GNOME (non-Ubuntu) login screen mouse cursor is a semi-opaque white square (missing adwaita-icon-theme-full)

[Jon LaBadie]

Do not think this is hardware dependent, but I'm using an HPE MicroServer Gen10 Plus.

I installed the server edition of 22.04. Post-Installation, I added some desktop environments. After logging in, these are working fine.

However on the gdm login entry and password entry screens I had no mouse pointer icon. A semi-opaque white square tracked the mouse movements. My reading suggested that gdm defaults to using the cursor icon theme provided by the adwaita-icon-theme package. I discovered this theme comes in two sizes, a basic, smaller package installed automatically and a larger "full" package.

$ apt list 'adwaita-icon-theme*'
Listing... Done
adwaita-icon-theme/jammy,now 41.0-1ubuntu1 all [installed,automatic]
adwaita-icon-theme-full/jammy,now 41.0-1ubuntu1 all [installed]
$

The gdm mouse pointer appears and disappears with installation and removal of the package "adwaita-icon-theme-full". Either gdm's dependencies should include the "full" package OR the appropriate mouse pointer icons should be moved from the full to the basic "adwaita-icon-theme" package.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Ubuntu's cursor theme comes from package 'yaru-theme-icon' but it sounds like you have a rendering problem so please run the following command to gather more system info:

  apport-collect 1972080

Please also run:

  lspci -k > lspci.txt
  journalctl -b0 > journal.txt

and attach the resulting text files here.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Please also try adding:

  MUTTER_DEBUG_DISABLE_HW_CURSORS=1

to /etc/environment and reboot.

[Jon LaBadie (jonlabadie)]

The reported problem is during login, not after successful login.
I don't think mutter configuration has any effect before graphical login.

Ubuntu's cursor theme may come from 'yaru-theme-icon', but does gdm's?

Two files affect the observed condition:

/usr/share/icons/Adwaita/cursors/left_ptr
/usr/share/icons/Adwaita/cursors/xterm

These come from the package 'adwaita-theme-icon-full'. If the package is not installed I have no login screen mouse pointer. Install the package and the pointer appears. Leave the package installed and deleted the two above files
and the pointer is gone.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Your log also suggests you are experiencing bug 1967274 so you might be better off using the 'nomodeset' kernel parameter until that fix is released.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

> Ubuntu's cursor theme may come from 'yaru-theme-icon', but does gdm's?

The login screen is a gnome-shell process which is themed by Yaru. It _should_ be using the Yaru cursor theme too.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Also using the wrong (or no) cursor theme won't cause "a semi-opaque white square".

Please try adding:

  MUTTER_DEBUG_DISABLE_HW_CURSORS=1

to /etc/environment and reboot.

[Jon LaBadie (jonlabadie)]

Adding MUTTER_DEBUG_DISABLE_HW_CURSORS=1 to /etc/environment and rebooting had no effect on the issue. White square "mouse pointer" is present on gdm login screen if /usr/share/icons/adwaita/cursors is missing (renamed).

If instead I install a symbolic link .../Adwaita/cursors -> .../Yaru/cursors and restart gdm I get
valid mouse pointers.

gdm is clearly looking for its cursor files in the Adwaita theme directory rather than Yaru.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

I should note that regular Ubuntu 22.04 only has 'adwaita-icon-theme' installed, not 'adwaita-icon-theme-full'. To figure out which login screen it is that needs the latter, please:

1. Attach a photo of the login screen.

2. Run:

   dpkg -l > packages.txt

   and attach the resulting text file here.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thanks.

This bug seems to be something unique to the system. I can't tell what but starting with server edition and then manually installing multiple different desktops is not a common thing to do.

What I can say is that desktop Ubuntu only needs 'adwaita-icon-theme' to get the correct cursor on the login screen. Desktop Ubuntu does not install 'adwaita-icon-theme-full'.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

The photos in comments #12 and #13 show the Ubuntu Yaru theme is not being used (missing the logo aside from this cursor bug), so it makes some sense if whatever theme that is requires more of Adwaita than regular Ubuntu does.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Maybe start by removing the package 'sabily-gdm-themes'

[Jon LaBadie (jonlabadie)]

Removal of the package 'sabily-gdm-themes' and rebooting had no effect on my situation.

Daniel, perhaps you have some insight into this. What information I've found in my internet search says that gdm/gdm3 defaults to Adwaita icon theme. I'm looked for "how to configure" type articles
about gdm and none have been applicable or have had not effect.

Do you know how to reconfigure gdm in Ubuntu 22.04?

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Maybe one of these will do the trick:

  update-alternatives --config gdm-theme.gresource

  update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Please tell us what you see when you run the above commands.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gnome-shell (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gdm3 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]