KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

[allanj]

Last night I followed the upgrade procedure on the main kubuntu.org page to upgrade to KDE 4.2 on Intrepid Ibex. The upgrade had some problems with a couple of forced package installs required. When I rebooted, I did indeed have KDE 4.2, but I had lost my window manager. That is, none of the applications that I can start have window decorations, I only have one desktop, I can't switch between applications, I can't start synaptic or adept (I get the authentication popup, but no subsequent application window), and, although I can start an xterm (konsole), I can't get it to take focus, so I can't type anything in the terminal.

Is there anything that I can do to get my window manager working again short of a full reinstall from disk? I can access the console (Ctrl-Alt-F1, etc), but my limited knowledge of how to repair such a situation from the command line package managers (dpkg or apt-get) leaves me at a loss as to what to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[kubicle]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

First thing to try is check that everything was really upgraded you can run these commands:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

(This will configure all packages that might have been left unconfigured during upgrades, you may also see errors if something prevents the configuration).

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

(this will refresh the package lists, and if succesful, perform a full upgrade)

sudo apt-get --reinstall install kde-window-manager

(reinstall kwin)

sudo apt-get -f install

(let apt try to fix any problems with your installed packages, dependency errors etc.)

Get back to us if these won't help, or if you get errors you don't understand

[allanj]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

I performed all of the commands as shown. All looked successful, with only the following messages returned:

• pkgs kept back: gwenview kdegraphics
• prompted to get rid of old pkgs by running: sudo apt-get autoremove (which I did, then reran: sudo apt-get -f install [which produced no activity]

I then logged out, restarted my X-server, logged back in, but no real change.
I then shut down, cold booted, logged back in, again no real change.

[Guest]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

Had the same problem you did. This command and restating X server fixed it for me.

sudo apt-get --reinstall install kde-window-manager

THanks again

[allanj]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

I have gotten all packages installed; none are held back; no available upgrades are reported. I then ran the full set of commands suggested by kubicle, restarted my x-server, but all to no avail.

chaoticwhizz, note that this includes the command that you suggested.

I am beginning to think that a full reinstall from disk is necessary, but I would still like to avoid this because of the amount of time required to configure the system to my liking, including installing some commercial software, and restoring all of my data. It seems like such a waste of time.

Are there any other suggestions about what I can do to try to get my system working properly again?

Thanks for your help, kubicle and chaoticwhizz, and thanks in advance to anyone else with suggestions.

[kubicle]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

I have gotten all packages installed; none are held back; no available upgrades are reported. I then ran the full set of commands suggested by kubicle, restarted my x-server, but all to no avail.

Do you get any error messages if you run 'kwin --replace' in a konsole window? (the command should reload the kde window manager...if there are problems, the errors should show in the konsole)

The next thing you could try is rename your ~/.kde folder (hidden .kde folder in your home folder). This will reset your kde settings in case it's a config issue. (Don't delete the folder as there may be important data, like your emails if you use kmail). The next restart of kde should create a fresh .kde directory with fresh settings. It will either fix your issues (if it works) or make sure it's not a configuration issue (if it doesn't), in which case you can rename your old .kde folder back if you like.

Another way to test this would be to create a new (test) user and see if the problem affects that user as well.

[allanj]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

kubicle, I tried the first two of your suggestions with the following results:

I couldn't enter "kwin --replace" in a konsole window because I can't find a way to give an open konsole window focus (I can't activate the cursor), but I was able to Ctrl-Alt-F1 to a console where I entered the command. The error message that was returned was "kwin: cannot connect to X server".

I also renamed my .kde directory to .oldkde. There was still a .kde4 that I did not rename. Does this matter? Anyway, the result of doing so was minimal: still no evidence of a working window manager. (And, yes, I did log out and restart my X server afterwards.) I did get one new widget on my panel, a "Show the Plasma Dashboard" widget, and an "x icon on a red square background" replacement of my "Lock/Logout" widget, which got accidentally deleted from the panel in my previous session. I had thought to remove any extra widgets as these may have been old plasmoids (the one that I did deliberately remove was "Luna"), when I closed the "Panel Settings", however, I was stuck in "remove widget" mode, so when I clicked on the "Logout" widget it got removed as well.

[kubicle]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

I couldn't enter "kwin --replace" in a konsole window because I can't find a way to give an open konsole window focus (I can't activate the cursor), but I was able to Ctrl-Alt-F1 to a console where I entered the command. The error message that was returned was "kwin: cannot connect to X server".

If you need to run the command from a virtual terminal (Ctrl+Alt+F1), use:

DISPLAY=:0.0 kwin --replace

(that should tell the command where to find the X-server)

You probably want to direct the output to a file, as well, if you need to copy&paste it here...you can do this by, for example:

DISPLAY=:0.0 kwin --replace 2> kwinerrors

This will put the errors (that would normally appear in the konsole) into a file called 'kwinerrors' in your working directory (your home directory by default).

There was still a .kde4 that I did not rename. Does this matter?

It shouldn't, .kde4 was used in hardy to store kde4 settings, it should have no effect in an intrepid machine.

You seem to be having plasma issues as well, could you provide the output of the commands:

dpkg-query -l '*plasm*' | grep ii

dpkg-query -l 'kde*' | grep ii

If you need to run these from the virtual terminal as well, you can direct the output to a file with:

dpkg-query -l '*plasm*' | grep ii > plasmapackages

dpkg-query -l 'kde*' | grep ii > kdepackages

(Note that '-l' is a lowercase L (not capital i) and '|' is the vertical bar (pipe) character.)
These should give us some information on the status of your key kde packages, as it seems it isn't a configuration issue (since renaming .kde didn't help)

[allanj]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

Well, this is encouraging as the kwin --replace command identifies the problem, although I lack the knowledge to know what to do about it. I could fumble with reinstalling packages, but things are enough of a mess with me complicating things with an inappropriate choice of actions.

I have attached the stdout redirects as requested.

Thanks again for your help.

[kubicle]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

Right then...you seem to have a legacy package (from a pre-release version of 4.2) installed.

Try purging (removing completely) it:

sudo apt-get purge kdeartwork-theme-window

Then reinstall kde-window-manager:

sudo apt-get --reinstall install kde-window-manager

[allanj]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

I performed to the two commands you suggest without error, unfortunately the problem remains unchanged.

Any other ideas?

[Snowhog]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

Have you restarted KDE? Ctrl+Alt+BkSp to return to the KDM login screen. Log back in and see if all is well.

[allanj]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

I logged out and restarted the X server, then logged back in. The problem persists.

[Snowhog]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

Before you hit enter (on the KDM login screen), click on the Sessions button and select (I think) New Session (or similar).

[allanj]

Re: KDE 4.1 -> 4.2 upgrade broke my window manager

The Session menu has three options: Default, KDE (previous), and Failsafe, none of which seem to be what you are referring to. The Menu has a Restart X Server option, which I selected, causing the login screen to disappear and be redisplayed after the X server restarts. I even rebooted to see if that made any difference. I didn't.

More interestingly, I ran the "DISPLAY=:0.0 kwin --replace 2> kwinerrors.txt" command again, and I think that the error is the same:

kwin(12232) KDecorationPlugins::loadPlugin: kwin : path "/usr/lib/kde4/kwin3_oxygen.so" for "kwin3_oxygen"
kwin(12232) KDecorationPlugins::loadPlugin: could not load library, try default plugin again
KWin: The default decoration plugin is corrupt and could not be loaded.
KWin will now exit...

What package is this "kwin3_oxygen.so" library in? Is it in the kde-window-manager package that I reinstalled? If its in a different package, I should reinstall that, shouldn't I?