;31:*.lz=01;31:*.lzo=01;31:*.xz=01;31:*.zst=01;31:*.tzst=01;31:*.bz2=01;31:*.bz=01;31:*.tbz=01;31:*.tbz2=01;31:*.tz=01;31:*.deb=01;31:*.rpm=01;31:*.jar=01;31:*.war=01;31:*.ear=01;31:*.sar=01;31:*.rar=01;31:*.alz=01;31:*.ace=01;31:*.zoo=01;31:*.cpio=01;31:*.7z=01;31:*.rz=01;31:*.cab=01;31:*.wim=01;31:*.swm=01;31:*.dwm=01;31:*.esd=01;31:*.jpg=01;35:*.jpeg=01;35:*.mjpg=01;35:*.mjpeg=01;35:*.gif=01;35:*.bmp=01;35:*.pbm=01;35:*.pgm=01;35:*.ppm=01;35:*.tga=01;35:*.xbm=01;35:*.xpm=01;35:*.tif=01;35:*.tiff=01;35:*.png=01;35:*.svg=01;35:*.svgz=01;35:*.mng=01;35:*.pcx=01;35:*.mov=01;35:*.mpg=01;35:*.mpeg=01;35:*.m2v=01;35:*.mkv=01;35:*.webm=01;35:*.ogm=01;35:*.mp4=01;35:*.m4v=01;35:*.mp4v=01;35:*.vob=01;35:*.qt=01;35:*.nuv=01;35:*.wmv=01;35:*.asf=01;35:*.rm=01;35:*.rmvb=01;35:*.flc=01;35:*.avi=01;35:*.fli=01;35:*.flv=01;35:*.gl=01;35:*.dl=01;35:*.xcf=01;35:*.xwd=01;35:*.yuv=01;35:*.cgm=01;35:*.emf=01;35:*.ogv=01;35:*.ogx=01;35:*.aac=00;36:*.au=00;36:*.flac=00;36:*.m4a=00;36:*.mid=00;36:*.midi=00;36:*.mka=00;36:*.mp3=00;36:*.mpc=00;36:*.ogg=00;36:*.ra=00;36:*.wav=00;36:*.oga=00;36:*.opus=00;36:*.spx=00;36:*.xspf=00;36:
XDG_MENU_PREFIX=gnome-
LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
DISPLAY=:0
COLORTERM=truecolor
XDG_VTNR=7
PAM_KWALLET5_LOGIN=/run/user/1000/kwallet5.socket
SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/run/user/1000/keyring/ssh
XDG_SESSION_ID=3
USER=w3
DESKTOP_SESSION=/usr/share/xsessions/gnome
GNOME_TERMINAL_SCREEN=/org/gnome/Terminal/screen/9458502f_fdbd_4a5f_bead_b85bc70d993e
PWD=/home/w3
HOME=/home/w3
SSH_AGENT_PID=973
QT_ACCESSIBILITY=1
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11
XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/share/gnome:/usr/local/share/:/usr/share/
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=GNOME
GJS_DEBUG_OUTPUT=stderr
GTK_MODULES=gail:atk-bridge
TERM=xterm-256color
SHELL=/bin/bash
VTE_VERSION=5400
XDG_SESSION_CLASS=user
XDG_SEAT_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Seat0
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
GPG_AGENT_INFO=/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent:0:1
GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE=:1.152
XDG_SEAT=seat0
SHLVL=1
LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID=this-is-deprecated
LOGNAME=w3
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/1000/bus
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000
XAUTHORITY=/home/w3/.Xauthority
XDG_SESSION_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Session1
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
GJS_DEBUG_TOPICS=JS ERROR;JS LOG
SESSION_MANAGER=local/deb9:@/tmp/.ICE-unix/879,unix/deb9:/tmp/.ICE-unix/879
_=/usr/bin/printenv

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GarryRicketson
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Re: sddm running but only gnome available

#6 Post by GarryRicketson »

Unfortunately, I am running out of ideas my self, I don't actually have gnome or kde, and sddm on a system where I could try to see if this could be duplicated or the actual configuration files. Maybe some else will know something more, and jump in here.

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walter69
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Re: sddm running but only gnome available

#7 Post by walter69 »

Thank You Garry, - you DID get me one step further and so there is hope :)

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walter69
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Re: sddm running but only gnome available

#8 Post by walter69 »

SOLVED!
Mystery and problem.

By my 'fat finger' choosing GDM3 instead of SDDM although I wanted Plasma5 some kind of error(s) was triggered and the Plasma installation was totally wiped. (Thank You heaps Garry - the page you dug up got me onto the right track of checking things out)

Solution:

Synaptic -> kde-standard, mark for installation and I got the testing version which shows a number of pleasant improvements above stable, although dolphin was missing / missing files, the user files were fine and my desktop nearly looks the same. Only some minor bits were affected which I'm sure I can fix easily.

Synaptic -> dolphin, mark for Reinstallation fixed the lost dolphin.

I can figure out most of what I did, but is it worth it to follow the 2 or more issues up?

Thank You,
W

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Re: sddm running but only gnome available

#9 Post by arzgi »

Great news! Can you please edit your first post in the thread, and add that [SOLVED] to the front of the header, so it could be noted already when browsing.

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Re: sddm running but only gnome available

#10 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

walter69 wrote:I got the testing version
So you're still using a FrankenDebian?

That's not a solution...
deadbang

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