Logging into gnome a pop-up window appears: There is a problem with the configuration server. (/usr/libexec/gconf-sanity-check-2 exited with status 256) Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Create a new user (typically via useradd) 2. Copy functional ".profile" from logged (functional) user to new user home directory. 3. Login via X to new user. Actual Results: There is a problem with the configuration server. (/usr/libexec/gconf-sanity-check-2 exited with status 256) Also, the new user fails to produce a functional Gnome environment, i.e. no desktop and no panel. PS reveals: UID PID PPID C SZ RSS PSR STIME TTY TIME CMD chrome 25347 25266 0 918 1068 0 11:01 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/ck-launch-session /usr/bin/ssh-agent -- /usr/bin/gnome-session chrome 25396 25347 0 20447 9700 0 11:01 ? 00:00:00 \_ /usr/bin/gnome-session chrome 25397 25396 0 432 228 0 11:01 ? 00:00:00 \_ /usr/bin/ssh-agent -- /usr/bin/gnome-session chrome 25607 25396 1 16449 29396 0 11:05 ? 00:00:00 \_ python2 /usr/bin/hp-systray --qt4 chrome 25688 25607 0 4059 9844 0 11:05 ? 00:00:00 | \_ python2 /usr/bin/hp-systray --qt4 chrome 25689 25688 0 3611 8244 0 11:05 ? 00:00:00 | \_ python2 /usr/bin/hp-systray --qt4 chrome 25612 25396 0 6991 8044 0 11:05 ? 00:00:00 \_ /usr/libexec/evolution/2.30/evolution-alarm-notify chrome 25693 1 0 8762 15012 0 11:05 ? 00:00:00 python2 /usr/lib/gdesklets/gdesklets-daemon chrome 25685 1 0 4221 2724 0 11:05 ? 00:00:00 gnome-screensaver chrome 25643 1 0 1462 2120 0 11:05 ? 00:00:00 /usr/libexec/gvfsd chrome 25640 1 0 18848 9708 0 11:05 ? 00:00:00 /usr/libexec/notification-daemon chrome 25537 1 0 4103 3764 0 11:05 ? 00:00:00 /usr/libexec/gnome-settings-daemon chrome 25383 1 0 756 1120 0 11:01 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session chrome 25382 1 0 884 836 0 11:01 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session The most fundamental components of a gnome session, e.g. gnome-panel, metacity and nautilus are absent! The "setup" of a gnome session should *never* fail without informing precisely what the problem is! And the problem should be displayed "on-screen" -- not in a .gnomerc-errors file which the user may not even know exists. { I realize that this "oversight" should be filed "upstream" with gnome developers. } Expected Results: If I add a "new" user and I setup XSESSION to use "Gnome" logins to the new user ID should not fail to produce a working Gnome session (if Gnome on the system is *known* to work)! [I am entering this Bug Report using an active Gnome session from a 4+ year old user profile on a system where creating new users fails.] Creating and logging in under a new Gnome user, on a system which is upgraded from older systems, i.e. standard "emerges" to the bleeding edge, should *always* work, or at least the diagnostic messages as to what is broken should be extremely informative. All new gnome (e.g. 2.30.X) software subcomponent releases should verify that adding and logging in as a "new" user is feasible *before* they are released to "emerge" status. This is important given the fragmented release pattern and the propensity for various sub-components to "break" the session capability. [Do you test various ACPI functions, screensaver function, etc. -- These have been problematic in my experience -- and I'm using Gentoo on a relatively generic HP "desktop" PC.]
Created attachment 240957 [details] emerge --info
Created attachment 240959 [details] Gnome .gnomerc-errors file from last attempt to login Fatal errors, such as failure to start the metacity, gnome-panel and nautilus should *ALWAYS* be displayed in a login screen/pop-up windows. Otherwise the novice user has no idea what or how the login failed. If Linux/Gnome is to succeed as a desktop environment the diagnostics should be extremely clear as to "what went wrong". Messages of the form: "Could not send message to GConf daemon: Process /usr/libexec/gconfd-2 received signal 5) GConf Error: Failed to contact configuration server; some possible causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information." are *NOT* helpful to the novice (or even an experienced user with 15-20 *years* of UNIX/Linux experience). The errors should be meaningful and precise!
> Could not open or create the file "(null)"; this indicates that there may be a > problem with your configuration, as many programs will need to create files in > your home directory. The error was "Failed to create file '/home/chrome/.tmpdir> /gconf-test-locking-file-K8GQGV': No such file or directory" (errno = 2). This is your problem.
