Applications lens "disappears"

[Josh Holland]

In Unity, sometimes the Apps lens disappears, and so do the search results for applications in the main Dash search. I then have to use either a terminal or alt-f2 to launch new apps.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: unity-lens-applications 0.4.12-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic i686
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Oct 11 12:04:50 2011
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
SourcePackage: unity-lens-applications
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Mark Hewitt (holybladder)]

Confirmed here. On checking, found unity-place-files and unity-place-applications were uninstalled, installed them and restarted unity and found that lenses had returned, but this may have been due to the restart, which has cleared the problem in the past. These are listed as Transitional packages, do they still do anything?

[sanmiguel9 (againsttcpa84)]

happened to me already several times on diff. machines (up-to-date Ubuntu 11.10)

unity --replace

in a terminal gives me the application lenses back...

[Da Shroom (9n-georgm-bc)]

I found that a purge of unity-lens-applications, and then a reinstall worked after a unity --restart

[Da Shroom (9n-georgm-bc)]

sorry, no, it has broken again.

[Mark Hewitt (holybladder)]

It seems to be a race condition - restarting unity after boot fixes it. May be related to bug #500417, which I'm also getting on my system.

[Steven Austen (ausbuscon)]

alt-F2 and unity --restart has worked so far (BTW I am a relative
newbie, very limited technical/programming

On Thu, 2011-10-27 at 07:26 +0000, Mark Hewitt wrote:
> It seems to be a race condition - restarting unity after boot fixes it.
> May be related to bug #500417, which I'm also getting on my system.
>

[Da Shroom (9n-georgm-bc)]

I have attached a log from
unity --replace --verbose --log
running unity --replace does nothing to even help the problem temporarily, but it says that it times out when trying to reach com.canonical.Unity.Lens.Applications

[S.O.E. Ansems (only-for-launchpad)]

I tried what Da Shroom suggested and it seems that i too have that time-out.

 In my situation the application lens never starts.
ps -ef | grep unity
Shows me
 2181 ? 00:00:01 unity-window-de
 2371 ? 00:00:00 unity-files-dae
 2372 ? 00:00:17 unity-music-dae
 2555 ? 00:00:00 unity-musicstor
 5042 pts/1 00:00:00 unity
 5123 ? 00:00:01 unity-panel-ser

(process 5042 is the grep)

[GGBerry (gg-le-berrichon)]

Confirmed. All of a sudden, I can not run any applications (Application Search) or any command (with Alt+F2) !! My ubuntu is completely unusable !
This is a major bug. All I can do is run Chrome since it is my default Broser (it shows in "Broawse the web"). Same for ThunderBird. Every other application is unreachable...

Will at least can be corrected through a reinstall or is it linked to configuration lens or desktop configuration files ?

[GGBerry (gg-le-berrichon)]

I had the log for more info.

Same issue: Timeout after not finding com.canonical.Unity.Lens.Applications, com.canonical.Unity.Lens.Commands or com.canonical.Unity.Lens.Files

With all these issue, I'm pretty scary to found out what is in 12.04: As a LTS, system admin will upgrade my work laptop (still happy with 10.04) to it

[GGBerry (gg-le-berrichon)]

Well, I gave up...

The problem was sporadic before yesterday. Actually, most of the time, I hit the Super key and start typing to run the terminal or gedit, but because of the few seconds needed to load the applications results, I came opening a file which start the same instead. But for me this wasn't really a problem.

The problem reported in this bug don't let me run any application. I can access to my default applications, and that's it. Reboot useless. I've been searching the whole day, spending stupidly a day off, without any results.

I finished taking a decision: switch to Gnome Shell. Since I have been using it, it is really flawless and (thanks god) I can access my programs. So, until Gnome Shell give me the same issues as Unity, for my problem is solved.

PS: If you don't want to read some complains and listen about bitter taste, stop reading right now.
Let me told you my little story.
I'm right now a fanboy of DropBox. I recommend it to everyone. Of course I know of all the issues there are with it. Security and confidentiality are big stuff, but I explain about them, and let people choose. I came to love Dropbox because of Ubuntu. When Ubuntu One came in default install, I didn't know what it was. I tested it and I LOOOVED it. Adios USB Key. Just Awesome. But... it started creating conflicts between files, not syncing everything, telling me everything was OK, when actually it didn't performed anything. I started to look for alternatives, and found DropBox, and never came back. Adios Ubuntu One.
And now, the same occurs with Unity. I loved it with 11.04, but after 1 week with 11.10, I have to search for alternatives, in this case Gnome Shell.
The same occured with the Me Menu with Empathy, which had some bug with gmail, and the stupid Offline status that blocked the all menu....
In the end, Ubuntu is staying with every release at the edge of technology and functionality, always surprising me. But because of unsifficient testing (I think), the pieces of software Ubuntu release are never ready and you have to wait 2 or 3 release to see things working OK. It's sad: I am getting amazed by Ubuntu new features, but in the end, I always have to search for the more stable alternative. Don't get me wrong: I have a LOT of respect for all the Ubuntu Community and for Canonical, but it's just sad to get disappointed in the end. Above all on terms of stability, which is Ubuntu leitmotiv (since it should be flawless for everyone, everywhere)

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (kamstrup)]

Can someone with these symptoms assert that unity-applications-daemon is not running? - fx. by checking the following command outputs a number 'pgrep -f unity-applications-daemon'.

If it is not running you can start it in the terminal with '/usr/lib/unity-lens-applications/unity-applications-daemon'. If it is indeed already running then you can kill it and restart it manually - to kill it just issue 'pkill -f unity-applications-daemon'.

If someone would paste or attach the terminal output from unity-applications-lens then that would like be very useful. (especially if you can get it when it'snot working...)

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (kamstrup)]

Forgot to ask: Can you guys also please describe your 11.10 systems:

 - Do you have any PPAs installed - in the positive case which?
 - Have you manually installed any components of the unity stack from source or other?
 - Do you have any non-standard lenses or scopes installed?
 - Did you get your 11.10 system from a clean install or upgrade. If upgrade then from which Ubuntu version?

[S.O.E. Ansems (only-for-launchpad)]

To Mikkel:

In my case the lens 'unity-applications-daemon' is not running and the command '/usr/lib/unity-lens-applications/unity-applications-daemon' yielded no output whatsoever. Nothing. It just hangs there waiting for the prompt to return. Is there a log file i could look in to?
In another terminal i can confirm that it is running though and it does not use much processor power. It does use 168m of virtual memory which i think is a lot for such a simple task.

I've done a clean install on my system (after a full crash of 11.04->11.10 upgrade, it slowly spiralled out of control so that is something else for canonical to look into)

The i've installed these PPA's to be able to run specific software packages:
http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu
http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates/ubuntu
http://ppa.launchpad.net/stebbins/handbrake-snapshots/ubuntu (the releases one has no oneric release yet)
http://ppa.launchpad.net/ferramroberto/java/ubuntu
http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu
http://www.scootersoftware.com/
http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/gnome3/ubuntu

I have no other unity components installed nor any custom lenses

I do have installed the nvidia drivers version 285 manually, but that was the first thing i did and the application lens worked fine in the first few days after installation. Further changes related to the gui i've made are the wobbly windows and a curved desktop overview (as opposed to the simple flat one) i used ccsm for this.

[Florian Heyer (heyho-flanto)]

I have the same problem. Once in a while the application lens appears but most of the time not. I'm starting applications from terminal.

Tests with lens not showing:

pgrep -f unity-applications-daemon
shows 2135, so its running.

Killed it, restart: Nothing happens, lens does not appear, no messages on the terminal.

System:
I upgraded from 11.04.
Everything standard except from using ATI-fglrx. No ppas.

[Steven Austen (ausbuscon)]

On Thu, 2011-11-03 at 10:32 +0000, Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen wrote:
> Forgot to ask: Can you guys also please describe your 11.10 systems:
>
> - Do you have any PPAs installed - in the positive case which?

they were unchecked as part of the upgrade
> - Have you manually installed any components of the unity stack from source or other?

no
> - Do you have any non-standard lenses or scopes installed?
no
> - Did you get your 11.10 system from a clean install or upgrade. If upgrade then from which Ubuntu version?

upgrade from 11.04

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (kamstrup)]

Thanks guys. The fact that /usr/lib/unity-lens-applications/unity-applications-daemon does not display anything when you run it is good info - but also *very* surprising. That executable should print quite a lot no matter what status it ends up in. But nonetheless, this is a clue to start on.

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (kamstrup)]

Ok, here's what you can do to help if you have the hanging daemon like S.O.E., Florian, and Steven are reporting:

 - Install debug symbols 'sudo apt-get install libglib2.0-0-dbg libxapian22-dbg libzeitgeist-1.0-1-dbg libdee-1.0-1-dbg'
 - Install gdb 'sudo apt-get install gdb'
 - Run 'pgrep -f unity-applications-daemon' and note the number it prints (the "PID")
 - Start gdb outputting to a log file 'sudo gdb | tee unity-applications-daemon.hang.txt 2>&1'
 - Connect gdb to the hanging process 'attach $THE_PID_FROM_PGREP'
 - (if you don't have a gdb command prompt by now, hit Ctrl-c to get one)
 - Output stack dump: 'bt full'
 - Hit Ctrl-d to exit gdb
 - Attach the file unity-applications-daemon.hang.txt to this bug
 - Have a cup of tea and a cookie. You deserve it by now! :-)

[Steven Austen (ausbuscon)]

Where will the txt file be?

On Mon, 2011-11-07 at 08:00 +0000, Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen wrote:
> Ok, here's what you can do to help if you have the hanging daemon like
> S.O.E., Florian, and Steven are reporting:
>
> - Install debug symbols 'sudo apt-get install libglib2.0-0-dbg libxapian22-dbg libzeitgeist-1.0-1-dbg libdee-1.0-1-dbg'
> - Install gdb 'sudo apt-get install gdb'
> - Run 'pgrep -f unity-applications-daemon' and note the number it prints (the "PID")
> - Start gdb outputting to a log file 'sudo gdb | tee unity-applications-daemon.hang.txt 2>&1'
> - Connect gdb to the hanging process 'attach $THE_PID_FROM_PGREP'
> - (if you don't have a gdb command prompt by now, hit Ctrl-c to get one)
> - Output stack dump: 'bt full'
> - Hit Ctrl-d to exit gdb
> - Attach the file unity-applications-daemon.hang.txt to this bug
> - Have a cup of tea and a cookie. You deserve it by now! :-)
>

[Steven Austen (ausbuscon)]

On Mon, 2011-11-07 at 08:00 +0000, Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen wrote:
> Ok, here's what you can do to help if you have the hanging daemon like
> S.O.E., Florian, and Steven are reporting:
>
> - Install debug symbols 'sudo apt-get install libglib2.0-0-dbg libxapian22-dbg libzeitgeist-1.0-1-dbg libdee-1.0-1-dbg'
> - Install gdb 'sudo apt-get install gdb'
> - Run 'pgrep -f unity-applications-daemon' and note the number it prints (the "PID")
> - Start gdb outputting to a log file 'sudo gdb | tee unity-applications-daemon.hang.txt 2>&1'
> - Connect gdb to the hanging process 'attach $THE_PID_FROM_PGREP'
> - (if you don't have a gdb command prompt by now, hit Ctrl-c to get one)
> - Output stack dump: 'bt full'
> - Hit Ctrl-d to exit gdb
> - Attach the file unity-applications-daemon.hang.txt to this bug
> - Have a cup of tea and a cookie. You deserve it by now! :-)
>

[Steven Austen (ausbuscon)]

Don't know if this helps, but sometimes when I would logoff or restart,
there would be a dialog box that comes up telling me that the keyring
had not been unlocked
(with a space for me to type in the password)

If I did nothing it would eventually reboot,

On Mon, 2011-11-07 at 09:56 +0000, Steven Austen wrote:

> On Mon, 2011-11-07 at 08:00 +0000, Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen wrote:
> > Ok, here's what you can do to help if you have the hanging daemon like
> > S.O.E., Florian, and Steven are reporting:
> >
> > - Install debug symbols 'sudo apt-get install libglib2.0-0-dbg libxapian22-dbg libzeitgeist-1.0-1-dbg libdee-1.0-1-dbg'
> > - Install gdb 'sudo apt-get install gdb'
> > - Run 'pgrep -f unity-applications-daemon' and note the number it prints (the "PID")
> > - Start gdb outputting to a log file 'sudo gdb | tee unity-applications-daemon.hang.txt 2>&1'
> > - Connect gdb to the hanging process 'attach $THE_PID_FROM_PGREP'
> > - (if you don't have a gdb command prompt by now, hit Ctrl-c to get one)
> > - Output stack dump: 'bt full'
> > - Hit Ctrl-d to exit gdb
> > - Attach the file unity-applications-daemon.hang.txt to this bug
> > - Have a cup of tea and a cookie. You deserve it by now! :-)
> >
>
>
> ** Attachment added: "unity-applications-daemon.hang.txt"
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/872219/+attachment/2588131/+files/unity-applications-daemon.hang.txt
>

[Da Shroom (9n-georgm-bc)]

I doubt that that is related.

On another note, do any of you have problems with the software center not loading (just flashing then stopping), or it loading, but crashing before it's ready?

[Da Shroom (9n-georgm-bc)]

And here's a temporary workaround (ish)

Force Version unity-lens-applications to the version on the oneiric repo, not oneiric-updates,
Then, if that fails, install unity-lens-bliss (you have to compile it yourself, but there is help on OMG Ubuntu (.co.uk)

www.launchpad.net/unity-lens-bliss

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (kamstrup)]

@Steven: Thanks for the log. Can you confirm absolutely positively that this was from a session where the lens was unresponsive? I am asking because the lens should really only come in the state that your trace indicates if everything has been started successfully...

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (kamstrup)]

@Da Shroom: So you're saying that this may be caused by one of the updates? If that's true then that'll be a deal breaker. Can anyone else confirm?

[Da Shroom (9n-georgm-bc)]

It seemed to work for me, but i found the alternative lens before this, and personally i prefer it :-)

[Steven Austen (ausbuscon)]

The lens is currently there, so I will rerun next time I have a fail

On Tue, 2011-11-08 at 08:21 +0000, Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen wrote:
> @Steven: Thanks for the log. Can you confirm absolutely positively that
> this was from a session where the lens was unresponsive? I am asking
> because the lens should really only come in the state that your trace
> indicates if everything has been started successfully...
>

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (kamstrup)]

Thanks a bunch Steven!

[Steven Austen (ausbuscon)]

confirming that the lens was not showing when I ran thi

On Mon, 2011-11-07 at 08:00 +0000, Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen wrote:
> Ok, here's what you can do to help if you have the hanging daemon like
> S.O.E., Florian, and Steven are reporting:
>
> - Install debug symbols 'sudo apt-get install libglib2.0-0-dbg libxapian22-dbg libzeitgeist-1.0-1-dbg libdee-1.0-1-dbg'
> - Install gdb 'sudo apt-get install gdb'
> - Run 'pgrep -f unity-applications-daemon' and note the number it prints (the "PID")
> - Start gdb outputting to a log file 'sudo gdb | tee unity-applications-daemon.hang.txt 2>&1'
> - Connect gdb to the hanging process 'attach $THE_PID_FROM_PGREP'
> - (if you don't have a gdb command prompt by now, hit Ctrl-c to get one)
> - Output stack dump: 'bt full'
> - Hit Ctrl-d to exit gdb
> - Attach the file unity-applications-daemon.hang.txt to this bug
> - Have a cup of tea and a cookie. You deserve it by now! :-)
>

--
Steven Austen
Director
Austen Business Consultants Pty Ltd
PO Box 557
CASINO NSW 2470
Mobile: [phone]
**************************************************************************

This confidential email is intended only to be read or used by the
intended addressee and may contain legally privileged information which
is not waived by reason of any mistaken delivery. If the reader of
this email is not the intended recipient the message is not to be copied
or delivered to anyone, and you should destroy it and kindly notify the
sender by reply email.

[S.O.E. Ansems (only-for-launchpad)]

I'm giving up unity. It is not ready as a stable release yet and i feel that canonical should recognize this and stop force feeding unity to all ubuntu users, all newbies may run screaming back to windows after a bad experience with unity and never come back.

There are too many issues that have cost too much of my time. I've switched to gnome3 and it works like charm. As a bonus, the system seems to be more responsive as well (under unity i sometimes got short freezes for no apparent reason)

Good luck!

[sanmiguel9 (againsttcpa84)]

Hello guys,

I just got into the situation again where the application lens is not working (not visible in the dash). The process is running though, but even a kill and restart of the process does not help. After a unity --replace, everything works again. I attached the terminal output and the debug log. Hope it helps :-)

[madrang (madrang)]

Fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04 Alpha1 64bit. At first boot applications where not in my Unity Dash.

Running 'pgrep -f unity-applications-daemon' returns '5476'

Using 'unity --replace --verbose --log=UnityLog.txt' found this:

WARN 2011-12-04 23:32:24 unity.glib.dbusproxy GLibDBusProxy.cpp:255 Cannot call method InfoRequest proxy /com/canonical/unity/lens/applications does not exist
WARN 2011-12-04 23:32:24 unity.glib.dbusproxy GLibDBusProxy.cpp:255 Cannot call method SetActive proxy /com/canonical/unity/lens/applications does not exist
WARN 2011-12-04 23:32:24 unity.glib.dbusproxy GLibDBusProxy.cpp:255 Cannot call method InfoRequest proxy /com/canonical/unity/lens/commands does not exist
WARN 2011-12-04 23:32:24 unity.glib.dbusproxy GLibDBusProxy.cpp:255 Cannot call method SetActive proxy /com/canonical/unity/lens/commands does not exist
WARN 2011-12-04 23:32:24 unity.glib.dbusproxy GLibDBusProxy.cpp:255 Cannot call method InfoRequest proxy /com/canonical/unity/lens/files does not exist
WARN 2011-12-04 23:32:24 unity.glib.dbusproxy GLibDBusProxy.cpp:255 Cannot call method SetActive proxy /com/canonical/unity/lens/files does not exist
WARN 2011-12-04 23:32:24 unity.glib.dbusproxy GLibDBusProxy.cpp:255 Cannot call method InfoRequest proxy /com/canonical/unity/lens/music does not exist
WARN 2011-12-04 23:32:24 unity.glib.dbusproxy GLibDBusProxy.cpp:255 Cannot call method SetActive proxy /com/canonical/unity/lens/music does not exist

[madrang (madrang)]

It seams that running 'unity --reset' fixes the problem until next reboot.
Also if i create a new user, this new user don't seams to have that problem.

Other users have reported the same problem: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1880766

[madrang (madrang)]

Sadly i have to report that i was a little too quick for sending my last comment. It seams that what ever i did 'unity --reset' did not solve my problem. But something else that i did soved it, but now, reseting unity does not work anymore.

I would like to know where are stored the configuration and cache for unity. This way i could try deleting those and see if it fixes my problem. Since a new user with no older cofing file seams to have no problem at the moment. (I did a fresh install but my /home is on an other harddrive. So i still have all my configs from my previous setup.)

[madrang (madrang)]

I finality fixed it. :-D

I tried to run "madrang@UberBox:~$ /usr/lib/unity-lens-applications/unity-applications-daemon"
But nothing showed up on the console. So i left it running, after a little while, it finally printed something:

"LibZeitgeist-CRITICAL **: Unable to connect to Zeitgeist daemon: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.gnome.zeitgeist.Engine: Timeout was reached

GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed"

After looking a little more i found that zeitgeist-daemon was not running. "zeitgeist-daemon --replace" was reporting something about being unable to access or create a database. I dont know why but somehow "/home/madrang/.local/share/zeitgeist" was now owned by "root"

"sudo chown -R madrang:madrang /home/madrang/.local/share/zeitgeist"
"zeitgeist-daemon --replace"

Then all started working again.

[Steven Austen (ausbuscon)]

Well done.

I repeated this for my details and it worked well.

On Sat, 2011-12-10 at 09:44 +0000, madrang wrote:
> I finality fixed it. :-D
>
> I tried to run "madrang@UberBox:~$ /usr/lib/unity-lens-applications/unity-applications-daemon"
> But nothing showed up on the console. So i left it running, after a little while, it finally printed something:
>
> "LibZeitgeist-CRITICAL **: Unable to connect to Zeitgeist daemon: Error
> calling StartServiceByName for org.gnome.zeitgeist.Engine: Timeout was
> reached
>
> GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT
> (object)' failed"
>
> After looking a little more i found that zeitgeist-daemon was not
> running. "zeitgeist-daemon --replace" was reporting something about
> being unable to access or create a database. I dont know why but somehow
> "/home/madrang/.local/share/zeitgeist" was now owned by "root"
>
> "sudo chown -R madrang:madrang /home/madrang/.local/share/zeitgeist"
> "zeitgeist-daemon --replace"
>
> Then all started working again.
>

--
Steven Austen
Director
Austen Business Consultants Pty Ltd
PO Box 557
CASINO NSW 2470
Mobile: [phone]
**************************************************************************

This confidential email is intended only to be read or used by the
intended addressee and may contain legally privileged information which
is not waived by reason of any mistaken delivery. If the reader of
this email is not the intended recipient the message is not to be copied
or delivered to anyone, and you should destroy it and kindly notify the
sender by reply email.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

is that an issue for anyone in this bug report still?

[Steven Austen (ausbuscon)]

I'm fine now

Omer Akram <email address hidden> wrote:

>is that an issue for anyone in this bug report still?
>
>** Changed in: unity
> Status: Confirmed => Incomplete
>
>** Changed in: unity-lens-applications (Ubuntu)
> Status: Confirmed => Incomplete
>
>** Changed in: unity-lens-applications
> Status: Confirmed => Incomplete
>
>--
>You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
>report.
>https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/872219
>
>Title:
> Applications lens "disappears"
>
>Status in Unity:
> Incomplete
>Status in Unity Applications Lens:
> Incomplete
>Status in “unity-lens-applications” package in Ubuntu:
> Incomplete
>
>Bug description:
> In Unity, sometimes the Apps lens disappears, and so do the search
> results for applications in the main Dash search. I then have to use
> either a terminal or alt-f2 to launch new apps.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
> Package: unity-lens-applications 0.4.12-0ubuntu1
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
> Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic i686
> ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
> Architecture: i386
> Date: Tue Oct 11 12:04:50 2011
> EcryptfsInUse: Yes
> SourcePackage: unity-lens-applications
> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
>
>To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/872219/+subscriptions
>

[Giampaolo Crispo (giampaolo-crispo)]

Finally solved by deleting the folder 'unity' in Home/.local/share/

Now I have my applications lens back again!!

[Ben Clapp (ibenrunnin)]

Madrang's fix worked for me. ^.^

[Stéphane Guillou (stephane-guillou)]

I run into this bug every so often: sometimes, no apps are shown in the home dash, and the app lens is empty. I am not sure how to reproduce this. I am using 12.04 32 bits up to date.