unity command hangs on ubuntu 16.04

[corrado venturini]

As suggested in: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/1546279
I run the 'unity' command from terminal so I have the app menus in the menu bar but the command hangs in the terminal. When I close the terminal I have the message: 'there is still a process running ...'
Notes:
  If I run the 'unity' command in Ubuntu Trusty (same PC, different partition) the command completed and does not hang.
  Also in Ubuntu Wily (same PC, different partition) the command hangs.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: unity 7.4.0+16.04.20160223.1-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-12.28-generic 4.4.4
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-12-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.20-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Thu Mar 10 14:14:36 2016
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: xenial
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 virtualbox, 5.0.16, 4.4.0-11-generic, x86_64: installed
 virtualbox, 5.0.16, 4.4.0-12-generic, x86_64: installed
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/unity
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 4th Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:041e] (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd 4th Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [1458:d000]
GsettingsChanges:
 b'org.compiz.core' b'active-plugins' b"['core', 'composite', 'opengl', 'place', 'compiztoolbox', 'resize', 'snap', 'session', 'imgpng', 'wall', 'copytex', 'mousepoll', 'move', 'vpswitch', 'commands', 'grid', 'regex', 'unitymtgrabhandles', 'animation', 'expo', 'workarounds', 'ezoom', 'fade', 'scale', 'unityshell']"
 b'com.canonical.Unity' b'minimize-count' b'100'
 b'com.ubuntu.user-interface' b'scale-factor' b"{'HDMI1': 8}"
 b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'gtk-im-module' b"'gtk-im-context-simple'"
 b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'scaling-factor' b'uint32 1'
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-12-18 (83 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Alpha amd64 (20151209)
InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/python3.5
MachineType: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. H87M-D3H
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-12-generic root=UUID=cbb3edab-febf-4b3e-a452-252cf8f082de ro quiet splash
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 04/24/2013
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F3
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: H87M-D3H
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.board.version: x.x
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrF3:bd04/24/2013:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnH87M-D3H:pvrTobefilledbyO.E.M.:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnH87M-D3H:rvrx.x:cvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: H87M-D3H
dmi.product.version: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
upstart.unity-panel-service-lockscreen.log: (unity-panel-service:7817): GLib-CRITICAL **: Source ID 4294967295 was not found when attempting to remove it
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160209-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.67-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 11.1.2-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 11.1.2-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.18.1-1ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.10.1-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.6.1-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20160218-1ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.12-1build2
xserver.bootTime: Thu Mar 10 10:16:17 2016
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.devices:
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 6
 input Video Bus KEYBOARD, id 7
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 8
 input Logitech Optical USB Mouse MOUSE, id 9
 input AT Translated Set 2 keyboard KEYBOARD, id 10
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 2145
 vendor PHL
xserver.version: 2:1.18.1-1ubuntu3

[corrado venturini (corradoventu)]

reinstalled from current daily: the problem still happens

[corrado venturini (corradoventu)]

I have the same problem on a different hardware with Ubuntu Wily. Attached terminal output fro inxi and unity commands.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Barry Drake (b-drake)]

I re-installed at the beginning of this week. The iso is dated Monday, so I installed either Monday or Tuesday. I re-formatted the drive, and did a complete re-install following the defaults. If you re-installed using any other method without clearing the drive first, you will find the problem travels with the install. I say this from previous experience. If that fails, it must be hardware specific. The problem for me disappeared the re-install before last - about one or two months ago. Can you say exactly how you re-installed? I recognize the problem, and it didn't go away until I did the above. I've never been able to go through a complete test cycle without doing the above at least twice.

[corrado venturini (corradoventu)]

I reinstalled from the daily ISO dated 7 mar specifying 'format' for the partition. The partition was before used for Lubuntu Xenial

[corrado venturini (corradoventu)]

I also installed on a different hardware from the daily ISO dated 7 mar formatting the whole disk. then I entered 'unity' from terminal and this(?) caused a compiz crash: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/1556558

[Petr Chmelar (chmelab)]

Hi, I finally got a screenshot of some intermediate invalid state before calling unity second time. The first the unity command finished, but the GUI was missing. Second time, it didn't finish, but all menus were all right (concerning https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/1546279).

[Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0)]

This is not properly a bug, but in order to restart unity now you should run
 initctl restart unity7

[Petr Chmelar (chmelab)]

Re: Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0) wrote on 2016-03-30: #9
>> This is not properly a bug, but in order to restart unity now you should run
>> initctl restart unity7

p3@T420s:~$ initctl restart unity7
unity7 start/running, process 3329

Killed Firefox, Thunderbird, changed app panel icon sizes and failed with ...

The problem cannot be reported:
This problem report is damaged and cannot be processed.
OSError('Invalid core dump: BFD: Warning: /tmp/apport_core_zd1yxabg is truncated: expected core file size >= 178733056, found: 14745600.',)

Next time, as superuser:

p3@T420s:~$ sudo initctl restart unity7
[sudo] password for p3:
initctl: Unable to connect to Upstart: Failed to connect to socket /com/ubuntu/upstart: Connection refused

No menus whatsoever. So, what to do?

[Petr Chmelar (chmelab)]

Concerning my last note #10, I figured out:
There is no Upstart in Xenial but systemd. Maybe, some cleanup may help.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package unity - 7.4.0+16.04.20160401.1-0ubuntu1

---------------
unity (7.4.0+16.04.20160401.1-0ubuntu1) xenial; urgency=medium

  [ Andrea Azzarone ]
  * Improve the "lock on suspend" logic to always keep in sync the
    inhibitor with the lockscreen.

  [ Marco Trevisan (Treviño) ]
  * DecoratedWindow: Just send estimated extents on
    _NET_REQUEST_FRAME_EXTENTS (LP: #1368118)
  * TextureCache: add support for loading themed textures (LP: #903179,
    #1208790)
  * Unity: stop unity7 upstart instance if needed and restart it if not
    clearly requested (LP: #1555633)

 -- Marco Trevisan (Treviño) <[e-mail]> Fri, 01 Apr 2016 23:11:47 +0000

[Petr Chmelar (chmelab)]

Great, it works!
It kills Firefox and Thunderbird, but I can live with it.
Thank you. P.

[corrado venturini (corradoventu)]

Works fine for me too. It kills Chromium, but NOT other opened apps.
Thank you.