** Description changed: I cannot start gnome-terminal. If I open an xterm and start gnome- terminal from the command line, here is what I get: - $ gnome-terminal + $ sudo gnome-terminal Failed to contact the GConf daemon; exiting. + (original report didn't have sudo in this command, but a later comment by the submitter amended this.) $ ps ax | grep gconf 3956 pts/0 R+ 0:00 grep gconf 6643 ? S 0:00 /usr/lib/pulseaudio/pulse/gconf-helper 6647 ? S 0:06 /usr/lib/libgconf2-4/gconfd-2 This is in Jaunty Alpha 4 with all updates current as of 12 Feb. + + This bug is now understood. Read all the comments (or at least try + some text searches) before adding your own, because a lot of things have + already been covered. + + summary of some stuff posted in comments: + gnome-terminal on purpose refuses to start if it can't connect to gconfd to get its config settings. + + gconf clients now find the server using DBUS. Starting gnome-terminal + as root doesn't work even when you have all the gnome bits and pieces + running under your account, because DBUS is per-user. + + executive of summary: We know what is going on. Everything that doesn't + work is a consequence of the design. Everything is working as designed, + although obviously there are problems with this design. Discussion + about the design probably belongs on freedesktop-bugs #17970 (link in + the remote bug sidebar). + + Workarounds: + for the gconfd-not-running case: + start gconfd. e.g. add /usr/bin/gnome-settings-daemon to your X session startup script, ahead of any gnome-terminal commands. This applies whatever window manager you happen to be using. (except if you're using Ubuntu's default GNOME desktop, which already starts gconfd itself.) + + multiple tabs over ssh: + use screen(1) + $ sudo aptitude install screen screen-profiles # if you don't have it already + The default config has unhelpful keybindings. I'm used to ^t as the command key, and F11/F12 as next/previous tab (screen calls them "windows"). I set up my own .screenrc before screen-profiles was packaged, so I don't know if its examples and samples are good or not. + If you insist on displaying a GUI over X11 over ssh, there are other terminal emulators with tabs, e.g. the lighter-weight mrxvt. (be careful, though: it doesn't support UTF-8.) + + You might also investigate ssh -M for connection sharing. As I + understand it, this lets you tunnel multiple sessions over one SSH + connection, so only one password prompt... You could presumably get a + local gnome-terminal going with ssh connections in each tab. + + root shells: + use sudo inside a gnome terminal that's running under your own account. sudo -s, sudo -i, sudo su, and sudo bash are all variations on getting a shell running as root. If you don't know which to pick, use sudo -s. Or, better, don't start a root shell, and simply use sudo on the one or two commands that need it. e.g. + $ ls + $ less foo.conf + $ sudo editor foo.conf + (or gksudo editor foo.conf, if your editor of choice is opens it's own window instead of running inside the terminal) + $ ls .. + $ sudo mv foo bar + $ sudo # error permission denied + $ echo 10 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/swappiness # sudo tee is a way to accomplish echo 10 > file with the file-open happening as root. + + Root is dangerous: a typo could break things much more easily than + without sudo. The fewer things running as root, the better. It's not + usually necessary to run a terminal emulator as root, just things that + use that terminal. Even when you're doing a sysadmin thing, you + probably run lots of info-gathering commands that don't need root. Save + sudo for the commands that need it. + + This bug is partly that gconf requires DBUS, which breaks some remote- + GUI situations, and partly that gnome-terminal just refuses to start + without gconf, even though some people have found that it actually works + if they comment out that part. + + Armed with this knowledge, this bug shouldn't be more than a minor + inconvenience, esp. if you're not dealing with ssh. (GNU screen takes + some time to get used to...) + + I hope it's ok that I turned this bug's description into a guide on how + to deal with it. Please correct any inaccuracies.
-- Cannot start gnome-terminal because of gconf error https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/328575 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
