Debian 9 Stretch: Synaptic won't launch after login

KYJazzyJeff · 09-17-2018, 06:13 PM

Just installed Synaptic in Debian 9 running Gnome 3.22.2, got as far as the admin log-in screen. Synaptic wouldn't even launch after I gave it my admin password. No error message, no chance to re-try, nothing! Tried giving it my user password instead, after which it DID give me an error message and gave me a chance to try my password again. Software Center works just fine as does Aptitude. Re-installing Synaptic didn't do any good. Any help with this one?

frankbell · 09-17-2018, 08:04 PM

Try starting synaptic from the command line. Maybe it will throw some useful error messages to the terminal.

KYJazzyJeff · 09-18-2018, 07:34 PM

Attempting to launch Synaptic from the command line using sudo synaptic produced the following error message:

No protocol specified
Unable to init server: Could not connect: Connection refused

(synaptic:1816): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: :1

logging in as root and then typing synaptic produced the same results plus a segfault.

What say you about this?

frankbell · 09-18-2018, 07:51 PM

A web search for that error message turns up a number of references, but this Debian bug report might be helpful.

It includes a command reputed to fix the problem:

Code:

$ xhost +si:localuser:root

I would suggest reading the bug report thoroughly and perhaps researching the command before trying it.

I have not personally encountered this problem, so I have no way of testing it.

KYJazzyJeff · 09-18-2018, 08:17 PM

Tried launching Synaptic via the terminal after entering that command, just to be safe. Thanks!