gdm ignores timed/auto login on all but first greeter run

[neutron68]

Mythbuntu upgraded pretty smoothly from 9.04 to 9.10 RC over the Net.
I initiated the upgrade with the command line "sudo update-manager -d".
The conversion seemed to go ok. All previous recordings were still accessable, showing the database was ok.

After the upgrade and reboot, the first thing I noticed is that, Mythbuntu 9.10 askes me to log in every time as user eric. It didn't do this in version 9.04, before the upgrade. Before, Mythtv launched at bootup and no login was required.

[neutron68 (neutron68)]

I found a workaround for the login problem.

I went to the Ubuntu desktop, did a right-click and chose Applications, System, then Login Screen. I changed the setting to automatically login user eric at startup. Now, Mythbuntu 9.10 behaves like my previous 9.04 install did.

I wonder if anyone else had this happen to them during an upgrade from Mythbuntu 9.04 to 9.10?

[MarcRandolph (mrand)]

Reproduced: Installed from 9.04 Mythbuntu .iso and then immedately did a 9.10 upgrade via upgrade-manager without updating any other packages. Attached is diff of /etc/gdm

[MarcRandolph (mrand)]

Problem is indeed that the values in /etc/gdm/gdm-cdd.conf are not migrated to /etc/gdm/custom.conf

Examples attached.

[neutron68 (neutron68)]

I tried replacing the contents of my /etc/gdm/custom.conf file with the contents of the file provided by MarcRandolph. It seemed to fix the auto-login problem and then the problem returned. Now, my system forces me to login 2-10 times before I can see the Mythbuntu desktop.

At each login attempt, I see the black Mythbuntu splash screen with the animated white line under the word Mythbuntu, then the screen goes black, then I get the Ubuntu login window. If I enter the password for my username, the screen goes back to the black Mythbuntu splash screen with the animated white line under the word Mythbuntu, then the screen goes black and then I get the Ubuntu login window agian. (repeat 2-10 times - randomly)

Are there any logs I can check to give helpful diagnoistic information??

[MarcRandolph (mrand)]

I don't know that I'd advise manually replacing the contents of the
configuration files. Those were just captured to have a handy copy of
before and after to know what the migration process needs to do. I
followed the instructions in comment #1 and would recommend others do
the same.

[Dave M G (martin-autotelic)]

I have roughly the same bug.

I go to Settings -> Login Screen and click to authenticate, then enter my password.

But, the option to select to automatically log in stays greyed out so that I can not change it.

Any advice on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated.

[chipppy (chipppy)]

I have he same issue.

Inital power up boot the system auto login just fine.
Screen saver or hibinate, or suspen, or other type boot and hit the login screen problem.
Enter password a heap of times and all good.

The difference for me is that my system is a clean install from a 9.10 live CD.
This appears to make this issue both an upgrade and new install issue.
The clean install was t get the ext4 format for testing.

I dont have an old gdm-cdd.conf file to conpare to.

I am happy to do some testing for developers if they want me to play. Snap me a mail with what test you want done.

Cheers
chipppy

[Garry Leach (garry-leach)]

I have 2 PCs, one with Ubuntu (with Myth frontend added, but not currently used) & one with Mythbuntu front & back ends, both currently at 9.04.

I plan to upgrade from 9.04 to 9.10 online in 2 weeks time, after my vacation.

In addition, I created live CDs for both Ubuntu & Mythbuntu, as I plan to set up systems on friend's PCs (plus in case I have a problem with my own systems).

Just to test that the CDs were OK, I started each of them, as live CDs, using my desktop PC (Ubuntu).

Ubuntu 9.10 went straight through to the desktop, with no sign-on request.

However, Mythbuntu 9.10 presented me with the sign-on screen (user ID, then password). I haven't been able to go past this stage, as I don't know what user ID & password it would be expecting.

I tried using my Ubuntu user ID & password, but that didn't work.

I then tried using "mythtv" as the user & the "standard" PW that seems to be the default in Myth "L7....", but that didn't work.

In any case, I would expect (being a naive end-user) that the live CD wouldn't know too much about the info on the Ubuntu system on the PC. So, is there a special user ID & password built into the live CD for Mythbuntu?

On reading the comments above, about it taking 2-10 repeated attempts to finally login, perhaps I haven't tried enough repeats. However, I still wonder which user ID & password Mythbuntu is expecting...

Any suggestions?

Regards, Garry.

[neutron68 (neutron68)]

Something fixed the multi-login problem on my Mythbuntu 9.10 pc!!

I'm not sure if it was the 11-14-09 updates that came in via the Update Manager or if my editing of the xorg.conf file fixed it.
In case it was my editing of the xorg.conf file that fixed it, this thread contains the list of steps I performed.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1320954

I hope there are clues in the post that will help the developers fix the problem for everyone.

Cheers!
Eric

[neutron68 (neutron68)]

There has been some feedback from other users with the multiple-login problem. It seems that changing the xorg.conf file fixes the problem.

See the thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1320954

There seems to be something different from Ubuntu 9.04 to 9.10 in the way the xorg.conf file needs to be configured.

Eric

[MarkG (movieman523)]

So is there any way to get this to work? MythTV starts up automatically at first boot, but then if I exit MythTV GDM just sits at the user selection screen rather than logging back in.

Having to log in manually every time except the first is a huge step backwards from 9.04.

[Scott Merrilees (scott.merrilees)]

I too am getting the problem what I can get an autologin to happen first time, but not subsequent times.

I previously had a custom.conf setup in 9.04 and had updated custome.conf.9.10 in an attempt to fix.

# cat custom.conf.9.04
[daemon]
AutomaticLoginEnable=true
AutomaticLogin=mythtv
TimedLoginEnable=true
TimedLogin=mythtv
TimedLoginDelay=10
[security]
[xdmcp]
[debug]
[gui]
[greeter]
Use24Clock=yes
[chooser]
[servers]
0=MythTV
[server-MythTV]
name=MythTV Server
command=/etc/X11/X -br -audit 0 -terminate -layout DTV-Wide
#
#
# cat custom.conf.9.10
[daemon]
AutomaticLoginEnable=true
AutomaticLogin=mythtv
TimedLoginEnable=true
TimedLogin=mythtv
TimedLoginDelay=10
[security]
[xdmcp]
[debug]
#

empty lines between sections removed for brevity.

I noticed that the upgrade hacked my xorg.conf, however haven't chased it too much yet.

I have added an exit for 9.10 to the existing .gnomerc, in attempt to get it to at least be able to login manually

# cat ~mythtv/.gnomerc
mythfrontend
sleep 5
exit
#

however after I added some debugging, mythfrontend seems to be complaining on subsequent starts that pulse audio is running, and aborts startup.

If I shutdown gdm and restart gdm, then mythtv attempts to restart but fails because of pulse, and I get the login box again.

If I shutdown gdm, kill pulse, and restart gdm, then I get initial autologin of mythtv again.

[Scott Merrilees (scott.merrilees)]

Also, if I didn't add the 'exit' to the end of the .gnomerc then after I terminated mythtv, a normal gnome desktop would start up.

[Thinkren (thinkren)]

I don't use Mythbuntu, but I am encountering the same issue on a fresh install of Xubuntu. Based on my experience and those reported in the ubuntuforum.org thread previously by neutron68, it seems there are a few critical thing we have in common:

*Nvidia video cards
*user-selected screen resolution due to faulty auto-detected settings.
*the presence of an xorg.conf file in liu of auto configuration by X
*XFCE as the desktop environment (both Mythbuntu and Xubuntu uses XFCE)

things that don't seem to matter:

*monitor type/model (I have a ViewSonic CRT)
*upgrade vs. install (I didn't upgrade as some here did)
*OSS vs. proprietary X driver (I haven't used Nvidia's binary drivers)

my xorg.conf file was auto generated with "Xorg -configure". With some tweaks, I was able to eliminate one of the possible culprits (undetected monitor - my ViewSonic PF790 is now being recognized). Some of it contains code that were cited previously as possible solutions (device names/identifiers). Unfortunately it isn't working for me. My Kernel is up to date and so is everything else to the best of my knowledge.

[Thinkren (thinkren)]

new detail:

I've observed that the multiple login screen randomly switch to different resolutions. No particular pattern to it, just as there appears to be no particular pattern to the number of time one is forced to log in.

[mircozorzo (mircozorzo)]

Hi, can it help?

My autologin on Kubuntu 9.10 x86 with kdm on kde4 does not work also.
Follow my kdm.options and kdmrc

Best regards. Mirco

mirco@zspc:~$ cat /etc/kde4/kdm/kdm.options
# /etc/kde3/kdm/kdm.options
#
# configuration options for kdm
# See kdm.options(5) for an explanation of the available options.

no-ignore-nologin
no-restart-on-upgrade
use-sessreg

mirco@zspc:~$ cat /etc/kde4/kdm/kdmrc
[General]
ConfigVersion=2.4
ConsoleTTYs=tty1,tty2,tty3,tty4,tty5,tty6
PidFile=/var/run/kdm.pid
ReserveServers=:1,:2,:3
ServerVTs=-7
StaticServers=:0

[Shutdown]
BootManager=None
HaltCmd=/sbin/halt
RebootCmd=/sbin/reboot

[X-*-Core]
AllowNullPasswd=false
AllowRootLogin=false
AllowShutdown=Root
AutoReLogin=false
ClientLogFile=.xsession-errors-%d
Reset=/etc/kde4/kdm/Xreset
Session=/etc/kde4/kdm/Xsession
Setup=/etc/kde4/kdm/Xsetup
Startup=/etc/kde4/kdm/Xstartup

[X-*-Greeter]
AntiAliasing=false
ColorScheme=
FaceSource=AdminOnly
FailFont=Sans Serif,10,-1,5,75,0,0,0,0,0
GUIStyle=
GreetFont=Serif,20,-1,5,50,0,0,0,0,0
GreetString=Benvenuti in Kubuntu su %n
GreeterPos=50,50
HiddenUsers=
Language=it
LogoArea=Logo
LogoPixmap=/usr/share/kde4/apps/kdm/pics/kdelogo.png
MaxShowUID=29999
MinShowUID=1000
Preloader=/usr/bin/preloadkde
SelectedUsers=
ShowUsers=NotHidden
SortUsers=true
StdFont=Sans Serif,10,-1,5,50,0,0,0,0,0
Theme=/usr/share/kde4/apps/kdm/themes/oxygen-air
UseBackground=true
UseTheme=true
UserCompletion=false
UserList=true

[X-:*-Core]
AllowNullPasswd=true
AllowShutdown=All
NoPassEnable=false
NoPassUsers=
ServerArgsLocal=-br -nolisten tcp
ServerCmd=/usr/bin/X

[X-:*-Greeter]
AllowClose=true
DefaultUser=mirco
FocusPasswd=true
LoginMode=DefaultLocal
PreselectUser=Default

[X-:0-Core]
AutoLoginEnable=true
AutoLoginLocked=false
AutoLoginUser=mirco
ClientLogFile=.xsession-errors

[Xdmcp]
Enable=false
Willing=/etc/kde4/kdm/Xwilling

[mircozorzo (mircozorzo)]

Hi, can it help?

My autologin on Kubuntu 9.10 x86 with kdm on kde4 does not work also.
Follow my kdm.options and kdmrc

Best regards. Mirco

mirco@zspc:~$ cat /etc/kde4/kdm/kdm.options
# /etc/kde3/kdm/kdm.options
#
# configuration options for kdm
# See kdm.options(5) for an explanation of the available options.

no-ignore-nologin
no-restart-on-upgrade
use-sessreg

mirco@zspc:~$ cat /etc/kde4/kdm/kdmrc
[General]
ConfigVersion=2.4
ConsoleTTYs=tty1,tty2,tty3,tty4,tty5,tty6
PidFile=/var/run/kdm.pid
ReserveServers=:1,:2,:3
ServerVTs=-7
StaticServers=:0

[Shutdown]
BootManager=None
HaltCmd=/sbin/halt
RebootCmd=/sbin/reboot

[X-*-Core]
AllowNullPasswd=false
AllowRootLogin=false
AllowShutdown=Root
AutoReLogin=false
ClientLogFile=.xsession-errors-%d
Reset=/etc/kde4/kdm/Xreset
Session=/etc/kde4/kdm/Xsession
Setup=/etc/kde4/kdm/Xsetup
Startup=/etc/kde4/kdm/Xstartup

[X-*-Greeter]
AntiAliasing=false
ColorScheme=
FaceSource=AdminOnly
FailFont=Sans Serif,10,-1,5,75,0,0,0,0,0
GUIStyle=
GreetFont=Serif,20,-1,5,50,0,0,0,0,0
GreetString=Benvenuti in Kubuntu su %n
GreeterPos=50,50
HiddenUsers=
Language=it
LogoArea=Logo
LogoPixmap=/usr/share/kde4/apps/kdm/pics/kdelogo.png
MaxShowUID=29999
MinShowUID=1000
Preloader=/usr/bin/preloadkde
SelectedUsers=
ShowUsers=NotHidden
SortUsers=true
StdFont=Sans Serif,10,-1,5,50,0,0,0,0,0
Theme=/usr/share/kde4/apps/kdm/themes/oxygen-air
UseBackground=true
UseTheme=true
UserCompletion=false
UserList=true

[X-:*-Core]
AllowNullPasswd=true
AllowShutdown=All
NoPassEnable=false
NoPassUsers=
ServerArgsLocal=-br -nolisten tcp
ServerCmd=/usr/bin/X

[X-:*-Greeter]
AllowClose=true
DefaultUser=mirco
FocusPasswd=true
LoginMode=DefaultLocal
PreselectUser=Default

[X-:0-Core]
AutoLoginEnable=true
AutoLoginLocked=false
AutoLoginUser=mirco
ClientLogFile=.xsession-errors

[Xdmcp]
Enable=false
Willing=/etc/kde4/kdm/Xwilling

[Antonio Lopez (amlopezalonso)]

Running Mythbuntu 9.10 (amd64):

- Autologin behaves randomly but when I have to manually login it never takes more than three attempts.

- Using Intel graphics driver (GMA X4500), so no Nvidia exclusivity here.

- xorg.conf presence (or not) makes no difference at all.

- Resolution seldom changes to the wrong value.

Regards,
Antonio

[strikernl (spam4)]

Why is this invalid?

[strikernl (spam4)]

Seems to be still present in (Ubuntu) 10.04 for me

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

@strikernl : Do you have this issue on the GDM login screen? It is still valid for all the packages listed except "Ubuntu". Of course, it is a bug that appears when you upgrade from one release to the next, so it can be said to exist when upgrading, not all the time.

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

This is a bug in the upgrade itself, not in the Xubuntu meta-package. I am marking the Xubuntu part of this invalid. The GDM portion of this issue is still valid.

[strikernl (spam4)]

@Charlie Kravetz: yes, it's on the GDM login screen. I'm fairly sure this is not upgrade related -- just about two weeks ago I did a clean install of Ubuntu 10.04 on my HTPC. This bug was definitely still present then. The use case is, when the XBMC session (which replaces the GNOME session in my case, xbmc-standalone) crashes for whatever reason (which happens occassionally), GDM must log back in, restarting XBMC. This is desirable because my HTPC (and I think HTPCs in general) is/are not likely to have any input devices other than a remote connected, making logging in manually impossible. It just sits there at the login screen waiting for user input.

This worked on Ubuntu 9.04, which is what I'm currently using, but it didn't work in 9.10 and it doesn't work in 10.04. This is effectively blocking me from upgrading my HTPC. The _first_ login works, subsequent logins _don't_. If I'm not mistaken, restarting gdm also works, but there is no way of doing that with just the remote, nor is such a thing very desirable in my opinion.

[hamish (hamish-b)]

@Charlie Kravetz: read the full bug log and try it for yourself. it is still broken in xubuntu 11.04 which makes ubuntu an unusable option for kiosk installations where auto-relogin must happen.

in my books that's a rather serious problem.

see subject change by Kees Cook (kees) on 2009-12-03 which diverges from the chatter in the original report and first bunch of messages in the report.

i.e. "gdm ignores timed/auto login on all but first greeter run" ... & it does!

(this is not invalid. this has nothing to do with upgrading any more; tested on a new install)

thanks,
Hamish

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

hamish: Perhaps you should read what I really wrote above. This bug is in GDM, which may affect each distribution. Let's remember, Xubuntu is not Ubuntu, and mixing these does make it much more confusing to determine what is really being used. As you state, "it is still broken in xubuntu 11.04 which makes ubuntu an unusable option" is not a valid argument. Xubuntu 11.04 is not Ubuntu, it derived from Ubuntu. Let's attempt to keep these separate. A bug in GDM can affect all distributions that use it. It is still a bug in GDM.

[Mario Limonciello (superm1)]

Mythbuntu has transitioned to lightdm in the current development and stable releases. We won't be fixing this in earlier releases. Won't Fix for Mythbuntu task.

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

linked upstream bug that applies to gdm 3.6 as in Quantal.