Re: Can't switch back to gnome on xorg
On 8/25/21, Hansoo Chang <chang@socrate.jp> wrote:
> Dear Friends,
>
> I am using Debian Buster with gnome on wayland.
>
> Recently, I tried to switch back to gnome on xorg at the start-up login
> screen choosing the 'gnome on xorg'.
>
> However, I am immediately turned back to the original login screen.
>
> I searched the web, but could not find a solution.
>
> I will appreciate it if somebody would help me on this matter.
Hi, Hansoo... Up top here before the rest of the email as I first
wrote it: The next time it happens, can you try doing something like
CTRL+ALT+F3 (or F4 or) then try logging in there to see if you receive
any error messages that might help. That's where I received one part
of the information that helped me eventually fix the loop I kept
hitting a while back. Your loop is slightly different sounding so that
might not provide any information.
Something that might help is to know how your /home directory is set
up. Is it on the same partition as everything else, e.g. /etc, /lib,
and /var. Or is it on a different partition, for example, and then you
mount it all together during each boot?
If it is on a different partition, is there anything in your /home
partition BEFORE you mount things? I know to ask this because that's
where my problem MIGHT be coming from sometimes. You might need to hit
CTRL+H to see what's there.
Ok, now the rest of the email as I first wrote it before thinking the
above, too...
Unfortunately, I probably don't have an answer, but I'm writing anyway
to say that you're not alone, and it's apparently not just GNOME.
Apparently MATE's doing possibly the same thing to some extent
somehow:
https://lists.debian.org/debian-accessibility/2021/08/msg00099.html
That's the start of one thread about it. Without re-reading that
thread, I was trying to remember what I said then it came to me. This
is reminding me of how I've multiple times locked myself out of my
system in a similar loop that ultimately involves ~/.Xauthority.
By experimenting, the fix I tripped over was to move the old
.Xauthority out of the way by renaming it then let my system create a
new one when I try to log in again. That might not work here, but
maybe you could rule it out as a causative in *your* case.
For me, .Xauthority just seems to become corrupted when I'm
debootstrap'ing a new installation while reusing my old /home
directory. Maybe I mixed them together or something, and they clash.
That could be a point where corruption would occur even though it's
ultimately only about three files that aren't even .Xauthority:
.bash_logout, .bashrc, and .profile as found under /etc/skel that's
used for creating new Users...
As a very last thought, what might corrupt things in my case is that
maybe I log in to my new installation without first mounting my many
years old /home directories. That would create a brand new .Xauthority
file.. and then when I do mount the very old /home directory, that
ALSO contains an old, longstanding .Xauthority file.
Maybe that's where *my* issue comes from along the way and that causes
the exact same loop that you all are now describing for GNOME and
MATE. Mine's on XFCE4, by the way, but I believe the culprit is me,
not the desktop environment. :)
One last, last thought is that's unusual to now see two people with
this. It reminds me of when Debian's code starting tightening up a few
years back. Maybe there were some loose strings involving logins, and
now that's been fixed such that Debian's not as tolerant about
clashes. That would be a good thing because it would be about the
safety of our systems overall. :)
Cindy :)
--
Cindy-Sue Causey
Talking Rock, Pickens County, Georgia, USA
* runs with birdseed *
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