PCManFM won't start for normal user, will start for Root [SOLVED]

[horusfalcon]

Hi, Gang,

This is a recent re-install using PCLinuxOS 2012.08 MR DVD image burned to DVD-R.

EDIT:  Oops... forgot to mention I am fully updated via Synaptic as of 1030 this morning.

System is a Dell Latitude D620 with 2 gigs of RAM, Intel Video.  This machine has been performing admirably for several years now...

Recently switched to LXDE, installed it alongside KDE using the task-lxde package, added LXMenuEditor and lxmed packages.

I have eight desktops configured, with separate wallpapers.  OpenBox is running, and right-clicking the "desktop"  (if that's what I'm really seeing) will bring up the OpenBox menu.

I read a thread which describes what I believe may be similar to the problem I'm having:

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,107552.0.html

but let me re-state what I have observed, as my symptom set may be a little different.

On log-in, the "desktop" displayed does not show any shortcuts or my selected wallpaper, just a brushed grey metallic background similar to that used for the default login screen.

If I open the LXDE Control Center, and double-click on the Set Wallpaper button, my wallpaper and shortcut icons are displayed just as I set them.  I can close the Set Wallpaper dialog (which opens under the Control Center dialog), and all wallpapers are as previously set by me.

If I then try to launch PCManFM from either the launcher bar or the menus (either one) it will not start up.

If I open the Trash Can, what looks like PCManFM does open, but only for the trashcan.  (That's probably as it should be?)

Logging in as Root and starting PCManFM works just fine.

I've compared the ~/.config/pcmanfm/default/pcmanfm.conf files between my normal user and Root, and the only differences I can spot are:

1.)  my normal user's config appears to be missing line 2 (su_cmd=gksu %s) from the Root config.  (This might also be by design?)

2.)  my normal user's config has more desktops and wallpapers configured. (8 instead of 2)

3.)  my normal user's desktop font is different from Root's.

So, am I looking at the right configuration file (i.e, pcmanfm.conf)?  If so, what am I missing?

Thanks for looking at this with me.  I hope we can figure it out.

Later On,
D

[Neal ManBear]

New user set up is done from /etc/skel, not /root.     
Did you install any openbox apps other than what is installed by task-lxde?     

[horusfalcon]

New user set up is done from /etc/skel, not /root.

I know that, but  I didn't want to create a second normal user on this machine just to compare the config files.

Did you install any openbox apps other than what is installed by task-lxde?

The following openbox packages are installed:

libopenbox2
obconf
openbox

I believe these were installed by task-lxde?

Thanks for lookin' in on me.

Later On,
D

[Neal ManBear]

New user set up is done from /etc/skel, not /root.

I know that, but  I didn't want to create a second normal user on this machine just to compare the config files.

     
My point was that you should compare the config files to those in /etc/skel.     

Did you install any openbox apps other than what is installed by task-lxde?

The following openbox packages are installed:

libopenbox2
obconf
openbox

I believe these were installed by task-lxde?

Thanks for lookin' in on me.

Later On,
D

     
Yes, those come in with task-lxde.     
Hmm...... open lxterminal > enter the command:     

Code: [Select]

pcmanfm %U     
> post output from terminal.     

Also, you may want to check permissions (and ownership) on your /home.     

[horusfalcon]

Hope you don't mind me "thinking out loud"... I find it helps me learn more about things I've let fall by the wayside (like the shell?).

[snip: previous]
    
My point was that you should compare the config files to those in /etc/skel.

Sure (smacks forehead)... shoulda thought of that.  I'll give it a look.  Hang on...

Huh... only file in /etc/skel/.config is Trolltech.conf?    

[snip:  previous]

Yes, those come in with task-lxde.    

Hmm...... open lxterminal > enter the command:    

Code: [Select]

pcmanfm %U    
> post output from terminal.

   

So I didn't install any extra openbox packages - wasn't sure about that.

Terminal output as requested (user id replaced with xxxxxxxx for security reasons):

Code: [Select]

[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$ pcmanfm %U
[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$
Note:  saw a dialog box (it popped up under the shell window and I didn't see it until after I had closed it) which said, "Error.  No such file or directory."

LATE BREAKING NEWS:  Tried this after su-ing as root from the terminal and got the following:

(Didn't use code tag as it made a mess of things....)

[root@localhost xxxxxxxx]# pcmanfm %U

GVFS-RemoteVolumeMonitor-WARNING **: cannot connect to the session bus: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.

GVFS-RemoteVolumeMonitor-WARNING **: cannot connect to the session bus: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.

GVFS-RemoteVolumeMonitor-WARNING **: cannot connect to the session bus: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.
[root@localhost xxxxxxxx]#

Question:  what is the %U all about?  Some sort of replaceable parameter?  That's a freedesktop.org thing, right?  So... it points to a Universal Resource Identifier or Locator?  What does it point to in this case?  (Is this why I'm seeing the error dialog?)

Also, you may want to check permissions (and ownership) on your /home.

Hmm... per ls -ld /home, here's what I have:

Code: [Select]

[root@localhost]# ls-ld /home
[root@localhost]# drwxr-xr-x   5 root root  4096 Aug 23 08:24 home/
Yeah... did this as root, not sure why.  Probably could have done from a regular shell.

So... looking in my Junior Woodchuck Manual, er, Linux Pocket Guide to be sure, that's 0755, and root is the owner and group?  

That "5" is the  size in bytes?  Nah... that's 4096.   Dig, dig... man ls - whoops, no man page... (duh! it's a built-in!) Running Linux, then... ah, here it is - the number of hard links.  Hmm... not sure that's relevant.

Looks like everybody has read and execute permissions on /home, and only root has write permission in addition to those?  I think that might actually be right.

Trying to anticipate the next question:  I checked in /usr/bin and the file /usr/bin/pcmanfm does exist, and its permissions are:

Code: [Select]

[xxxxxxxx@localhost bin]$ ls -l pcmanfm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 133184 Aug 13 19:25 pcmanfm*

Uh-oh... there's an asterisk.  Oh, that just signifies it's executable...  It's looking more and more as though my problem is related to a missing URL or URI?  Kinda out of my depth here.

Thanks for everything - this is becoming a good learning experience!

Later On,
D

P.S.:  Starting pcmanfm from the LXDE-CC system tab (File Manager Super User Mode) brings it right up (as root)!  That points to a permissions thing.  Hmm...

Please see above in "LATE BREAKING NEWS", and...

After all this, found:  http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=87969.0#top where Melodie mentions some stuff about /home/xxxxxxxx/.xinitrc and /home/xxxxxxxx/.xsession, but I don't have either of those files in my home directory.  (I thought these resided in /etc/X11?)

Do I need to create these files under my home folder?  (If so, what do they need to contain?)

Hmm... don't see a /home/xxxxxxxx/.config/openbox/autostart.sh file, either.

[horusfalcon]

Well... I've found a work-around, but I'm not sure it's a proper fix.

I started by creating a test user, just to prove out that pcmanfm would work from another regular user.  This is indeed the case.  I promptly deleted the test user and the test user's directories and data.  I can easily re-create if it would prove useful.

Then I got to thinking about that %U and some of the things Neal was having me do, so I edited my desktop shortcut for pcmanfm such that the exec line read:

Code: [Select]

exec pcmanfm /home/xxxxxxxx 
 (where xxxxxxxx is the user name).

What do ya know?  This modified startup link gets PCManFM to open my home folder just fine.  No error dialog, just boom!  yeah, there it is.

So that kinda leaves me thinking about what that %U is pointing to...  I'm starting to read a basic introduction to DBUS because I believe it to be part of the problem, but I haven't quite noodled this out yet.  I'll work with the modified shortcut in the meantime and see if there are any ill effects.

Later On,
D

[Just17]

pcmanfm %U  in a terminal gives the same "No such file or directory" here .....  with LXDE installed using the task- package, with KDE as the main install.

Dropping the '%U' causes it to open in my ~/

EDIT:
           To clarify things ......  this is using a user terminal, when logged into KDE or LXDE.

Does this only occur if LXDE is installed alongside KDE using the task-lxde package?

[Neal ManBear]

%U = user     
In other words, "pcmanfm %U" will open PCManFM as the user logged in to the terminal. When you log in as root (su), PCManFM will start in root's /home, i.e. /root. Testing the start up of it as root in root's /home provides no useful info, when we are troubleshooting the start up for /home/<user>.     

Likewise checking the permissions for root's /home when we are looking for a clue in user's /home provides no useful info.     

Now lets try this again, horusfalcon. We are not checking PCManFM as root. We are checking it as user. So open LXTerminal and issue the command pcmanfm %U as your user. Do not su to root!     

Please do not assume that checking an app's start up or checking permissions or anything else as root will provide you with answers to problems in /home/<user>. Your /home/<user> is not /root, and /root is not your /home/<user>.     

P.S.:  Starting pcmanfm from the LXDE-CC system tab (File Manager Super User Mode) brings it right up (as root)!  That points to a permissions thing.  Hmm...

     
File Manager Super User Mode = PCManFM as root. In other words, it is supposed to bring it up as root.     

[Yankee]

Hi,

Had the same problem this morning.

Check these :

/home/user/.config/pcmanfm/LXDE/pcmanfm.conf

and

/home/user/.config/pcmanfm/default/pcmanfm.conf


I had a wallpaper0=somewallpaper.png
as well as a wallpaper=somewallpaper.png
in each file.   Deleted wallpaper0 and all is
OK again.   Looked at about 30 wallpapers
last nite so one of them caused wallpaper0=
between saves and switches I can guess.

No other change was needed.

regards,

FF

[horusfalcon]

Okay... it appears my "thinking out loud" only exposes vulnerabilities in my addled brain which are mine to worry about later.  

My apologies. (I've been working some crazy hours lately, and my brain resembles nothing less than really crispy-fried overcooked bacon at the moment.)  I'll try the Dragnet approach this go-round and keep it to "just the facts".  Deal?

%U = user    
In other words, "pcmanfm %U" will open PCManFM as the user logged in to the terminal. When you log in as root (su), PCManFM will start in root's /home, i.e. /root. Testing the start up of it as root in root's /home provides no useful info, when we are troubleshooting the start up for /home/<user>.

Just for my edification, you said, "%U = user".  Is that the end of it?  A lot of the stuff at freedesktop.org seemed to state that %U points to a list of URLs somewhere.  (I'll understand if the answer is something like, "yes, but for all practical purposes...").  

More interestingly, what useful thing does %U do for us in this instance (i.e., pcmanfm %U) that we couldn't just as well do without?  (Why do we use it as opposed to not using it?)

Likewise checking the permissions for root's /home when we are looking for a clue in user's /home provides no useful info.      

Now lets try this again, horusfalcon. We are not checking PCManFM as root. We are checking it as user. So open LXTerminal and issue the command pcmanfm %U as your user. Do not su to root!

Here's what you asked for:

Hmm... I looked back, and I did post the following last time:

Code: [Select]

[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$ pcmanfm %U
[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$
   

I didn't think this was really productive of any useful information other than the error message I'd already mentioned about Error - No such file or directory.  That's why I got into trying su'd as root and found all that garbage about GVFS.  (S'what I get for striking out on my own...)

Please do not assume that checking an app's start up or checking permissions or anything else as root will provide you with answers to problems in /home/<user>. Your /home/<user> is not /root, and /root is not your /home/<user>.

   

I think my mistake was in trying to assume too little and anticipate too much... it kinda made everything fair game, and I wound up shufflin' myself in the discards.  Better to stay on target!

Here's the permissions check you asked for:

Code: [Select]

[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$ ls -ld /home/xxxxxxxx
drwx------ 116 xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx 4096 Sep 10 17:23 /home/xxxxxxxx/
   

Sorry I wasted your time with my error.  Looks like I needed to read and follow directions more carefully instead of overthinking it.

Wait just a tick... remembering something.  Here's what you asked for last time:

Also, you may want to check permissions (and ownership) on your /home.

Is that not what I checked last time?  I think you meant to ask for ~/ instead of /home...  (I can be a literal-minded old bustard...)

Questions:  Whether checked as root or any user, the permissions for a given file or folder should remain the same, right?  Is not the error I made in checking the wrong location previously?  (Just checkin' to make sure I understand these concepts.)

P.S.:  Starting pcmanfm from the LXDE-CC system tab (File Manager Super User Mode) brings it right up (as root)!  That points to a permissions thing.  Hmm...

   
File Manager Super User Mode = PCManFM as root. In other words, it is supposed to bring it up as root.    

I should have known this.  PCManFM ran as root from the git-go of this evolution.  This really produced no significant new information - I just thought it did at the time.  

Thanks for the second chance.  I see another suggestion below your reply, so I'll hold off and work with you through this before trying that path.

Later On,
D

[Neal ManBear]

Okay... it appears my "thinking out loud" only exposes vulnerabilities in my addled brain which are mine to worry about later.  

My apologies. (I've been working some crazy hours lately, and my brain resembles nothing less than really crispy-fried overcooked bacon at the moment.)  I'll try the Dragnet approach this go-round and keep it to "just the facts".  Deal?

     
Don't overcook the bacon. / Don't overthink the troubleshooting tips.      

%U = user    
In other words, "pcmanfm %U" will open PCManFM as the user logged in to the terminal. When you log in as root (su), PCManFM will start in root's /home, i.e. /root. Testing the start up of it as root in root's /home provides no useful info, when we are troubleshooting the start up for /home/<user>.

Just for my edification, you said, "%U = user".  Is that the end of it?  A lot of the stuff at freedesktop.org seemed to state that %U points to a list of URLs somewhere.  (I'll understand if the answer is something like, "yes, but for all practical purposes...").  

More interestingly, what useful thing does %U do for us in this instance (i.e., pcmanfm %U) that we couldn't just as well do without?  (Why do we use it as opposed to not using it?)

     
Overthinking the troubleshooting tip / or over-researching / not researching deeply enough.     
%U in specific to your system is /home/horusfalcon or whatever username you use. In other words, %U = user --- or, if you prefer, the user's home url. A url (uri) is an address which will be your app's destination.       
Menu entries are provided through the use of .desktop files. Each .desktop file has an Exec= line in which the launch command for that app is provided. When you launch an app that opens in your home, you need it to be told to open in your home and not the home of some other system user.     
On a single user system, an app like PCManFM can be launched without the %U. Still we use it. Why? Because it tells the app to open at /home/user.     

Likewise checking the permissions for root's /home when we are looking for a clue in user's /home provides no useful info.      

Now lets try this again, horusfalcon. We are not checking PCManFM as root. We are checking it as user. So open LXTerminal and issue the command pcmanfm %U as your user. Do not su to root!

Here's what you asked for:

Hmm... I looked back, and I did post the following last time:

Code: [Select]

[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$ pcmanfm %U
[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$
   

     
So no feedback. Did PCManFM launch?     
Try:     

Code: [Select]

pcmanfm /home/xxxxxxxx      
where xxxxxxxx = your username.     

I didn't think this was really productive of any useful information other than the error message I'd already mentioned about Error - No such file or directory.  That's why I got into trying su'd as root and found all that garbage about GVFS.  (S'what I get for striking out on my own...)

     
When looking for a bug in your home, suing to root and checking in root's home puts you in the position of looking in the wrong place. In other words, to find the problem in your home, look in your home.     

Please do not assume that checking an app's start up or checking permissions or anything else as root will provide you with answers to problems in /home/<user>. Your /home/<user> is not /root, and /root is not your /home/<user>.

   

I think my mistake was in trying to assume too little and anticipate too much... it kinda made everything fair game, and I wound up shufflin' myself in the discards.  Better to stay on target!

Here's the permissions check you asked for:

Code: [Select]

[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$ ls -ld /home/xxxxxxxx
drwx------ 116 xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx 4096 Sep 10 17:23 /home/xxxxxxxx/
   

     
Here is mine:     

Code: [Select]

drwxr-xr-x 69 me me 4096 Sep 11 04:33 /home/me/      
Note the differences.     
You have a permissions problem. Most likely you have files and directories in your home that are owned by another user - root probably.     

Sorry I wasted your time with my error.  Looks like I needed to read and follow directions more carefully instead of overthinking it.

Wait just a tick... remembering something.  Here's what you asked for last time:

Also, you may want to check permissions (and ownership) on your /home.

Is that not what I checked last time?  I think you meant to ask for ~/ instead of /home...  (I can be a literal-minded old bustard...)

     
No. I meant to ask for what I asked for.     

Questions:  Whether checked as root or any user, the permissions for a given file or folder should remain the same, right?  Is not the error I made in checking the wrong location previously?  (Just checkin' to make sure I understand these concepts.)

     
Yes, your mistake was in checking the permissions on root's home (/root). You need to check user's home for user's home's permissions. root's home and user's home are two separate places, each with its own set of files and directories and its own set of permissions

P.S.:  Starting pcmanfm from the LXDE-CC system tab (File Manager Super User Mode) brings it right up (as root)!  That points to a permissions thing.  Hmm...

   
File Manager Super User Mode = PCManFM as root. In other words, it is supposed to bring it up as root.    

I should have known this.  PCManFM ran as root from the git-go of this evolution.  This really produced no significant new information - I just thought it did at the time. 

     
If you launch PCManFM as root (superuser mode), why would you be surprised that it opens as root? Your mistake here appears to be an expectation that any launch of it must open it in your home. But the launch command for File Manager Super User Mode is pcmanfm /root. Thus the address to open in is provided as /root, where the %U launches in the user's home address.     

Thanks for the second chance.  I see another suggestion below your reply, so I'll hold off and work with you through this before trying that path.

Later On,
D

     
Test that suggestion, too.     

[horusfalcon]

As much as it seems natural to me, I'm abandoning the "Quote/Response" method.  Things are getting a bit too strung out and probably hard to follow, so I'll first summarize, just to weed out the extraneous stuff that's gone before:

So far, the following tests were requested and yielded the following results:

(Note that xxxxxxxx is substituted for the actual user name in all shell snippets.)

1.) Attempt to launch PCManFM from a regular user's shell prompt:

Code: [Select]

[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$ pcmanfm %U
[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$
This resulted in no feedback in the shell, and only a dialog box which stated, "Error - No such file or directory."

2.)  Check of permissions for /home/xxxxxxxx using ls -ld /home/xxxxxxxx:

Code: [Select]

[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$ ls -ld /home/xxxxxxxx
drwx------ 116 xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx 4096 Sep 10 17:23 /home/xxxxxxxx/

This resulted in the directory listing given in the second line of the shell snippet above, showing  the permission on this user's account.

3.)  Neal provided the permissions for a user account on his machine for comparison:

Code: [Select]

drwxr-xr-x 69 me me 4096 Sep 11 04:33 /home/me/
We should note the differences in permissions here.  It looks as though my user's ~/ folder lacks some permissions in comparison to the one Neal provided.  This may be the crux of the matter - missing permissions on my user's home folder?  (Thanks for that data, Neal.)

Neal was good enough to give a brief explanation of %U and why we use it.

%U = user    
In other words, "pcmanfm %U" will open PCManFM as the user logged in to the terminal. When you launch an app that opens in your home, you need it to be told to open in your home and not the home of some other system user.     

{and, further on in the discussion}

Menu entries are provided through the use of .desktop files. Each .desktop file has an Exec= line in which the launch command for that app is provided. ...

On a single user system, an app like PCManFM can be launched without the %U. Still we use it. Why? Because it tells the app to open at /home/user.

This brings us to the present.

Neal has requested a further test, namely the following ran from a normal (non-root) user's shell:

Code: [Select]

pcmanfm /home/xxxxxxxx
This resulted in PCManFM starting very quickly with no attending error.  (Basically, this was the "work-around" I mentioned earlier.)

At this point, I'm going to go out on that limb again, and modify the permissions of my ~/ directory to match those of Neal's, just to see what happens:

Code: [Select]

[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$ chmod go+rx /home/xxxxxxxx
[xxxxxxxx@localhost ~]$ ls -ld /home/xxxxxxxx
drwxr-xr-x 116 xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx 4096 Sep 10 17:23 /home/xxxxxxxx/

(I included another check afterward with ls -ld to "prove" the new permissions.)

Trying to launch pcmanfm %U from a non-root shell after this still results in no feedback on the terminal and the dialog with "Error - No such file or directory".

Question:  is it possible I'm actually missing a file or directory somewhere?  (I smell another, "Well, Duh!" moment coming.  )

Another possibility:  Might I have needed to do something like...

Code: [Select]

chmod go_rx -R /home/xxxxxxxx  

to recursively extend these permissions to all subfolders of /home/xxxxxxxx?  (NO... I haven't tried that yet.  Not at all sure that would be right.)

Oh, and as to the suggestion advanced by Ferdes Fides?  I'm not sure it is applicable in my case.  The duplicated wallpaper entries he mentioned do not appear in any of my pcman.conf files (I have two, one in ~/.config/pcmanfm/default, and the other in ~/.config/pcmanfm/LXDE).  I have entries for "wallpaper0" but none for just "wallpaper"

(Uh... I remember he deleted "wallpaper0" entries.  Hmm.  Maybe I'll edit my "wallpaper0" entries....)

Since I need to log out and log back in to test this last S.W.A.G., I'll stop here for now, and updated in a P.S.  Until then...

Later On,
D

P.S.:  No joy.  pcmanfm %U still refuses to launch and still throws the "No such file or directory" error.

Neal - let me know if I need to undo the last two things I tried, please.  Thanks again for helping sort this out. - D

It just occurs to me I have left out a symptom?  Nope, looking back I mentioned it in the original post, but it bears repeating:

On log-in, the "desktop" displayed does not show any shortcuts or my selected wallpaper, just a brushed grey metallic background similar to that used for the default login screen.

[Just17]

This is a recent re-install using PCLinuxOS 2012.08 MR DVD image burned to DVD-R.

This is the KDE ISO it seems.

On log-in, the "desktop" displayed does not show any shortcuts or my selected wallpaper, just a brushed grey metallic background similar to that used for the default login screen.

If in KDE then you have Desktop View and not Folder View active, and thus is correct.

As I reported earlier I have the same symptoms here for PCManFM ......  will not open using the  %U in the command.
It will open correctly without it .....  or specifying the directory to open at.

[horusfalcon]

Hi, Just17,

Yep.  MR stand for "Maintenance Release".  I have KDE and LXDE both installed, and recently decided to give LXDE another try.  This symptom set is for LXDE.

I altered my default desktop in KDE to desktop view - I don't really care for folder view.  (I'm beginning to think KDE is a bad idea in general... but let's not start a flame war over it. )

Later On
D

[Neal ManBear]

I mentioned it earlier but perhaps not strongly enough --- check the ownership of all of your files and folders in your home.     

Explanation:     
Changing permissions will only affect those files and folders that are owned by you. If any config file is not owned by you, it will have no effect on your desktop, home or the app it is for. The ownership of any files or folders by any other user or by root renders it useless for any action by you.