Could not update ICEauthority file /home/user/.ICEauthority

[Krytarik]

Yeah, now you are - currently - using Gnome Shell. Tell us how you find it, compared to Unity.

But you should, nevertheless, still be able to choose "Ubuntu" as the session option to get to the Unity interface. Are you?

[haddog]

I have 5 session login options:

GNOME
GNOME/Openbox
LXDE
Openbox
Recovery Console
User Defined Session

No Ubuntu sessions listed. Gnome/Openbox and Openbox seem to be the Ubuntu Unity sessions though, as they show the desktop wallpaper I used when Unity was functional. Neither Gnome/Openbox or Openbox will produce a complete Unity desktop, only a menu at the top left of the dekstop. Haven't figured out how to repair Unity...

I like Gnome Shell. Not better than Unity, just different. I like them both, in particular the search function they employ at the "desktop".

[Krytarik]

Hmm, following the "gnome-session" package I can examine here, there should be an "Ubuntu" session option. Please try reinstalling it with the earlier stated command.

[haddog]

Hmm, following the "gnome-session" package I can examine here, there should be an "Ubuntu" session option. Please try reinstalling it with the earlier stated command.

O.k. Will try:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall gnome-session

[haddog]

Reinstalled gnome-session. Produced the following results:

misterT@3bootmini:~$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall gnome-session
[sudo] password for misterT:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/13.8 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
dpkg: warning: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 31604 package 'gverse':
error in Version string '.06': version number does not start with digit
dpkg: warning: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/available' near line 34063 package 'gverse':
error in Version string '.06': version number does not start with digit
(Reading database ... 276902 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace gnome-session 3.1.91-0ubuntu2 (using .../gnome-session_3.1.91-0ubuntu2_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement gnome-session ...
dpkg: warning: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 31605 package 'gverse':
error in Version string '.06': version number does not start with digit
Setting up gnome-session (3.1.91-0ubuntu2) ...
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Launch helper exited with unknown return code 127
misterT@3bootmini:~$

Lot's of errors. Rebooted. Still no Ubuntu session...

[Krytarik]

Urghh, ugly error messages there. Try cleaning them up by following the steps in this guide:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Pa...otingProcedure

[haddog]

mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo fuser -vvv /var/lib/dpkg/lock
[sudo] password for mista: 
mista@3bootmini:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=oneiric
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu oneiric (development branch)"
mista@3bootmini:~$ uname -a
Linux 3bootmini 3.0.0-10-generic #16-Ubuntu SMP Fri Sep 2 18:38:35 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo cp -arf /var/lib/dpkg /var/lib/dpkg.backup

^Cmista@3bootmini:~$ sudo cp -arf /var/lib/dpkg /var/lib/dpkg.backup
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/available-old /var/lib/dpkg/available
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo rm -rf /var/lib/dpkg/updates/*
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo rm /var/cache/apt/*.bin
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists/partial
mista@3bootmini:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get clean
mista@3bootmini:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get autoclean
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
mista@3bootmini:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
dpkg: warning: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 31605 package 'gverse':
 error in Version string '.06': version number does not start with digit
Setting up gnome-session (3.1.91-0ubuntu2) ...
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Launch helper exited with unknown return code 127
mista@3bootmini:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get update -o APT::Cache-Limit=25165824
Ign http://archive.canonical.com oneiric InRelease
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security InRelease           
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease                      
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates InRelease              
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease                                 
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports InRelease                      
Get:1 http://archive.canonical.com oneiric Release.gpg [198 B]                 
Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security Release.gpg [198 B]          
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed InRelease             
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric Release.gpg [198 B]                    
Get:4 http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric Release.gpg [72 B]                      
Get:5 http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security Release [23.2 kB]            
Get:6 http://archive.canonical.com oneiric Release [5922 B]          
Get:7 http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric Release [9759 B]                        
Get:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates Release.gpg [198 B]            
Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports Release.gpg [198 B]          
Get:10 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed Release.gpg [198 B]          
Get:11 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric Release [39.8 kB]                     
Get:12 http://archive.canonical.com oneiric/partner Sources [1346 B]           
Get:13 http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/main i386 Packages [14 B]   
Get:14 http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric/main i386 Packages [14 B]              
Get:15 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates Release [23.2 kB]             
Get:16 http://archive.canonical.com oneiric/partner i386 Packages [2821 B]     
Get:17 http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/universe i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:18 http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:19 http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/multiverse i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:20 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports Release [23.3 kB]           
Get:21 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed Release [23.2 kB]            
Get:22 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/main i386 Packages [1579 kB]          
Ign http://archive.canonical.com oneiric/partner TranslationIndex              
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric/main TranslationIndex                     
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/main TranslationIndex          
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/multiverse TranslationIndex
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/restricted TranslationIndex
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/universe TranslationIndex
Get:23 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/universe i386 Packages [6411 kB]
Get:24 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/restricted i386 Packages [9007 B]     
Get:25 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/multiverse i386 Packages [176 kB]     
Get:26 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/main i386 Packages [14 B]     
Get:27 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/universe i386 Packages [14 B] 
Get:28 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:29 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/multiverse i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:30 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/main i386 Packages [14 B]   
Get:31 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/universe i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:32 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:33 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/multiverse i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:34 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/main i386 Packages [14 B]    
Get:35 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/universe i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:36 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:37 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/multiverse i386 Packages [14 B]
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/main TranslationIndex                    
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/multiverse TranslationIndex              
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/restricted TranslationIndex              
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/universe TranslationIndex                
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/main TranslationIndex            
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/multiverse TranslationIndex      
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/restricted TranslationIndex      
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/universe TranslationIndex        
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/main TranslationIndex          
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/multiverse TranslationIndex    
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/restricted TranslationIndex    
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/universe TranslationIndex      
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/main TranslationIndex           
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/multiverse TranslationIndex     
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/restricted TranslationIndex     
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/universe TranslationIndex       
Fetched 8329 kB in 27s (304 kB/s)                                              
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Launch helper exited with unknown return code 127
Reading package lists... Done
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo dpkg --clear-avail
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
dpkg: warning: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 31604 package 'gverse':
 error in Version string '.06': version number does not start with digit
mista@3bootmini:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
mista@3bootmini:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get --fix-missing install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
mista@3bootmini:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get update -o APT::Cache-Limit=25165824 && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security InRelease
Ign http://archive.canonical.com oneiric InRelease                  
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease                       
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security Release.gpg          
Hit http://archive.canonical.com oneiric Release.gpg                 
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric Release.gpg                     
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security Release              
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric Release                         
Hit http://archive.canonical.com oneiric Release                     
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/main i386 Packages             
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric/main i386 Packages              
Hit http://archive.canonical.com oneiric/partner Sources             
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.canonical.com oneiric/partner i386 Packages       
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease                      
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates InRelease              
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports InRelease            
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed InRelease             
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric Release.gpg                              
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates Release.gpg                      
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports Release.gpg          
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed Release.gpg           
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric Release                        
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric/main TranslationIndex                     
Ign http://archive.canonical.com oneiric/partner TranslationIndex              
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates Release                
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports Release               
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed Release
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/main i386 Packages              
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/universe i386 Packages          
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/restricted i386 Packages        
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/multiverse i386 Packages        
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/main i386 Packages      
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/main i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/main i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/multiverse i386 Packages
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/multiverse TranslationIndex
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/restricted TranslationIndex
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/universe TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/multiverse TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/restricted TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/universe TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/multiverse TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/restricted TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/universe TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/multiverse TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/restricted TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports/universe TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/multiverse TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/restricted TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed/universe TranslationIndex
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Launch helper exited with unknown return code 127
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall gnome-session
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 13.8 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/main gnome-session all 3.1.91-0ubuntu2 [13.8 kB]
Fetched 13.8 kB in 0s (19.1 kB/s)       
dpkg: warning: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 31604 package 'gverse':
 error in Version string '.06': version number does not start with digit
(Reading database ... 276902 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace gnome-session 3.1.91-0ubuntu2 (using .../gnome-session_3.1.91-0ubuntu2_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement gnome-session ...
dpkg: warning: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 31605 package 'gverse':
 error in Version string '.06': version number does not start with digit
Setting up gnome-session (3.1.91-0ubuntu2) ...
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Launch helper exited with unknown return code 127
mista@3bootmini:~$

************************************************** **********

Didn't resolve the gnome-session reinstall errors. I posted the terminal output to launchpad also.

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/170777

[Krytarik]

This is actually an issue with the somehow half-installed package "gverse", and has nothing in particular to do with "gnome-session". You can see that some other package manager operations throw out the very same error messages.

Try removing the package at the center of this issue, "gverse":

sudo apt-get purge gverse

If that doesn't work, try reinstalling it:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall gverse

But maybe "gnome-session" was re-/installed fine despite of that. So, please check if the files listed here are all in their places (at least check the lower ones):

http://packages.ubuntu.com/oneiric/a...ssion/filelist

/usr/share/doc/gnome-session/AUTHORS
/usr/share/doc/gnome-session/NEWS.gz
/usr/share/doc/gnome-session/README
/usr/share/doc/gnome-session/README.Debian
/usr/share/doc/gnome-session/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/gnome-session/copyright
/usr/share/doc/gnome-session/dbus/gnome-session.html
/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session
/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/ubuntu-2d.session
/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/ubuntu.session
/usr/share/xsessions/gnome-shell.desktop
/usr/share/xsessions/gnome.desktop
/usr/share/xsessions/ubuntu-2d.desktop
/usr/share/xsessions/ubuntu.desktop

[haddog]

Removed gverse. Then re-installed gnome session.

mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo apt-get purge gverse
[sudo] password for mista:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
gverse*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
dpkg: warning: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 31604 package 'gverse':
error in Version string '.06': version number does not start with digit
(Reading database ... 276900 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing gverse ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf.index...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Launch helper exited with unknown return code 127
mista@3bootmini:~$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall gnome-sessionReading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/13.8 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
(Reading database ... 276897 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace gnome-session 3.1.91-0ubuntu2 (using .../gnome-session_3.1.91-0ubuntu2_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement gnome-session ...
Setting up gnome-session (3.1.91-0ubuntu2) ...
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Launch helper exited with unknown return code 127
mista@3bootmini:~$

The only error I see is still the Spawn.ChildExited . Any idea how to fix this?

All the necessary files appear to be where they need to be. I do see two Ubuntu desktop configuration files and one Ubuntu 2d configuration file in the /usr/share/xsessions/ directory.

[Krytarik]

The only error I see is still the Spawn.ChildExited . Any idea how to fix this?

Nope, but I think it's a minor one, and possibly attributed to Oneiric's beta state. I wouldn't care about this.

All the necessary files appear to be where they need to be. I do see two Ubuntu desktop configuration files and one Ubuntu 2d configuration file in the /usr/share/xsessions/ directory.

But still no "Ubuntu" session option to choose at the login screen?