ksmserver doesnt start after change hostname in /etc/hostname using non-ascii characters

[cqx]

ksmserver crashes when hostname with non-ascii (latin-1) character is used.

There is a viable workaround. Only use ascii characters for the hostname

[DanielBachran (dbachran)]

Hi everybody,

I guess I have the same issue here. Got a new machine w/ Ubuntu preinstalled (from Dell :-) and obviously wanted to change the host name. Did so directly in /etc/hostname (where else?).

After some more time (and several reboots), I installed the KDE4 packages available from:
    deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu gutsy main

I'm having Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) obviously. Installation went fine.

When I try to login from GDM I always get the same error upon login:
- KDE4 splash screen starts
- Upon the fourth (or so) icon, I get a crash report behind the splash screen
- Clicking into the splash closes it
- The crash report informs me that ksmserver crashed
- Closing the crash report, logs me out again and brings me back to GDM

Any ideas? Help is greatly appreciated!

For your info:
I'm running on a Dell XPS M1330 w/ intel x3100 graphics card ("Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller"). Running the "intel" driver.

My hostname was something like "dell-laptop" or so and I changed it to "bartimäus" (note the umlaut).

ciao, daniel :-)

[DanielBachran (dbachran)]

Well, I'm somewhat ambivalent regarding this issue being really caused by renaming the machine... But I've found a similar bug in KDEs bugtracker, adding a link here for further reference: http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=145923

[DanielBachran (dbachran)]

Hi again,

after changing my hostname to "bartimaeus" (without the umlaut), I was able to login to KDE 4 without any issues.

So the hostname seems to be the culprit. Since ubuntu allowed me to specify a hostname with such funny characters, I guess those should be supported everywhere and with every app...

ciao, daniel :)

[Yuriy Kozlov (yuriy-kozlov)]

Daniel, do you still have this problem in KDE 4.0.3? (since upstream says it's fixed)

cqx, are you using KDE 3.5 or 4?

[DanielBachran (dbachran)]

Hi Yuriy, ksmserver still crashes when I attempt to login to KDE 4 with hostname "bartimäus".

I upgraded to KDE 4.0.3 recently: have kdebase-workspace-bin version 4:4.0.3-0ubuntu1~gutsy1~ppa3 installed here.

Unfortunately, I cannot provide a better backtrace right now (since I deinstalled the necessary debug packages some time ago...). Perhaps I'll get around re-installing them again sometime soon.

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

What is the status of this with KDE 4.1.1?

[DanielBachran (dbachran)]

Hi, I've tested this now with KDE 4.1.2, and it is indeed fixed for me. I am typing this from Konqueror running within my KDE session right now. Hostname is"bartimäus". So for me this bug can be considered fixed at least.

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

Thank you.