Amarok keeps updating forever -- amarok folder owned by root instead of user

[Daniel Hahler]

Binary package hint: amarok

I've upgraded the amarok package in Karmic today and it kept "Updating system configuration." forever (more than 1 hour at least).

I've canceled it and it said:

Amarok could not find any collection plugins. It is possible that Amarok is installed under the wrong prefix, please fix your installation using:
$ cd /path/to/amarok/source-code/
$ su -c "make uninstall"
$ cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=`kde4-config --prefix` && su -c "make install"
$ kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental
$ amarok
More information can be found in the README file. For further assistance join us at #amarok on irc.freenode.net.

Maybe some problem with a plugin or script I've installed? (but nothing changed since the last upgrade).

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Fri Jun 19 23:18:45 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: amarok 2:2.1.1mysql5.1.30-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.30-9.10-generic
SourcePackage: amarok
Uname: Linux 2.6.30-9-generic i686

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

I've just tried it again and it appears to be stuck in the "Updating" loop, while every run takes longer:
It goes to 100% fairly quickly, then starts again, but takes longer and so on.

I've run "kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental" manually (from the message given by amarok) and now amarok started (without any "Updating" message).

[James Troup (elmo)]

I'm seeing the same thing on the jaunty-backport of 2.1.1. This renders the package pretty useless.

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

I'm marking this fix released, since it works for me since some time already.

Please re-open and add more info, in case it's still a problem for you.

Thanks.

[Peter Rhone (prhone-gmail)]

Fixed? It's not fixed for this version (64 bit system):

amarok:
  Installed: 2:2.2.0-0ubuntu2
  Candidate: 2:2.2.0-0ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 2:2.2.0-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://archive.monubuntu.fr karmic/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Myriam Schweingruber (myriam)]

Peter, you can easily update your version, see http://kubuntu.org/news/amarok-2.2.1

[Dragoneyes (stiu)]

I performed a new installation of Ubuntu Karmic Koala 64 bit about 2 days ago, and I have the same problem. So, like Peter, for me this bug is not fixed, and Amarok is unusable.

stiu@Dragon:~$ amarok -v
Qt: 4.5.2
KDE: 4.3.4 (KDE 4.3.4)
Amarok: 2.2.0

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

Reopening according to the above comments.
Please notice that you could have reopened it yourself: just click on the edit icon next to "Fix Released" (or on the arrow next to the bug task).
As said before, it suddenly worked for me, so I cannot help here any further myself.

@Peter and Dragoneyes: have you tried the 2.2.1 release? (or any newer one) If so, does the problem persist.
If the problem is fixed with those backports, they need to get pushed into Ubuntu itself probably.

[Dragoneyes (stiu)]

The problem still exist with Amarok 2.2.1, installed by ppa (http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/backports/ubuntu)

Version: 2:2.2.1-0ubuntu1~karmic1~ppa1

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

Is there a way to make this reproducible for others?

I guess that moving away you .amarok folder (cannot see where it's located currently, probably ~/.kde4/share/apps/amarok or ~/.amarok*) works around this and something in there (or your media collection) triggers this infinite loop.

I suggest submitting this bug at the KDE bug tracker (https://bugs.kde.org/) - they should a) get informed about this and b) can help you better with debugging this.
If you submit the bug there, please link it here ("Also affects project").

Thank you.

[Ioritz Ibarguren (ibargureni)]

Hi, I had this same problem and the proposed workarounds didn't work. However, I discovered that my ~/.kde folder was owned by root, so it wasn't accessible for a normal user. I performed "chown -R {username} ~/.kde" and Amarok works perfectly now.

By the way, I'm also using Karmik 9.10 64bit.

[Dragoneyes (stiu)]

Bug submitted to KDE.
Here is the link:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=221169

[Miquel Coll (miquel6)]

Hi. The workaround proposed by loritz Ibarguren worked for me.

I'm using Karmik 9.10 32 bits with Gnome, not KDE. I think the problem is in the permissions for Gnome users

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

Running Amarok (or any KDE app) with sudo is unsupported. Please use kdesudo.

[Dragoneyes (stiu)]

About the permissions problem, I tried with "sudo amarok" and with this command Amarok finally works.

@Jonathan Thomas
Sorry, why did you target as "Invalid" this bug?

[Andrew Ash (ash211)]

My guess is that the Amarok package somehow puts files in ~/.kde that are owned by root, making this a packaging problem. Any packagers have the time to look into this hypothesis?

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

When people run KDE apps as root through sudo, its config files are saved as belonging to root. The solution here is to never use sudo to launch gui apps, but to rather use kdesudo or gksu, which are designed to do so.

[Dragoneyes (stiu)]

Yes Andrew, it is the problem. Also other kde apps like Kaffeine and K3b shown a similar error. After I had changed the permission of ~/.kde with 744 prmissions, all the apps, Amarok included, finally works. So is an installation/packaging problem.

[Andrew Ash (ash211)]

Well, it could also be that the apps were run with sudo instead of kdesudo, as Jonathan points out. It could be either a packaging issue or running with sudo, and it's hard to decide exactly which. I have the sneaking

Reporters with the issue (Dragoneyes, Daniel, James, Peter, Ioritz, and fasoi): Do you remember ever running Amarok as "sudo amarok" before the issue?

[Ioritz Ibarguren (ibargureni)]

Hi, Andrew. In my case I run Amarok from the start menu logged in as normal user immediately after installing it through Synaptic (I'm using Gnome), so I never opened it as root. Moreover, I understand if I started Amarok as root, its .kde folder should be created in the /root folder, am I correct?

[Ioritz Ibarguren (ibargureni)]

By the way, I recently had a similar problem with my start menu folder, the menus couldn't be edited as its folder was owned by root, so the problem could be related to ubuntu itsellf.

[Dragoneyes (stiu)]

I opened Amarok for the first time from the menu 'applications' (i.e. without using "sudo"). The same for the others Kde applications, like Kaffeine or K3b: I opened them by the gnome menu.
So the problem is not correlated to the "sudo" command.

Moreover, as described in Bugtracker (http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=221169), this isn't an Amarok bug, but related to the install process.

[KNT (mgorycki)]

I have the 'eternal loop' problem also when I've tried to associate qcomicbook with cbr files via context menu.

[Miquel Coll (miquel6)]

Hi!
I do think the problem is in ~/.kde grants.
I installed Amarok using "sudo apt-get..." so that's the root
privileges in ~/.kde (Amarok is the first kde application I've used
before I've installed Gnome Karmik)
So, as Andrew said, I think it's an installation/packaging issue.

regards
miquel

2010/1/8 KNT <email address hidden>:
> I have the 'eternal loop' problem also when I've tried to associate
> qcomicbook with cbr files via context menu.
>
> --
> Amarok keeps updating forever -- amarok folder owned by root instead of user
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/389681
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in The Amarok Music Player: Unknown
> Status in “amarok” package in Ubuntu: Invalid
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: amarok
>
> I've upgraded the amarok package in Karmic today and it kept "Updating system configuration." forever (more than 1 hour at least).
>
> I've canceled it and it said:
>
> Amarok could not find any collection plugins. It is possible that Amarok is installed under the wrong prefix, please fix your installation using:
> $ cd /path/to/amarok/source-code/
> $ su -c "make uninstall"
> $ cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=`kde4-config --prefix` && su -c "make install"
> $ kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental
> $ amarok
> More information can be found in the README file. For further assistance join us at #amarok on irc.freenode.net.
>
> Maybe some problem with a plugin or script I've installed? (but nothing changed since the last upgrade).
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> Architecture: i386
> Date: Fri Jun 19 23:18:45 2009
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
> NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
> Package: amarok 2:2.1.1mysql5.1.30-0ubuntu1
> ProcEnviron:
>  LANGUAGE=
>  PATH=(custom, user)
>  LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
>  SHELL=/bin/bash
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.30-9.10-generic
> SourcePackage: amarok
> Uname: Linux 2.6.30-9-generic i686
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/amarok/+bug/389681/+subscribe
>

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

Installing the package does not touch your home directory.

[Dragoneyes (stiu)]

@Jonathan Thomas
You are right, I update Amarok to 2.2.2 version, and with the permission applied previouslly to ~.kde folder, Amarok still works great, so the folder is not touched. May be the problem in some other package/dependency of Kde, that is installed togheter Kde applications like Amarok, K3b, and so on.

[Shoshannah Forbes (xslf)]

I just ran into this today- freshly installed Amarok 2:2.3.0-0ubuntu4 on Ubuntu 10.4 (via synaptic), launching it via the application menu (I'm using gnome) and I'm stuck in this loop.

My ~/.kde is owned by me, not root, so that workaround suggested doesn't work for me.

[Shoshannah Forbes (xslf)]

btw, this is the output I get:

sforbes@sforbes-netbook:~$ amarok
amarok(22597)/kdecore (trader) KServiceTypeTrader::defaultOffers: KServiceTypeTrader: serviceType "Amarok/Plugin" not found
amarok(22597)/kdecore (trader) KServiceTypeTrader::defaultOffers: KServiceTypeTrader: serviceType "Amarok/Plugin" not found
amarok: **********************************************************************************************
amarok: ** AMAROK WAS STARTED IN NORMAL MODE. IF YOU WANT TO SEE DEBUGGING INFORMATION, PLEASE USE: **
amarok: ** amarok --debug **
amarok: **********************************************************************************************
sforbes@sforbes-netbook:~$ amarok(22597)/kdecore (trader) KServiceTypeTrader::defaultOffers: KServiceTypeTrader: serviceType "Amarok/Plugin" not found

[Shoshannah Forbes (xslf)]

and with dbg info:

sforbes@sforbes-netbook:~$ amarok --debug
amarok(23168)/kdecore (trader) KServiceTypeTrader::defaultOffers: KServiceTypeTrader: serviceType "Amarok/Plugin" not found
amarok(23168)/kdecore (trader) KServiceTypeTrader::defaultOffers: KServiceTypeTrader: serviceType "Amarok/Plugin" not found
amarok: ************************************************************************************************************
amarok: ** DEBUGGING OUTPUT IS NOW ENABLED. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL ONLY SEE THE FULL OUTPUT ON THE NEXT START. **
amarok: ************************************************************************************************************
amarok: END__: static void App::handleCliArgs() - Took 0.00065s
amarok: END__: virtual int App::newInstance() - Took 0.00085s
sforbes@sforbes-netbook:~$ amarok: [PluginManager] Plugin trader constraint: "[X-KDE-Amarok-framework-version] == 54 and [X-KDE-Amarok-plugintype] == 'collection' and [X-KDE-Amarok-rank] > 0"
amarok(23168)/kdecore (trader) KServiceTypeTrader::defaultOffers: KServiceTypeTrader: serviceType "Amarok/Plugin" not found
amarok: [CollectionManager] Second attempt: Received [ "0" ] collection plugin offers

sforbes@sforbes-netbook:~$

[Octavian Petre (octavsly)]

For me running

$> kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental

solved the problem.

[Dragoneyes (stiu)]

The problem still exist on Lucid. A user report the same issue on the italian forum:
http://forum.ubuntu-it.org/index.php/topic,409558.0.html
As the same, the .kde folder is owned by root, instead of normal user.

[Myriam Schweingruber (myriam)]

Well, it would be interesting to know why the $HOME/.kde/... folder is owned by root instead of the user. If this is a wrong system setup I don't think Amarok is to blame. From what I know Amarok has absolutely no way to change folder permissions, and I don't see how else this could happen without an admin intervention.

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

For what it's worth, I think it's one thing that permissions go wrong, but another if this makes an app behave badly (which includes infinite loops).

[Claypole (anton-gimmesomemore)]

This worked for me:

sudo chown -R <myusername> $HOME/.kde

I also tried "sudo kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental" first so this may have made a difference too, but I would try above first.

[Raphael Camus (raphael-camus)]

I had the same issue after installing amarok14, then moved back to amarok (2.x) on Ubuntu 11.04.
I first tried sudo chown -R <myusername> $HOME/.kde
that did not work
Then I tried both "sudo kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental", then sudo chown -R <myusername> $HOME/.kde
Then problem disappeared.

[A. Eibach (andi3)]

Hi, though I'm aware that I am Debian user writing in an Ubuntu bugtracker, I can confirm this problem here on my (slightly older) Debian as well.

You've saved my life with those helpful posts! In case you thought this is an ancient thread and this problem does no longer occur, don't shoot too quick.
Since Amarok is deeply rooted into the KDE base system, you can bet your life on it that on *my* Debian it would take me a FULL base system upgrade (including libc/libstdc++ and all that) to run 2.6.
This is why I wanted to stick to the 2.4.1 backport provided for Squeeze ( amarok_2.4.1-1~bpo60+1_i386.deb )

I just don't get why kbuildsycoca4 is not properly run from within Amarok at first run. This definitely feels like a bug.

- Running kbuildsycoca4 manually ...
- Checking ownership on .kde/share/config/*amarok* (the bug is that the three *rc files [amarok_appletsrc | amarok_homerc | amarokrc] are chowned root by default, there is no need to waste time in recursively chown'ing the whole .kde tree!)

fixes this problem.
I could make a wild guess that the problem does no longer occur on 2.6, but not everyone can install 2.6 without lots of effort (see above).