Error appears in console when gnome-control-center starts

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amenex
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A rejoint: 01/03/2015

While attempting to move desktop icons onto the taskbar, I installed gconf-editor.

Somehow, after using gconf-editor and then trying to use System Settings, I ended up in the console with this error:
> (gnome-control-center.real:3319): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_menu_insert_item: assertion 'G_IS_MENU (menu)' failed

Whenever I attempt to open System Settings in the GUI, the console window appears with the above error.
"Contr+c" closes the terminal, but does not prevent repetition of the error, even after rebooting Trisquel 7.
Closing the console also closes System Settings, so that GUI service is now unavailable.

If I enter "gnome-control-center" in the console, the System Settings GUI appears and I can exit System Settings, leaving me with the console, ready to enter another command, but with the above error above the user prompt. That does not prevent the error from reappearing whenever I try to open System Settings again, which opens first, the console and its error, and then opens System Settings.

I attempted to repair gnome-control-center thusly: but even though the system went through convincing motions, the error reappears unchanged when I start gnome-control-center from the console.

In short, I get the quoted error whenever I try to use System Settings, whether through use of the console and the command, "gnome-control-center" or through the use of the console to start System Settings from the GUI. The error's appearance in the console is the same either way.

How can I repair gnome-control-center and the System Settings GUI ?

amenex
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A rejoint: 01/03/2015

Update: I then tried to use Software Updater in System Settings. The update proceeded, apparently successfully with a small update to Trisquel Base (487 kB) but the following warnings appeared on the console, which now opens as described above whenever I start System Settings from the GUI:
> debconf: DbDriver "passwords" warning: could not open /var/cache/debconf/passwords.dat: Permission denied
> debconf: DbDriver "passwords" warning: could not open /var/cache/debconf/passwords.dat: Permission denied
> debconf: DbDriver "passwords" warning: could not open /var/cache/debconf/passwords.dat: Permission denied

This looks bad ... but it's apparently a bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/debconf/+bug/959364

Magic Banana

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

Any backup to restore?

amenex
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A rejoint: 01/03/2015

No backup of Trisquel ... but a search in system files for gnome-control-center reveals only two files changed in the past ten days:

1. Folder: gnome-control-center in /usr/share/doc, which was changed yesterday. None of the files in it have been changed, however.
2. File: gnome-control-center.list was also changed yesterday, but it's a text file and it looks intact.

The executable gnome-control-center.real has not been changed since last year.

When I do a search on "GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_menu_insert_item" I get three returns, one of which is in the Trisquel forum:
> http://trisquel.info/en/forum/plantages-%C3%A0-r%C3%A9p%C3%A9tition-des-navigateurs
A search on "assertion 'G_IS_MENU (menu)' failed" (the rest of the error message) leads to the same place.

But the thread is in French ... can Magic Banana please translate ?

Magic Banana

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

That thread (on the French-speaking) is confusing. It conflates several issues. In the end, it does not looks like anybody really understood the problem that was solved by a reinstall.

Notice that the "GLib-GIO-CRITICAL" errors do not look that critical. On my system, which is working fine (including the "System settings"):
$ gnome-control-center.real
(gnome-control-center.real:24558): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_menu_insert_item: assertion 'G_IS_MENU (menu)' failed

amenex
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A rejoint: 01/03/2015

I love Magic Banana's identical result; it's like the guy who wets his pants every time he stands up to make a speech ... after years of therapy, someone meets him again and asks whether the psychiatrist was able to help ... "Sure ! I'm completely cured; now, whenever I stand up to make a speech, I still wet my pants" ... "Whattaya mean, 'cured ?'" Reply: "It doesn't bother me any more." Thanks for the assurance !

In the meantime, I'm taking the cautious approach by backing up my data, even though the OS is in its own partition so that a manual reinstall of Trisquel 7 should leave the /home folder untouched.

Magic Banana

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

I am just explaining that the error message may have nothing to do with the crashes the French-speaking users were going through since I have the exact same error but my system is working fine.

By the way, I have not understood the actual problem you are going through. Because if you are only worrying about the error message and want to reinstall because of it, then the analogy becomes that of a man who has never wet his pants but has been convinced to do a radical therapy to solve this problem he does not face.

amenex
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A rejoint: 01/03/2015

In this discussion:
> http://trisquel.info/en/forum/plantages-%C3%A0-r%C3%A9p%C3%A9tition-des-navigateurs

Magic Banana suggested [translated to English]:
> If you launch the web browser from the terminal (with the command ' abrowser ' or ' icecat ') , perhaps you will read something interesting just before the crash.

Sure enuf, the console replied:
> abrowser
> (process:4395): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_slice_set_config: assertion 'sys_page_size == 0' failed

And ABrowser started anyway.

Eventually, in the same thread, Sasaki reached the conclusion [translated from French to English by Google]:
> Well, after many wanderings I resolved to reinstall the system without touching the /home and I no longer have the aforementioned problem.

Before I try reinstalling Trisquel, I really should find out what it is that's gotten corrupted. When I do a file search on "g_menu_insert_item" nothing is found.

amenex
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A rejoint: 01/03/2015

Getting back to the problem at hand.

Now when I enter "gnome-control-center.real" I get the following error message, in part:
> WARNING **: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /tmp/dbus-IMk88giwQN: Connection refused

But there isn't any file named dbus-IMk88giwQN in the /tmp folder. A Google search reveals nothing ... no hits at all. Looks a little like a profile name in a Mozilla product - different for every installation. Whatever is trying to connect to the accessibility bus is using the wrong secret handshake, it seems. In the bug linked below the accessibility bus was looking for "/tmp/dbus-cBianHrls2".

Here is the Ubuntu bug report on this behavior: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dbus/+bug/1363355 The affected population as of October a year ago was four (4) people.

amenex
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A rejoint: 01/03/2015

Ominous development:

After a normal system restart the error wants to connect to a different socket: /tmp/dbus-vGAkG6YLLD ... maybe a virus ?

Magic Banana

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

It may just be that D-Bus gives a random name to the socket (à la 'mktemp').

amenex
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A rejoint: 01/03/2015

... and forgets to create that socket ? There is a ksocket- entry for me in /tmp/ but nothing for DBus.

amenex
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A rejoint: 01/03/2015

... and forgets to create that socket ? Oops. Double post popped up unexpectedly ...

amenex
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 01/03/2015

Note: The [(gnome-control-center.real: ....): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_menu_insert_item: assertion 'G_IS_MENU (menu)' failed] error only appears when I start "system settings" from the main Trisquel menu, not:
1. When I click on "system settings" from a second trisquel menu on my newly repopulated taskbar; or
2. When I click on "system settings" after adding that to my Accesssories menu in the main Trisquel menu.