Thanks, that makes more sense with those details added ** Summary changed:
- gnome-session-bin package cannot function without gnome-session + Default session fails when not started by a login manager -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to gnome-session in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1871882 Title: Default session fails when not started by a login manager Status in gnome-session package in Ubuntu: New Bug description: This concerns gnome-session-bin 3.36.0-2ubuntu1 in Ubuntu focal. When I log into a Xubuntu desktop via xrdp, an error occurs, and the session terminates before the desktop is even drawn on the screen. I looked in syslog, and saw this: Apr 9 12:12:23 test-ubuntu64 systemd[1760]: Reached target Tasks to be run before GNOME Session starts. Apr 9 12:12:23 test-ubuntu64 systemd[1760]: Starting GNOME Session Manager (session: gnome)... Apr 9 12:12:23 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session[1900]: gnome-session-binary[1900]: CRITICAL: We failed, but the fail whale is dead. Sorry.... Apr 9 12:12:23 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[1900]: CRITICAL: We failed, but the fail whale is dead. Sorry.... Apr 9 12:12:23 test-ubuntu64 systemd[1760]: gnome-session-manager@gnome.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE I edited /usr/lib/systemd/user/gnome-session-manager@.service to add the --debug option to the gnome-session-binary invocation, and tried again. Now I saw this: Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 systemd[2686]: Reached target Tasks to be run before GNOME Session starts. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 systemd[2686]: Starting GNOME Session Manager (session: gnome)... Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Enabling debugging Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Enabling debugging Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): hardware acceleration already done if needed Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): hardware acceleration already done if needed Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Finding a graphical session for user 1000 Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Finding a graphical session for user 1000 Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Considering session 'c4' Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Considering session 'c4' Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Found session ID: c4 Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Found session ID: c4 Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Using systemd for session tracking Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Using systemd for session tracking Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: GLib-GIO-DEBUG(+): _g_io_module_get_default: Found default implementation dconf (DConfSettingsBackend) for \u2018gsettings-backend\u2019 Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: GLib-GIO-DEBUG(+): _g_io_module_get_default: Found default implementation dconf (DConfSettingsBackend) for \u2018gsettings-backend\u2019 Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): GsmManager: setting client store 0x559bf9e91e40 Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): GsmManager: setting client store 0x559bf9e91e40 Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): GsmXsmpServer: SESSION_MANAGER=local/test-ubuntu64:@/tmp/.ICE-unix/2818,unix/test-ubuntu64:/tmp/.ICE-unix/2818 Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): GsmXsmpServer: SESSION_MANAGER=local/test-ubuntu64:@/tmp/.ICE-unix/2818,unix/test-ubuntu64:/tmp/.ICE-unix/2818#012 Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): emitting SessionIsActive Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): emitting SessionIsActive Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Getting session 'gnome' Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Getting session 'gnome' Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Looking if /home/skunk/.config/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session is a valid session file Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Looking if /home/skunk/.config/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session is a valid session file Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Cannot use session '/home/skunk/.config/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session': non-existing or invalid file. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Cannot use session '/home/skunk/.config/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session': non-existing or invalid file. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Looking if /etc/xdg/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session is a valid session file Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Looking if /etc/xdg/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session is a valid session file Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Cannot use session '/etc/xdg/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session': non-existing or invalid file. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Cannot use session '/etc/xdg/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session': non-existing or invalid file. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Looking if /usr/share/gnome/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session is a valid session file Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Looking if /usr/share/gnome/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session is a valid session file Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Cannot use session '/usr/share/gnome/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session': non-existing or invalid file. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Cannot use session '/usr/share/gnome/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session': non-existing or invalid file. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Looking if /usr/local/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session is a valid session file Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Looking if /usr/local/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session is a valid session file Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Cannot use session '/usr/local/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session': non-existing or invalid file. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Looking if /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session is a valid session file Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Cannot use session '/usr/local/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session': non-existing or invalid file. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Looking if /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session is a valid session file Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Cannot use session '/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session': non-existing or invalid file. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Looking if /var/lib/snapd/desktop/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session is a valid session file Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Cannot use session '/var/lib/snapd/desktop/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session': non-existing or invalid file. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: gnome-session-binary[2818]: CRITICAL: We failed, but the fail whale is dead. Sorry.... Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Cannot use session '/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session': non-existing or invalid file. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): fill: *** Looking if /var/lib/snapd/desktop/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session is a valid session file Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: DEBUG(+): Cannot use session '/var/lib/snapd/desktop/gnome-session/sessions/gnome.session': non-existing or invalid file. Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 gnome-session-binary[2818]: CRITICAL: We failed, but the fail whale is dead. Sorry.... Apr 9 12:23:52 test-ubuntu64 systemd[2686]: gnome-session-manager@gnome.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE It appears that gnome-session-binary is failing because it cannot find a valid session file. I copied a gnome.session file into /home/skunk/.config/gnome-session/sessions/, and tried again. Lo and behold, the login was successful (although the user was now running GNOME instead of Xubuntu/Xfce). Given that the gnome-session-bin package functions incorrectly if it cannot find a gnome.session file (e.g. as provided by the gnome- session package), it should not be installable without one. A hard dependency on gnome-session seems appropriate. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-session/+bug/1871882/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp