GNU bug report logs - #34788
Trouble starting GNOME -- fails to activate "org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1"

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Jack Hill <jackhill <at> jackhill.us>
To: bug-guix <at> gnu.org
Subject: Trouble starting GNOME -- fails to activate
 "org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1"
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2019 13:54:43 -0500 (EST)

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi Guix,

Today I noticed that I'm having trouble starting a GNOME session. If I'm 
using GDM, GDM also fails to start. If slim, then slim starts, but bringing 
up the GNOME session fails.

In /var/log/gdm/greeter.log I see "(EE) xf86OpenConsole: Cannot open 
virtual console 7 (Permission denied)"

In /var/log/messages I see "gdm: gdm_session_set_environment_variable: 
assertion 'value != NULL' failed"

and "debus-daemon[598]: [system] Activated service 
'org.freedesktop.PloicyKit1' failed: Launch helper exited with unknown 
return code 1"

My first system generation where this is a problem is my first one to have 
linux-libre-5.0. I do not know how to narrow down where the problem was 
introduced further.

Best,
Jack

[config.scm (text/plain, attachment)]

Message #8 received at 34788 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Danny Milosavljevic <dannym <at> scratchpost.org>
To: Jack Hill <jackhill <at> jackhill.us>
Cc: 34788 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#34788: Trouble starting GNOME -- fails to activate
 "org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1"
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2019 20:29:06 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,

is that on a standalone Guix system or on another distribution?

Please try to find a file named "org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service" in
/gnu/store and then find a line like the following in it:

Exec=/gnu/store/xfysy3c824m4z8b07sbiangp7i2xfh6s-polkit-0.113/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug

Then please try to invoke that polkitd manually as root.

Does it also fail?

[Message part 2 (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #11 received at 34788 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Jack Hill <jackhill <at> jackhill.us>
To: Danny Milosavljevic <dannym <at> scratchpost.org>
Cc: 34788 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#34788: Trouble starting GNOME -- fails to activate
 "org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1"
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2019 14:39:49 -0500 (EST)

Danny and Guix,

On Fri, 8 Mar 2019, Danny Milosavljevic wrote:

> is that on a standalone Guix system or on another distribution?

standalone Guix system

> Please try to find a file named "org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service" in
> /gnu/store and then find a line like the following in it:
>
> Exec=/gnu/store/xfysy3c824m4z8b07sbiangp7i2xfh6s-polkit-0.113/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug
>
> Then please try to invoke that polkitd manually as root.
>
> Does it also fail?

I have many org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service files in my store. I tred 
the Exec line from two of them manually as root, and they also failed 
silently. Here is a an exerpt from my session:

root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# find . -iname 'org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service'
./4nxdlw9jj03inwvqs85bvlibmsxcndih-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./xhr56s8ayycsdyyy5mfb4r2j1qsm9ca7-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./5naf5pps59jwllzq63y7qgkmfvx3g5c9-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./fhsx7yznpywr9gsi5swp9hy3ldmp3agq-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./wsypapfwsz7h1bkkx83smjjrmaxgpfyw-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./agrvhlrl5q69lc83c3ns9gmydisdijjz-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./diwy3wlmq8nhyzm7v70kcjny3lrdsfmw-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./zab72xhxdrcnfx1vdwkwfhfj4n0pwcwz-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./jc37c1k9kywwyz7fz2sj5r4dlv1z0jf0-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./vs2ibcf146467vlqcg3ysgjrvyh3g57x-polkit-0.115/share/dbus-1/system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./19cyxhdcv27az62dswbwm9f5k9y0w9ng-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./kwpslvrhn37hpmsdjnrvdhdmwskkm35x-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./1fd1ys2ivs1cxh60ic6n7rmmnjfp1fyb-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./23nk0i4nncvxx5ah139ai82diqqgg5d9-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./y41zsmfvyfdf333a2d50s925kshjnf2r-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
./c57y49r44086xi8lh12s192m2w26b0ba-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
^C
root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# cat c57y49r44086xi8lh12s192m2w26b0ba-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
[D-BUS Service]
Name=org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1
Exec=/gnu/store/n9x6x19y5fsv6j0y3kpppgcycagg6y79-polkit-0.115/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug
User=root
SystemdService=polkit.service
root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# /gnu/store/n9x6x19y5fsv6j0y3kpppgcycagg6y79-polkit-0.115/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug
root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# echo $?
1
root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# cat fhsx7yznpywr9gsi5swp9hy3ldmp3agq-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
[D-BUS Service]
Name=org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1
Exec=/gnu/store/vs2ibcf146467vlqcg3ysgjrvyh3g57x-polkit-0.115/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug
User=root
SystemdService=polkit.service
root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# /gnu/store/vs2ibcf146467vlqcg3ysgjrvyh3g57x-polkit-0.115/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug
root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# echo $?
1
root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# ps -ef|grep polkit
root       767   729  0 14:35 pts/1    00:00:00 grep --color=auto polkit
root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store#

Message #14 received at 34788 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Danny Milosavljevic <dannym <at> scratchpost.org>
To: Jack Hill <jackhill <at> jackhill.us>
Cc: 34788 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#34788: Trouble starting GNOME -- fails to activate
 "org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1"
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2019 21:26:19 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,

On Fri, 8 Mar 2019 14:39:49 -0500 (EST)
Jack Hill <jackhill <at> jackhill.us> wrote:

> root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# cat c57y49r44086xi8lh12s192m2w26b0ba-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
> [D-BUS Service]
> Name=org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1
> Exec=/gnu/store/n9x6x19y5fsv6j0y3kpppgcycagg6y79-polkit-0.115/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug
> User=root
> SystemdService=polkit.service
> root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# /gnu/store/n9x6x19y5fsv6j0y3kpppgcycagg6y79-polkit-0.115/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug
> root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# echo $?
> 1
> root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# cat fhsx7yznpywr9gsi5swp9hy3ldmp3agq-dbus-system-services/org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.service
> [D-BUS Service]
> Name=org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1
> Exec=/gnu/store/vs2ibcf146467vlqcg3ysgjrvyh3g57x-polkit-0.115/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug
> User=root
> SystemdService=polkit.service
> root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# /gnu/store/vs2ibcf146467vlqcg3ysgjrvyh3g57x-polkit-0.115/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug
> root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# echo $?
> 1
> root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store# ps -ef|grep polkit
> root       767   729  0 14:35 pts/1    00:00:00 grep --color=auto polkit
> root <at> lib-its13 /gnu/store#

Hmm, try strace /gnu/store/vs2ibcf146467vlqcg3ysgjrvyh3g57x-polkit-0.115/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug >some_log_file.txt 2>&1

Maybe we can find what it doesn't like there...

[Message part 2 (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #17 received at 34788 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Jack Hill <jackhill <at> jackhill.us>
To: Danny Milosavljevic <dannym <at> scratchpost.org>
Cc: 34788 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#34788: Trouble starting GNOME -- fails to activate
 "org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1"
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2019 16:15:55 -0500 (EST)

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On Fri, 8 Mar 2019, Danny Milosavljevic wrote:

> Hmm, try strace /gnu/store/vs2ibcf146467vlqcg3ysgjrvyh3g57x-polkit-0.115/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug >some_log_file.txt 2>&1
>
> Maybe we can find what it doesn't like there...

I've attached the strace output.

[polkit-strace (text/plain, attachment)]

Message #20 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Jack Hill <jackhill <at> jackhill.us>
To: 34788 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: Danny Milosavljevic <dannym <at> scratchpost.org>, bug-guix <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#34788: Trouble starting GNOME -- fails to activate
 "org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1"
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2019 16:26:20 -0500 (EST)

FYI: Ludo' is also working on this. From IRC:

< civodul> jackhill: looks like i found the issue with GDM: /var/empty is no longer 555, which it should be
< civodul> testing a fix...

Message #30 received at 34788-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
To: Jack Hill <jackhill <at> jackhill.us>
Cc: 34788-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org, dannym <at> scratchpost.org
Subject: Re: bug#34788: Trouble starting GNOME -- fails to activate
 "org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1"
Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2019 23:24:28 +0100

Hello!

There were two issues:

  1. /var/empty would be 700 and owned by one of the accounts that uses
     it as its home directories.  Consequently, polkitd would fail to
     chdir to it, and thus fail to start.

  2. /var/run/dbus would be 700 as well, but the problem is that it
     contains the daemon’s socket, so D-Bus client would no longer be
     able to connect to it.

Both are fixed with commit d429878daf3e3eb21660ed80934b1d4b0603f6e1.

Sorry for the breakage!

Thanks,
Ludo’.

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