The script /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/95-nvidia-settings autolaunches a dbus session bus, since it runs before the window manager is launched. This session bus writes its address to ~/.dbus/session-bus/MACHINE_ID-0. When the window manager is launched, it does not overwrite this file with the new session bus address. Any programs that depend on this file will connect to the bus that was launched by nvidia-settings, instead of the bus that is launched with the window manager. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Launch the window manager. (I'm using gdm.) 2. Compare `echo $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS` to cat `~/.dbus/session-bus/MACHINE_ID-0` Actual Results: $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS contains the session bus address launched by the window manager command. ~/.dbus/session-bus/MACHINE_ID-0 contains the session bus address of the session launched by the nvidia-settins utility. Expected Results: These commands should produce the same session bus address. Relevant software I am using: x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-346.47 gnome-base/gdm-3.14.1-r1 x11-wm/i3-4.8 When the nvidia-settings script is disabled: ps ux | grep dbus adam 4684 0.0 0.0 21820 240 ? Ss 15:06 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session adam 5733 0.0 0.0 24328 1920 ? S 15:14 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/bin/ssh-agent -- i3 adam 5734 0.0 0.0 21932 2400 ? Ss 15:14 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session adam 5774 0.0 0.0 21820 2824 ? S 15:14 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --config-file=/etc/at-spi2/accessibility.conf --nofork --print-address 3 adam 9721 0.0 0.0 112616 2204 pts/3 S+ 15:46 0:00 grep --colour=auto dbus emerge --info: Portage 2.2.14 (python 3.3.5-final-0, default/linux/amd64/13.0/desktop/gnome/systemd, gcc-4.8.3, glibc-2.19-r1, 3.18.7-gentoo x86_64) ================================================================= System uname: Linux-3.18.7-gentoo-x86_64-Intel-R-_Core-TM-_i7-3612QM_CPU_@_2.10GHz-with-gentoo-2.2 KiB Mem: 12209980 total, 10553800 free KiB Swap: 2097144 total, 2097144 free Timestamp of tree: Tue, 17 Mar 2015 07:15:01 +0000 ld GNU ld (Gentoo 2.24 p1.4) 2.24 app-shells/bash: 4.2_p53 dev-java/java-config: 2.2.0 dev-lang/perl: 5.20.1-r4 dev-lang/python: 2.7.9-r1, 3.3.5-r1, 3.4.1 dev-util/cmake: 2.8.12.2-r1 dev-util/pkgconfig: 0.28-r1 sys-apps/baselayout: 2.2 sys-apps/openrc: 0.13.11 sys-apps/sandbox: 2.6-r1 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.69 sys-devel/automake: 1.11.6-r1, 1.13.4 sys-devel/binutils: 2.24-r3 sys-devel/gcc: 4.8.3 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.7.3 sys-devel/libtool: 2.4.4 sys-devel/make: 4.1-r1 sys-kernel/linux-headers: 3.18 (virtual/os-headers) sys-libs/glibc: 2.19-r1 Repositories: gentoo gamerlay laurentb x11 java bumblebee armills local-overlay ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64" ACCEPT_LICENSE="* -@EULA" CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -march=native" CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/lib64/libreoffice/program/sofficerc /usr/share/gnupg/qualified.txt" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/dconf /etc/env.d /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/gentoo-release /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d /etc/terminfo" CXXFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -march=native" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FCFLAGS="-O2 -pipe" FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-logs config-protect-if-modified distlocks ebuild-locks fixlafiles merge-sync news parallel-fetch preserve-libs protect-owned sandbox sfperms strict unknown-features-warn unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch userpriv usersandbox usersync" FFLAGS="-O2 -pipe" GENTOO_MIRRORS="ftp://tux.rainside.sk/gentoo/ rsync://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/gentoo/ http://gentoo.mirrors.easynews.com/linux/gentoo/ ftp://ftp.ussg.iu.edu/pub/linux/gentoo" LANG="en_US.UTF-8" LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--as-needed" MAKEOPTS="-j10" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --omit-dir-times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --human-readable --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/var/lib/layman/gamerlay /var/lib/layman/laurentb /var/lib/layman/x11 /var/lib/layman/java /var/lib/layman/bumblebee /usr/local/portage/armills /usr/local/portage/overlay" SYNC="rsync://192.168.1.2/gentoo-portage" USE="X a52 aac acl acpi airplay alsa amd64 apng avahi bash-completion berkdb bluetooth branding bzip2 cairo cd cdda cdr cli colord cracklib crypt css cups cxx dbus dri dts dvd dvdr eds emboss encode evo exif fam firefox flac fortran g3dvl gdbm gif glamor gnome gnome-keyring gnome-online-accounts gpm gstreamer gtk gtk3 gudev hwdb iconv introspection ipv6 joystick jpeg lcms ldap libnotify libsecret mad mdadm minizip mmx mmxext mng modules mp3 mp4 mpeg multilib nautilus ncurses networkmanager nls nptl ntp ogg openal opengl openmp pam pango pcre pdf perl png policykit ppds pulseaudio python qt3support qt4 readline samba sdl session socialweb sound spell sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssl ssse3 startup-notification svg systemd tcpd theora tiff truetype udev udisks unicode upnp upower usb vaapi vdpau vim-syntax vorbis wxwidgets x264 xcb xft xml xv xvid xvmc zlib" ABI_X86="64" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" APACHE2_MODULES="authn_core authz_core socache_shmcb unixd actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cgi cgid dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" CALLIGRA_FEATURES="kexi words flow plan sheets stage tables krita karbon braindump author" CAMERAS="ptp2" COLLECTD_PLUGINS="df interface irq load memory rrdtool swap syslog" CPU_FLAGS_X86="aes avx mmx mmxext popcnt sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3" DRACUT_MODULES="mdraid" ELIBC="glibc" GPSD_PROTOCOLS="ashtech aivdm earthmate evermore fv18 garmin garmintxt gpsclock itrax mtk3301 nmea ntrip navcom oceanserver oldstyle oncore rtcm104v2 rtcm104v3 sirf superstar2 timing tsip tripmate tnt ublox ubx" INPUT_DEVICES="evdev synaptics" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LIBREOFFICE_EXTENSIONS="presenter-console presenter-minimizer" OFFICE_IMPLEMENTATION="libreoffice" PHP_TARGETS="php5-5" PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python2_7" PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_3" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby19 ruby20" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="intel nvidia" XTABLES_ADDONS="quota2 psd pknock lscan length2 ipv4options ipset ipp2p iface geoip fuzzy condition tee tarpit sysrq steal rawnat logmark ipmark dhcpmac delude chaos account" Unset: CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LC_ALL, PORTAGE_BUNZIP2_COMMAND, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, USE_PYTHON
When the nvidia-script is enabled: ps ux | grep dbus adam 4684 0.0 0.0 21820 240 ? Ss 15:06 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session adam 10314 0.0 0.0 24328 1916 ? S 15:55 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch --autolaunch e7b3887680c0636a1a3b6e3f5094380a --binary-syntax --close-stderr adam 10315 0.0 0.0 21820 2260 ? Ss 15:55 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session adam 10321 0.0 0.0 21820 2820 ? S 15:55 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --config-file=/etc/at-spi2/accessibility.conf --nofork --print-address 3 adam 10328 0.0 0.0 24328 1888 ? S 15:55 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/bin/ssh-agent -- i3 adam 10329 0.1 0.0 22036 2416 ? Ss 15:55 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session adam 10366 0.0 0.0 21820 2824 ? S 15:55 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --config-file=/etc/at-spi2/accessibility.conf --nofork --print-address 3 adam 10494 0.0 0.0 112616 2204 pts/2 S+ 15:56 0:00 grep --colour=auto dbus PID 10314 shows the bus launched by nvidia-settings. PID 10328 shows the bus launched with the window manager.
I've tested the following workaround in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/95-nvidia-settings #!/bin/sh DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS="None" /opt/bin/nvidia-settings --load-config-only Defining DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS prevents the dbus-launch utility from starting a new bus, as described in the following excerpt from the man page: If DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS is not set for a process that tries to use D-Bus, by default the process will attempt to invoke dbus-launch with the --autolaunch option to start up a new session bus or find the existing bus address on the X display or in a file in ~/.dbus/session-bus/ Whenever an autolaunch occurs, the application that had to start a new bus will be in its own little world; it can effectively end up starting a whole new session if it tries to use a lot of bus services. This can be suboptimal or even totally broken, depending on the app and what it tries to do.
I believe this is obsolete, nvidia-settings doesn't seem to force-start dbus (or at least, not anymore). Please open a new bug if still observing the behavior and I'll try to figure out why it's not happening for me.