gdm crashes at startup when autologin enabled: gdm-simple-slave[1605]: CRITICAL: gdm_session_direct_get_username: assertion `session != NULL' failed

[frankster]

with autologin set to false in /etc/gdm/custom.conf I am able to use gdm. However if I set autologin to true, it crashes at startup with the following error:

gdm-simple-slave[1605]: CRITICAL: gdm_session_direct_get_username: assertion `session != NULL' failed

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: gdm 3.0.4-0ubuntu11
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-16.28-generic 3.0.17
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-16-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat Feb 18 01:05:57 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gdm
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-11-06 (103 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Darryl Weaver (dweaver)]

I can confirm this bug still exists in Precise:

DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: gdm 3.0.4-0ubuntu15
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-23-generic
Architecture: x86_64

[Ted (artisdom)]

Just run into this.

DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04.1
Architecture: x86

[franzcai (franzcai80)]

I can confirm this bug still exists in Precise:

DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: gdm 3.0.4-0ubuntu15
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-23-generic
Architecture: x86_64

I must input password twice to login.

Maybe it can be fixed by gdm 3.0.4-0ubuntu16. See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/805154

[Victor Cuadrado Juan (victorcuad)]

I can also confirm this bug still exists in 12.04:
also with gdm 3.0.4-0ubuntu15
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-39-generic-tuxonice
Architecture: i386

I needed to set autologin to False in /etc/gdm/custom.conf

[willdeans (william-deans)]

This bug is still going strong after more than a year.

CRITICAL: gdm_session_direct_get_username: assertion `session != NULL' failed

cat /etc/issue: Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS \n \l
uname -r: 3.2.0-48-generic
Architecture: i386
gdm Version: 3.0.4-0ubuntu15.1

[Foo Bar (spam-nanl)]

This bug is _still_ part of the current LTS-release!

[Michael Kuhn (mpk)]

This bug is still contained in the current version of Ubuntu 12.04 Server. Seems to be a long time supported bug...

CRITICAL: gdm_session_direct_get_username: assertion `session != NULL' failed

cat /etc/issue: Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS \n \l
uname -r: 3.8.0-35-generic
Architecture: x86_64

[dino99 (9d9)]

This version has expired