xfsettingsd unable to daemonize properly when overlay scrollbars are activated

[Thaddaeus Tintenfisch]

The overlay scrollbars module seems to prevent xfsettingsd from daemonizing properly and thus affect the D-Bus communication. This results in a delayed execution of keyboard shortcuts pressed by the user within the first ~10 seconds after session login. There is no noticeable delay when running xfsettingsd in non-daemon mode (--no-daemon).

Small test case (overlay scrollbars installed and activated):

$ xfsettingsd --replace
--> delay

$ LIBOVERLAY_SCROLLBAR=0 xfsettingsd --replace
--> no delay

Xubuntu 13.10 Beta 2

$ apt-cache policy xfce4-settings
xfce4-settings:
  Installed: 4.11.0-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 4.11.0-1ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 4.11.0-1ubuntu1 0
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Martin Spacek (mspacek)]

I think I've noticed the same in Xubuntu 14.04 amd64. Immediately after login, hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del to lock the screen, and attempting to log back out again, doesn't do anything until after about a 10 sec delay. I think killing xfsettingsd and running "xfsettingsd --no-daemon &" instead might fix it on the next login, but I might be wrong.

I also notice weird behaviour of my workspace applet. It shows wrong workspace labels for the first 10 or 20 sec, which then magically correct themselves to the correct labels set in the settings. I suspect that's related.

Bug #1314782 (
multimedia keys don't work when xfce4-volumed is run in daemon mode) has a promising explanation and a patch for xfce4-volumed that might work, but it apparently hasn't been merged. Not sure if a similar patch could be put together for xfsettingsd.

[Martin Spacek (mspacek)]

Oops. That should've been "hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del to lock the screen, *OR* attempting to log back out again".

By the way, the workspace applet labels are incorrectly displayed only once in a while on login, maybe a 50% probability.

[Brant Gardner (brantcgardner)]

I confirm this behavior is back in 14.04 amd64, but I'm puzzled because I *uninstalled* the scrollbar-overlay package as a fix (which successfully cleared the startup delay in 13.10).

Just to clarify what I mean by 'the behavior is back', I mean at boot I login and press a keystroke I have bound to opening xfce4-terminal or the whisker menu popup and the system does not respond for about 10-15 seconds. After that timeout elapses, all the effects of my keystrokes happen at once (terminal opens and whisker menu pops up).

[Brant Gardner (brantcgardner)]

Oh, and I confirm the same odd periodic behavior with the workspace applets that Martin refers to.

[Alberto Salvia Novella (es20490446e)]

It affects an essential hardware component (disk controller, built-in networking, video card, keyboard, mouse).

[Alberto Salvia Novella (es20490446e)]

Created attachment 5560
stace log

he overlay scrollbars module seems to prevent xfsettingsd from daemonizing properly and thus affect the D-Bus communication. This results in a delayed execution of keyboard shortcuts pressed by the user within the first ~10 seconds after session login. There is no noticeable delay when running xfsettingsd in non-daemon mode (--no-daemon).

Small test case (overlay scrollbars installed and activated):

$ xfsettingsd --replace
--> delay

$ LIBOVERLAY_SCROLLBAR=0 xfsettingsd --replace
--> no delay

Xubuntu 13.10 Beta 2

$ apt-cache policy xfce4-settings
xfce4-settings:
  Installed: 4.11.0-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 4.11.0-1ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 4.11.0-1ubuntu1 0
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Martin Spacek (mspacek)]

On the advice of AlbertoSalvia Novella , I've submitted a new bug report against dbus with links to all the bugs (in my install of Xubuntu 14.04) that I vaguely suspect are related to one another:

Bug #1347272 (DBus communication problems affecting multiple packages)