gdm broken after update to 10.10 - instant session end - signal 15 - after login

[Torsten Krah]

Binary package hint: gdm

After upgrading to maverick login via gdm is broken.
After typing username + password session is starting but instantly X (gdm) does restart and your back at the login screen.
Used a "new created" user and reinstalled gdm already.

~/.xsession-errors does only got one line:

/etc/gdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup...

Thats all.

/var/log/gdm/:0-greeter.log.1 does got this:

....
** (gdm-simple-greeter:29198): DEBUG: GdmGreeterSession: user authorized
** (gdm-simple-greeter:29198): DEBUG: GdmGreeterLoginWindow: user now authorized
** (gdm-simple-greeter:29198): DEBUG: GdmGreeterLoginWindow: starting session
** (gdm-simple-greeter:29198): DEBUG: GdmGreeterClient: Calling StartSessionWhenReady
** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GdmSignalHandler: handling signal 15
** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GdmSignalHandler: Found 1 callbacks
** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GdmSignalHandler: running 15 handler: 0x419ef0
** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: Got callback for signal 15
** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GsmManager: Logout called
** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GsmManager: requesting logout
** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GsmManager: ending phase RUNNING

** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GsmManager: starting phase QUERY_END_SESSION
...

I wonder why GdmSignalHandler does receive signal 15 and is starting END_SESSION, don't know where to look further to get more information.

Tried kdm and login is working fine there - only gdm does not work as expected.

[Jochen Wilke (jochen-wilke)]

Same behaviour for me:
After upgrade from 10.04 to 10.10 (x86_64) gdm restarts X at every login attempt.
Same log entry.
Any suggestions?

[Philipp Classen (philipp-classen)]

I have the same problem (also upgraded from 10.04 to 10.10 (both x86_64). gdm opens but fails to login because it restarts the X server.

As a workaround, I disabled gdm by editing etc/init/gdm.conf. At the console, I can login and start the X server with startx.

[Philippe Laflamme (philippe-laflamme)]

Same problem since upgrading to 10.10. I can't seem to find any meaningful error message anywhere (except the one mentioned here).

This is what /var/log/gdm/:0-slave.log contains:

gdm-session-worker[3950]: GLib-GObject-CRITICAL: g_value_get_boolean: assertion `G_VALUE_HOLDS_BOOLEAN (value)' failed
gdm-session-worker[3950]: pam_succeed_if(gdm:auth): requirement "user ingroup nopasswdlogin" not met by user "philippe"
gdm-session-worker[3950]: pam_unix(gdm:session): session opened for user philippe by (uid=0)
gdm-session-worker[3950]: pam_ck_connector(gdm:session): nox11 mode, ignoring PAM_TTY :0
gdm-session-worker[3950]: pam_unix(gdm:session): session closed for user philippe

Even tried strace on the gdm-session-worker process, but got nowhere.

I've upgraded Ubuntu on this machine since 7.04, never had such a mysterious issue before.

I've seen this symptom reported several times and with different workarounds:
* some have faulty .files in their home dir, fixing these resolves the issue
* some have issues related to the nvidia driver (bug 516520)
* sometimes, the problem is intermittent: making several attempts to login works at some point (timing issue?).
* some have reported that a different resolution in GDM and Gnome causes this: setting both to the same fixes the issue (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1338879)

Any help appreciated!

[Derek Chen-Becker (dchenbecker)]

I'm getting the signal 15 in gnome-session. Is there any log or means to debug gnome-session startup to figure out what is crashing? I can log in fine on the terminal and then run startx.

[Philippe Laflamme (philippe-laflamme)]

Personally, I searched deep for any log/hint about this issue and found
nothing. I ended up re-installing Ubuntu. Sucks, but it fixed the issue.

In my case, I had been upgrading (not re-installing) from 7.04, so I suppose
that there was some old config somewhere messing with newer expectations.

On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 23:27, Derek Chen-Becker
<email address hidden>wrote:

> I'm getting the signal 15 in gnome-session. Is there any log or means to
> debug gnome-session startup to figure out what is crashing? I can log in
> fine on the terminal and then run startx.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/663135
>
> Title:
> gdm broken after update to 10.10 - instant session end - signal 15 -
> after login
>
> Status in “gdm” package in Ubuntu:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: gdm
>
> After upgrading to maverick login via gdm is broken.
> After typing username + password session is starting but instantly X (gdm)
> does restart and your back at the login screen.
> Used a "new created" user and reinstalled gdm already.
>
> ~/.xsession-errors does only got one line:
>
> /etc/gdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup...
>
> Thats all.
>
> /var/log/gdm/:0-greeter.log.1 does got this:
>
> ....
> ** (gdm-simple-greeter:29198): DEBUG: GdmGreeterSession: user authorized
> ** (gdm-simple-greeter:29198): DEBUG: GdmGreeterLoginWindow: user now
> authorized
> ** (gdm-simple-greeter:29198): DEBUG: GdmGreeterLoginWindow: starting
> session
> ** (gdm-simple-greeter:29198): DEBUG: GdmGreeterClient: Calling
> StartSessionWhenReady
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GdmSignalHandler: handling signal 15
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GdmSignalHandler: Found 1 callbacks
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GdmSignalHandler: running 15 handler:
> 0x419ef0
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: Got callback for signal 15
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GsmManager: Logout called
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GsmManager: requesting logout
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GsmManager: ending phase RUNNING
>
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GsmManager: starting phase
> QUERY_END_SESSION
> ...
>
> I wonder why GdmSignalHandler does receive signal 15 and is starting
> END_SESSION, don't know where to look further to get more information.
>
> Tried kdm and login is working fine there - only gdm does not work as
> expected.
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/663135/+subscribe
>

[Derek Chen-Becker (dchenbecker)]

Well, I don't know if this is the same for everyone, but I found the culprit on my machine. I added some debug statements inside of /etc/gdm/Xsession to figure out how the session was loaded and that led me to the directory

/etc/X11/Xsession.d/70fglrx_32bit_dri

When the file inside got sourced by Xsession, it crashed things. dpkg stated that this directory wasn't owned by any package so I moved it out of /etc/X11/Xession.d and now I'm logging in just fine.

[Philippe Laflamme (philippe-laflamme)]

Great! I may have been my issue also, because I used to have an ATI card...

Maybe you could share what you added/changed in XSession to get more
debugging? This really what was disturbing about this issue: the lack of
debug info to work with!

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 14:28, Derek Chen-Becker
<email address hidden>wrote:

> Well, I don't know if this is the same for everyone, but I found the
> culprit on my machine. I added some debug statements inside of
> /etc/gdm/Xsession to figure out how the session was loaded and that led
> me to the directory
>
> /etc/X11/Xsession.d/70fglrx_32bit_dri
>
> When the file inside got sourced by Xsession, it crashed things. dpkg
> stated that this directory wasn't owned by any package so I moved it out
> of /etc/X11/Xession.d and now I'm logging in just fine.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/663135
>
> Title:
> gdm broken after update to 10.10 - instant session end - signal 15 -
> after login
>
> Status in “gdm” package in Ubuntu:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: gdm
>
> After upgrading to maverick login via gdm is broken.
> After typing username + password session is starting but instantly X (gdm)
> does restart and your back at the login screen.
> Used a "new created" user and reinstalled gdm already.
>
> ~/.xsession-errors does only got one line:
>
> /etc/gdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup...
>
> Thats all.
>
> /var/log/gdm/:0-greeter.log.1 does got this:
>
> ....
> ** (gdm-simple-greeter:29198): DEBUG: GdmGreeterSession: user authorized
> ** (gdm-simple-greeter:29198): DEBUG: GdmGreeterLoginWindow: user now
> authorized
> ** (gdm-simple-greeter:29198): DEBUG: GdmGreeterLoginWindow: starting
> session
> ** (gdm-simple-greeter:29198): DEBUG: GdmGreeterClient: Calling
> StartSessionWhenReady
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GdmSignalHandler: handling signal 15
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GdmSignalHandler: Found 1 callbacks
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GdmSignalHandler: running 15 handler:
> 0x419ef0
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: Got callback for signal 15
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GsmManager: Logout called
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GsmManager: requesting logout
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GsmManager: ending phase RUNNING
>
> ** (gnome-session:29182): DEBUG: GsmManager: starting phase
> QUERY_END_SESSION
> ...
>
> I wonder why GdmSignalHandler does receive signal 15 and is starting
> END_SESSION, don't know where to look further to get more information.
>
> Tried kdm and login is working fine there - only gdm does not work as
> expected.
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/663135/+subscribe
>

[Derek Chen-Becker (dchenbecker)]

Here's the diff on /etc/gdm/Xsession (not /etc/X11/Xsession!).

[Torsten Krah (tkrah)]

#6 did it - deleting this directory and all was fine. I wonder which packet did left this file there - never got a nvidia card on this system and i did not manually created those directory + files.
Anyway - thx for sharing the "workaround" to get gdm working again.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the buggy file is not a gdm one and the issue seems similar to bug #654578 which has been closed