[Solved] dist-upgrade borked my LXDE lxpanel

[RandomCharacter]

Note: I originally posted this on the LinuxNoob forums. Rhowaldt suggested that I repost it, here. I am running Siduction Linux, not BBQ, so if this is forbidden, I apologize.

On 13-Aug, dist-upgrade messed up LXDE on my Siduction system. I originally thought the problem was that d-u mistakenly removed packages lxpolkit and lxsession-edit, but the Siduction dev tells me that this was done purposely, upstream. However, I cannot find anything describing this being done.

On 15-Aug, dist-upgrade again upgraded some LXDE packages. I hoped this would fix the problem, but it didn't. On the UNIX & Linux Stack Exchange, it was suggested that I reinstall lxpanel. That did not help, either.

Anyway, my problem is that lxpanel is not displayed. No panel, no menus. If I right-click on the desktop, I get a very short menu that allows me to open a terminal or a web browser. So, I am starting most things from the command line. I can manually start lxpanel and it starts with no errors, but the panel displayed is completely blank.

As I poke around my system, it seems that nothing is where it is documented to be. For example, there is no ~/.xinitrc, even though that is where the Debian wiki specifies that the command to start LXDE should reside. So, it is next to impossible for me to try to fix things when they are not laid out as documented.

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System:    Host: tim-pc Kernel: 3.10-4.towo-siduction-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit) 
           Desktop: LXDE (Openbox 3.5.0) Distro: siduction 13.1.0 Firestarter - lxde - (201305202209)
Machine:   Mobo: Gigabyte model: Z68A-D3-B3 version: x.x Bios: Award version: F11 date: 03/21/2012
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i5-2500K CPU (-MCP-) clocked at 2013.00 MHz 
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Juniper XT [Radeon HD 6770] 
           X.Org: 1.12.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: [email protected] 
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD JUNIPER GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 9.1.6
Network:   Card-1: Ralink RT3062 Wireless 802.11n 2T/2R 
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller driver: r8169 
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 5001.0GB (1.3% used)
Info:      Processes: 194 Uptime: 1:53 Memory: 842.8/7975.0MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 1.9.13 

Tim

[pidsley]

We don't care what distro you're using. We like to help (or try, at least).

Do you know what display manager you are using? Is it LightDM or SLiM, or are you not using a display manager at all?

What happens if you do this in a terminal:

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mv ~/.config/lxpanel ~/.config/lxpanel.bak
pkill lxpanel
lxpanel &

Or this:

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pkill lxpanel
pcmanfm --desktop-off
lxpanel &

Do any other panels work? Can you install and display tint2 or fbpanel?

[bones]

Perhaps check ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE/autostart to see that lxpanel is there?

[machinebacon]

Hi ratcheer,

- do you have the fixes repos enabled in the source.list?
- are you sure you are logged into lxde-session and not lxde-openbox?
- if no .xinitrc, you might have an .xsession file
- if you disable your login manager (sudo service <name_of_dm> stop) you can apt-get install xinit and create following ~/.xinitrc

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#!/bin/sh
# source the Xresources
xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources
# set a mouse pointer
xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr &

exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch startlxde

save it, and then try a "startx" from tty. This will bring you into LXDE.

[RandomCharacter]

Wow, that's a lot of suggestions. Thanks, guys!

Pidsley, I am using Slim. ~/.config/lxpanel is a directory on my system, with subdirectories "default" and "LXDE". default is empty and LXDE contains file "config" and directory "panels". Should I still try to rename ~/.config/lxpanel ?

@bones, the only thing in my ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE/autostart is the line "@xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap". That file has not been touched since 28-Jun, and my lxpanel was working through 12-Aug.

@machinebacon - I have Siduction fixes, but nothing for Debian. I am not sure how to tell what session I am logged into. I also do not have a .xsession file, although there is a .xsession-errors file.

Thanks,
Tim

[RandomCharacter]

@pidsley - I tried your second suggestion. I still get a completely blank lxpanel.

Also, echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP returns LXDE, but I'm not sure if that is what you meant.

Tim

[pidsley]

Pidsley, I am using Slim. ~/.config/lxpanel is a directory on my system, with subdirectories "default" and "LXDE". default is empty and LXDE contains file "config" and directory "panels". Should I still try to rename ~/.config/lxpanel ?

Yes please. I am trying to determine if somehow your default configs were damaged in some way. Moving the entire .config/lxpanel tree will cause it to be recreated from defaults when you run lxpanel.

Please also clarify the problem for me -- at one point you say lxpanel is not displayed, but then you also say that running lxpanel from the teminal displays an empty panel. Are both of these things true, or am I misunderstanding something?

Also please post the contents of your /etc/slim.conf file (use the pastebin: http://linuxbbq.org/zerobin/).

[RandomCharacter]

@pidsley, sorry for the confusion. When I log in to a new session, lxpanel is not displayed and it is not running. If, in a terminal, I enter "lxpanel &", a panel is displayed, but it is totally blank. No icons, no menus, nothing happens if I click or right-click it.

Tim

[pidsley]

^ OK then, please try moving the ~/.config/lxpanel directory and then run lxpanel again.

Also post your /etc/slim.conf file (use the pastebin: http://linuxbbq.org/zerobin/).

[RandomCharacter]

@pidsley - Ok, I renamed ~/.config/lxpanel. Running lxpanel still gave me a blank panel. the lxpanel directory was recreated, as you said.

http://linuxbbq.org/zerobin/?eac0d22eac ... Ao8HPn/pQ=

Tim

[pidsley]

Well, that's just wrong. :) Can you run fbpanel or tint2 successfully?

Can you try bacon's suggestion to stop SLiM, create a .xinitrc file, and then "startx"?
http://linuxbbq.org/bbs/viewtopic.php?f ... 7438#p7415

[RandomCharacter]

Creating the .xinitrc file with contents "exec startlxde", then running startx, gave me a black screen with a cursor. I had to do a machine reset to regain control.

I will have to install tint2 to see what it does. I don't really know fbpanel, but I could try.

Tim

[RandomCharacter]

Heh. tint2 works like a charm.

Tim

[pidsley]

lxpanel was built from fbpanel, so they are very similar -- they both have menu buttons and launchers.

still doesn't explain why lxde is not starting lxpanel...

[RandomCharacter]

Just now, I found lxpanel 0.5.12-2~pre1 0 in the Siduction fixes repos. Maybe that will fix the problem. It was not there a couple of hours ago.

Tim

[RandomCharacter]

Dern! The upgrade failed:

Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/lxsession-data_0.4.9.2-1+siduction1_all.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/lxsession-logout_0.4.9.2-1+siduction1_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Tim

[RandomCharacter]

Ok, the Siduction devs helped me resolve the upgrade errors. Now, the problem is mostly resolved. I had to add "@lxpanel" to ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE/autostart (it was never there before), and now lxpanel starts at login.

However, my key combos (such as Super+w to open the web browser) no longer work. I guess they are making more changes than they can keep backward compatibility with.

Tim

[ivanovnegro]

I heard the maintainer of LXDE is back from holidays, I think he messed it up for you.

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=719773

Many LXDE components have newer versions upstream.

The link I have posted does not have to be related and I still have to upgrade my rig but I will do it on the weekend like usual.

Edit: Might be a little transition worth a wait.

[RandomCharacter]

Yes, Ivan. The packages that messed me up came from Debian, but the packages that fixed things again came from Siduction.

Tim

[machinebacon]

Just a little hint in case somebody is unaware of the trick.

If you run more than one repository (which is the case at siduction, the grill, or mixed sid/experimental) there's a nice command to check version numbers:

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apt-cache policy lxpanel

would show us if there's a newer or older version in one of the other repositories.

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# posting this from a no-LXDE install, that's why it shows (none)
# fixes are preferred, see the version table
bbq@grill:~$ apt-cache policy lxpanel
lxpanel:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 0.5.12-2+siduction1
  Version table:
     0.5.12-2+siduction1 0
        500 http://packages.siduction.org/fixes/ unstable/main amd64 Packages
     0.5.12-2 0
        500 http://http.debian.net/debian/ unstable/main amd64 Packages

By default, the fixes should be pulled in over regular files, this is a setting in APT preferences but can be overriden with the -t <reponame> switch in apt-get. In case of experimental, the switch would look like "apt-get -t experimental install <packagename>"