Ubuntu 13.04 mini: LXDE not working

[xoomer.ap]

Sorry for late, Framba, I only just finished my try for reconstruct your situation. I got something similar, but there was dark-blue screen and of cource mouse pointer.
Before this I installed minimal system without any additional packages and executed apt-get install lxde. That's all.
http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/6...0514215001.png

[Framba]

Yes, this is exactly what shows me when I use ldxm for logging in: dark blue background and mouse pointer.

[Rexilion]

I installed LXDE alongside a minimum install of Ubuntu with XFCE. I used the server iso with cli.seed. Here, LXDE misbehaved as well with a black background on startup. Once I changed the icon set (!) back to normal Gnome instead of Faenza (which was default) I had a desktop and a background.

I suggest you install the default Gnome icons and go from there. I know, it does not sound logical, but I ditched the software and went back to XFCE because of it. I disliked lxdesktop's very limited functionality.

[Framba]

I installed LXDE alongside a minimum install of Ubuntu with XFCE. I used the server iso with cli.seed. Here, LXDE misbehaved as well with a black background on startup. Once I changed the icon set (!) back to normal Gnome instead of Faenza (which was default) I had a desktop and a background.

I suggest you install the default Gnome icons and go from there. I know, it does not sound logical, but I ditched the software and went back to XFCE because of it. I disliked lxdesktop's very limited functionality.

Hi Rexilion, thank you for your hint. I tried to change icon set using "Customize Look and Feel", but when I use lxdm to log in I obtain only blue background and a mouse pointer, as usual.
Thanks to xoomer.ap I found that the problem is lxdm and not lxde as I thought at first. Using gdm everything works fine, now I'm just curious to understand what is wrong with lxdm. I just need a few workspaces and to be able to configure keyboard shortcuts, so lxde is even too much and I'm thinking to go back to plain Openbox (this gave me some stability problems with Ubuntu 12.10, maybe now it has been fixed).

[Rexilion]

Hi Rexilion, thank you for your hint. I tried to change icon set using "Customize Look and Feel", but when I use lxdm to log in I obtain only blue background and a mouse pointer, as usual.
Thanks to xoomer.ap I found that the problem is lxdm and not lxde as I thought at first. Using gdm everything works fine, now I'm just curious to understand what is wrong with lxdm. I just need a few workspaces and to be able to configure keyboard shortcuts, so lxde is even too much and I'm thinking to go back to plain Openbox (this gave me some stability problems with Ubuntu 12.10, maybe now it has been fixed).

I suggest you try looking at the environment variables of each session:

set

And compare the differences. Furthermore, I use startx as 'login manager' and it had issue's handling consolekit properly. I had to modify it's PAM file. To diagnose that, use:

ck-list-sessions

And, again, compare the output for each DM.

Good luck!

[Framba]

Ok, I'm comparing the output of set and ck-list-session collected in tty1 while running gdm and lxdm.

set shows only two differences:

PIPESTATUS=([0]="1")   (gdm)
PIPESTATUS=([0]="0")   (lxdm)

XDG_SESSION_COOKIE=665...79_=']'   (gdm)
XDG_SESSION_COOKIE=665...25_=-lh   (lxdm)

ck-list-session with lxdm shows only a session (/dev/tty1), while with gdm I have 2 sessions, tty1 and X11.

I'm using google to look for PIPE_STATUS and XDG_SESSION_COOKIE details, but the absence of X11 session in ck-list-session's output seems more interesting.

[Rexilion]

Provide us:

/etc/pam.d/lxde
/etc/pam.d/gdm

I'm not sure about the filenames, maybe they are prefixed or suffixed. But you should provide the pam configuration file that comes with the DM.

GDM handles ConsoleKit internally (without PAM) (or used to), but LXDE will have it's hooks in PAM (I guess).

My best bet is that this is the root of your problem.

[Framba]

cat /etc/pam.d/gdm
#%PAM-1.0
auth    requisite       pam_nologin.so
auth    sufficient      pam_succeed_if.so user ingroup nopasswdlogin
@include common-auth
auth    optional        pam_gnome_keyring.so
@include common-account
session [success=ok ignore=ignore module_unknown=ignore default=bad] pam_selinux.so close
session required        pam_limits.so
@include common-session
session [success=ok ignore=ignore module_unknown=ignore default=bad] pam_selinux.so open
session optional        pam_gnome_keyring.so auto_start
session required        pam_env.so readenv=1
session required        pam_env.so readenv=1 user_readenv=1 envfile=/etc/default/locale
@include common-password

cat /etc/pam.d/lxdm
#%PAM-1.0
auth    requisite       pam_nologin.so
auth    required        pam_env.so readenv=1
auth    required        pam_env.so readenv=1 envfile=/etc/default/locale
auth    sufficient      pam_succeed_if.so user ingroup nopasswdlogin
@include common-auth
auth    optional        pam_gnome_keyring.so
@include common-account
session [success=ok ignore=ignore module_unknown=ignore default=bad] pam_selinux.so close
session required        pam_limits.so
@include common-session-noninteractive
session [success=ok ignore=ignore module_unknown=ignore default=bad] pam_selinux.so open
session optional        pam_gnome_keyring.so auto_start
@include common-password

[Rexilion]

Make sure you are comfortable with editing in a TTY (with a LiveCD). My modifications could (in worst case) lock you out of your own system. However my modification will, as far as I know, not do that. But be prepared!

Done with the disclaimer, moving on...

First, let's install what we need:

aptitude -yR install libpam-ck-connector

Inspecting your PAM, I see that it's using additional files. So:

@include common-session-noninteractive

Hence:

/etc/pam.d/common-session-noninteractive

< snip >
# and here are more per-package modules (the "Additional" block)
session	required	pam_unix.so 
# end of pam-auth-update config

Change it to:

< snip >
# and here are more per-package modules (the "Additional" block)
session	required	pam_unix.so 
session optional	pam_loginuid.so
session	optional	pam_ck_connector.so nox11
# end of pam-auth-update config

If any of the bold lines is already there. No problem, just leave it there and add the additional line who is missing. If they are both already there let me know. However, make sure you do loginuid first and then pam_ck_connector.

EDIT1: Sidenote: Why is lxdm using the non-interactive version?

[Framba]

No problem with the TTYs here, thanks.
I don't know why lxdm is using the non-interactive version, but I added both lines: the behaviour is always the same.

Thank you anyway.