Many "standard" panel applets not available

[Oli]

Binary package hint: gnome-panel

Just upgraded to Natty from a Maverick install. On setting it to Classic Mode (I want the old Panel/Applet setup for now), things kick off. I get several "Do you want to delete the applet from your configuration?" dialogues for very standard applets (nothing special) including:

WindowListApplet
ClockApplet
NotificationAreaApplet

More than that, they're not available in the Add to Panel dialogue, suggesting they're not even on the system.

I'm really struggling without the WindowListApplet and I think I'm going to have to get something like DockBarX or use Docky's panel mode until this is fixed.

More information (including a screenshot) is available on an AskUbuntu question:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/35905/where-have-my-panel-applets-gone-in-natty

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: gnome-panel 1:2.32.1-0ubuntu6.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38.1 x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Apr 19 12:27:55 2011
GConfNonDefault:
 /apps/panel/general/applet_id_list=[applet_6,applet_0,window_list_screen0,notification_area_screen0,clock_screen0,mixer_screen0,applet_7]
 /apps/panel/general/object_id_list=[object_14,object_13,object_10,object_9,object_8,object_12,object_11,object_7,object_6,object_5,object_4,object_3,object_2,object_0]
 /apps/panel/general/show_program_list=true
 /apps/panel/general/toplevel_id_list=[bottom_panel_screen0,panel_1]
 /apps/panel/global/enable_animations=false
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-panel
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-19 (0 days ago)

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug report, could you add your .xsession-errors to the bug after getting the bug? does it happen in every session?

[Oli (oli)]

Sorry the output isn't that useful. I'm attaching the log per request but it's not very informative (to my untrained eye). Here's a summary.

** (gnome-panel:1686): WARNING **: panel-applet-frame.c:1273: failed to load applet OAFIID:GNOME_ShowDesktopApplet:
(null)

** (gnome-panel:1686): WARNING **: panel-applet-frame.c:1273: failed to load applet OAFIID:GNOME_WindowListApplet:
(null)

** (gnome-panel:1686): WARNING **: panel-applet-frame.c:1273: failed to load applet OAFIID:GNOME_WorkspaceSwitcherApplet:
(null)

[Oli (oli)]

I found that the bonobo configuration files for the applets weren't being loaded (hence they weren't available in the add-to-panel dialogue).

I edited bonobo-activation-config.xml to look something like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<oafconfig>
    <searchpath>
        <item>/usr/lib/bonobo/servers</item>
        <item>/usr/local/lib/bonobo/servers</item>
    </searchpath>
</oafconfig>

And everything but the clock works again. That's another issue for another day.

But why is a better question. I have a whole load of config files that appear to have moved to dbus in brand-new installations. Why didn't my upgrade port these applets to the new system?

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

did you hack those files locally before?

[Cavia Porcellus (caviaporcellus)]

After upgrading to Natty, I encountered this exact same problem when I logged into Classic Mode (since Unity sadly only displays a transparent top bar and no launcher). Oli's fix helped for some things, but as he mentioned, the clock applet doesn't work. Also, I've found that while this gets the old notification area up and running, the indicator applets still do not appear.
And I certainly never messed with any of the configuration files.

[DanielV (danielveldkamp-deactivatedaccount)]

I encounter the same issue, but the hack of Oli does not solve my problem for the missing notification area.