DISPLAY location

[monon]

Where is the DISPLAY environmental variable coded in Kubuntu 18.04?

Please help.

Monon

[Snowhog]

Should be helpful: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EnvironmentVariables

[jlittle]

DISPLAY, usually :0, is an X thing, and would be set by the X display server before KDE starts. It is how GUI applications find the display server to talk to. (It can point to another machine on the network, but that functionality hasn't been used much for decades, except maybe to run xroach on a colleague's display.) One can run more than one X display server on the same system, using "Switch User", then DISPLAY=:1 for the second user.

Now, I wonder why you are asking. A possibility that occurs to me is that you've run something on a text login, and it says "can't find display" because $DISPLAY is not set. Maybe the X server is not running, because it failed to start or crashed? Have a look in /var/log/Xorg.log.0 to find out about that.

[monon]

I have problem in which KDE appears to stop when logging in. After login the splash screen appears, the wall paper appears briefly then goes black. I created a new user and all works well, but logging in as the original user ends up black.

[oshunluvr]

I have problem in which KDE appears to stop when logging in. After login the splash screen appears, the wall paper appears briefly then goes black. I created a new user and all works well, but logging in as the original user ends up black.

It's likely you've made an assumption that your problem is related to the DISPLAY variable. AFAIK, it's not set in the user account unless you've changed something. More likely something in Plasma is the issue or a local (user) desktop setting.

No log files? Tried any other trouble shooting ideas?

[monon]

No, I have not made the assumption that the problem is related to DISPLAY variable. Actually I am grasping at straws. I had issued the printenv command and the DISPLAY variable was not listed. I thought that perhaps a file somewhere had been corrupted. Based on your explanation of how DISPLAY is set, I know why printenv did not list it. The sequence of events goes like this: after booting, the login screen comes up, after logging in, the splash screen comes up, then the wallpaper comes up for a few seconds, and sometimes displays the desktop icons, and sometimes not, then goes to a black screen. Unable to find the problem, I created a new user, which behaves normally. The original user still has the same problem. I started out by trying to reset kde. I did this by removing .kde.

No help. I looked at .xsession-errors and found an error message:
XIO: fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server ":0"
after 29 requests (29 known processed) with 0 events remaining.
This did not lead to anything. The Xorg log file did not show any errors, but it did note that X had terminated. I also tried various things I found online that looked like it could be related to my problem. Nothing was successful.

[claydoh]

I started out by trying to reset kde. I did this by removing .kde.

That won't reset things.
You need to remove various config files from ~/.config and maybe ~/.local
The thing is, with plasma now using the standard config and data dirs, it is not as simple as it used to be.
probably any files in ~/.config that contain the term 'plasma' should reset the desktop

[vinnywright]

look at your ".Xauthority" file in the affected users /home

vinny@vinny-bonox8:~$ ls -la .X*
-rw------- 1 vinny vinny 57 Apr  7 15:55 .Xauthority

it should be owned by the user and look like this .

it could be just plasma not starting , wile looking at that blank screen can you press "alt+F2" and get krunner , if so , launch a "konsole" and enter "plasmashell" press enter and see if the shell starts or just gives errors and quits .

if you want to try resetting the hole acct.

you may need to remove more than just .kde , like .config and .local as well and .cache maybe .

VINNY

[monon]

Vinny,

Plasmashell would not start. Right now i'm trying to get the messages into a file to show you.

[monon]

Vinny,
These are the error messages generated when I tried to execute plasmashell as you suggested. The messages start with 'Aborting shell load:'

trekker@trekker-HP-Pavilion-Notebook:~$ plasmashell > /home/jimmie/message.txt
bash: /home/jimmie/message.txt: Permission denied
trekker@trekker-HP-Pavilion-Notebook:~$ plasmashell > message.txt
Aborting shell load: The activity manager daemon (kactivitymanagerd) is not running.
If this Plasma has been installed into a custom prefix, verify that its D-Bus services dir is known to the system for the daemon to be activatable.
org.kde.plasmaquick: Applet preload policy set to 1
Warning: all files used by qml by the plasmoid should be in ui/. The file in the path "file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/code/LayoutManager.js" was expected at QUrl("file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/ui/LayoutManager.js")
Warning: all files used by qml by the plasmoid should be in ui/. The file in the path "file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/code/FolderTools.js" was expected at QUrl("file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/ui/FolderTools.js")
kf5.kpackage: No metadata file in the package, expected it at: "/x/Pictures/BackyardOwls29May2011/"
kf5.kpackage: No metadata file in the package, expected it at: "/x/Pictures/BackyardOwls29May2011/"
kf5.kpackage: No metadata file in the package, expected it at: "/x/Pictures/BackyardOwls29May2011/"
trying to show an empty dialog
org.kde.plasmaquick: New Applet "Application Launcher" with a weight of 0
Connecting to deprecated signal QDBusConnectionInterface::serviceOwnerChanged(QStr ing,QString,QString)
Trying to use rootObject before initialization is completed, whilst using setInitializationDelayed. Forcing completion
Both point size and pixel size set. Using pixel size.
Both point size and pixel size set. Using pixel size.
Both point size and pixel size set. Using pixel size.
trying to show an empty dialog
org.kde.plasmaquick: New Applet "Digital Clock" with a weight of 0
Trying to use rootObject before initialization is completed, whilst using setInitializationDelayed. Forcing completion
Warning: all files used by qml by the plasmoid should be in ui/. The file in the path "file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.panel/contents/code/LayoutManager.js" was expected at QUrl("file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.panel/contents/ui/LayoutManager.js")
trying to show an empty dialog
org.kde.plasmaquick: New Applet "Audio Volume" with a weight of 0
org.kde.plasmaquick: New Applet "Clipboard" with a weight of 0
org.kde.plasmaquick: New Applet "Device Notifier" with a weight of 0
org.kde.plasmaquick: New Applet "KDE Connect" with a weight of 0
Warning: all files used by qml by the plasmoid should be in ui/. The file in the path "file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.plasma.notifications/contents/code/uiproperties.js" was expected at QUrl("file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.plasma.notifications/contents/ui/uiproperties.js")
org.kde.plasmaquick: New Applet "Notifications" with a weight of 0
libkcups: Create-Printer-Subscriptions last error: 0 successful-ok
org.kde.plasmaquick: New Applet "Printers" with a weight of 5
libkcups: Get-Jobs last error: 0 successful-ok
libkcups: Get-Jobs last error: 0 successful-ok
org.kde.plasmaquick: New Applet "Updates" with a weight of 0
org.kde.plasmaquick: New Applet "Vaults" with a weight of 0
Plasma Shell startup completed
libkcups: 0
libkcups: 85
KCrash: Attempting to start /usr/bin/plasmashell from kdeinit
KCrash: crashing...

crashRecursionCounter = 2
KCrash: Application Name = plasmashell path = /usr/bin pid = 1536
KCrash: Arguments: /usr/bin/plasmashell
KCrash: Attempting to start /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexec/drkonqi from kdeinit
QSocketNotifier: Invalid socket 8 and type 'Read', disabling...
QSocketNotifier: Invalid socket 18 and type 'Read', disabling...
QSocketNotifier: Invalid socket 9 and type 'Read', disabling...

[1]+ Stopped plasmashell > message.txt

[Snowhog]

I have problem in which KDE appears to stop when logging in. After login the splash screen appears, the wall paper appears briefly then goes black. I created a new user and all works well, but logging in as the original user ends up black.

Makes me think that ownership issues within /home/jimmie exist; that files contained there (and maybe within sub-directories/hidden directories under /home/jimmie as well) are owned by root. When this problem presented, had you been running certain GUI applications (Dolphin maybe) as root?

[vinnywright]

so , the system is running (alt+F2 got you krunner and you got a konsole to run , yes)

plasmashell is crashing in this user but not the new one , so we can assume (or I will) their is some bad configs or ownership in this user .

get that konsole back open and run this ,

find ~/ -user root

do you get a lot of output ?

if yes post it ,

this will show any files in the users /home that are owned by root , their should not be any ,,,,,,,hardly .

if no ,,,then go with the renaming/moving of the .config and .local to .config.old and local.old then reboot.

good luck

VINNY

[monon]

Vinny, thanks so much. I removed .config and let the system reset it. That did the trick. Of course there are some things I need to reconfigure, but so far it seems minor.

Monon

[Don B. Cilly]

If having a hard time means you get the "please wait 30 seconds to post" thing, you can
a) just ignore it.
b) ignore it but open a new tab and check your message was actually posted (it was :·)
c) click "Go Advanced" and then "Submit Reply". This will ensure that

a) you post looks good ;·)
b) you don't get the "please wait 30 seconds to post" thing.

[vinnywright]

Vinny, thanks so much. I removed .config and let the system reset it. That did the trick. Of course there are some things I need to reconfigure, but so far it seems minor.

Monon

VINNY