[SOLVED] Linux Mint switch from Cinnamon to Mate

vincix · 06-20-2015, 06:12 PM

Hello,

I have installed Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon and then I installed Mate and uninstalled Cinammon through apt, so I didn't do a fresh installation.
Now the problem seems to be that, during bootup, many services are loaded twice. I am not sure if this actually happens, but this is what it says and the /var/log/boot.log confirms it.
For instance, /tmp cleanup, signal sysvinit that virtual systems are mounted, configure network device security, configure network device, flush early jobs output to logs and so on.

Do you have any idea why this is happening?

Thanks

frankbell · 06-20-2015, 08:24 PM

I assume you have checked the startup items in both desktops just to be thorough, though that really should come into play with the circumstance you are describing.

What is the output of

Code:

ps -A

That would provide a complete list of the services that are running and so may be helpful.

Please also post a representative section of the boot.log file. (The whole thing is probably much to cumbersome to post).

I mention this only in case you are not aware of it: Please surround the terminal output with "Code" tags which become available when you click the "Go Advanced" button at the bottom of the "compose post" window.

vincix · 06-21-2015, 05:26 AM

Parts of ps -A

Quote:

4 ? 00:00:00 kworker/0:0
5 ? 00:00:00 kworker/0:0H
6 ? 00:00:00 kworker/u2:0
7 ? 00:00:00 rcu_sched
8 ? 00:00:00 rcuos/0
9 ? 00:00:00 rcu_bh
10 ? 00:00:00 rcuob/0
45 ? 00:00:00 kworker/u2:1
46 ? 00:00:00 scsi_eh_0
47 ? 00:00:00 scsi_eh_1
48 ? 00:00:00 kworker/u2:2
49 ? 00:00:00 kworker/u2:3
490 ? 00:00:00 avahi-daemon
491 ? 00:00:00 avahi-daemon
1128 ? 00:00:00 mdm
1188 ? 00:00:00 mdm

And some of the boot.log:

Quote:

* Stopping Read required files in advance [ OK ]
* Starting Mount filesystems on boot [ OK ]
* Stopping Track if upstart is running in a container [ OK ]
* Starting Initialize or finalize resolvconf [ OK ]
* Starting set console keymap [ OK ]
* Starting Signal sysvinit that virtual filesystems are mounted [ OK ]
* Starting Signal sysvinit that virtual filesystems are mounted [ OK ]
* Starting Bridge udev events into upstart [ OK ]
* Starting device node and kernel event manager [ OK ]
* Stopping set console keymap [ OK ]
* Starting Signal sysvinit that remote filesystems are mounted [ OK ]
* Starting load modules from /etc/modules [ OK ]
* Starting cold plug devices [ OK ]
* Starting log initial device creation [ OK ]
* Stopping load modules from /etc/modules [ OK ]
* Starting Signal sysvinit that the rootfs is mounted [ OK ]
* Starting Uncomplicated firewall [ OK ]
* Starting configure network device security [ OK ]
* Starting configure network device [ OK ]
* Starting Clean /tmp directory [ OK ]
* Stopping Clean /tmp directory [ OK ]
* Starting Signal sysvinit that local filesystems are mounted [ OK ]
* Starting flush early job output to logs [ OK ]
* Starting Enabling additional executable binary formats [ OK ]
* Stopping Mount filesystems on boot [ OK ]
* Starting D-Bus system message bus [ OK ]
* Stopping flush early job output to logs [ OK ]
* Starting SystemD login management service [ OK ]
* Starting system logging daemon [ OK ]
* Starting mDNS/DNS-SD daemon [ OK ]
* Starting bluetooth daemon [ OK ]
* Starting Reload cups, upon starting avahi-daemon to make sure remote q[ OK ]are populated
* Stopping Reload cups, upon starting avahi-daemon to make sure remote q[ OK ]are populated
* Starting Bridge file events into upstart [ OK ]
* Starting configure network device security [ OK ]
* Starting Mount network filesystems [ OK ]
* Starting SMB/CIFS File Server [ OK ]
* Starting Failsafe Boot Delay [ OK ]
* Starting SMB/CIFS File and Active Directory Server [ OK ]
* Stopping Mount network filesystems [ OK ]
* Stopping Failsafe Boot Delay [ OK ]
* Starting SMB/CIFS File and Active Directory Server [fail]
* Starting System V initialisation compatibility [ OK ]
* Starting modem connection manager [ OK ]
* Starting configure network device security [ OK ]
* Starting configure network device [ OK ]
* Loading VirtualBox video kernel module [ OK ]
* Starting network connection manager [ OK ]
No sensors found!
Make sure you loaded all the kernel drivers you need.
Try sensors-detect to find out which these are.
No sensors found!
Make sure you loaded all the kernel drivers you need.
Try sensors-detect to find out which these are.
* Setting sensors limits [ OK ]rting Bridge socket events into upstart
[ OK ]
* Setting up X socket directories... [ OK ]
* Stopping System V initialisation compatibility [ OK ]
* Starting System V runlevel compatibility [ OK ]
* Starting regular background program processing daemon [ OK ]
* Starting MDM Display Manager [ OK ]
* Starting save kernel messages [ OK ]
* Starting configure network device security [ OK ]
* Starting ACPI daemon [ OK ]
* Stopping Send an event to indicate plymouth is up [ OK ]
* Stopping save kernel messages [ OK ]
* Stopping CPU interrupts balancing daemon [ OK ]

I read somewhere that this line test -f /etc/profile && . /etc/profile from /etc/init/mdm.conf might be at fault (although I am not sure the issue was identical), so I commented it out, but it didn't do anything for me.

Anyway, the fact that there are two processes called mdm, for instance, leads me to believe that mdm was somehow installed twice(?) after I installed mint-meta-mate and even though I uninstalled cinnamon.

Any ideas?

P.S.

ps -A | awk '{ print $4 }' | uniq -d

Quote:

avahi-daemon
smbd
getty
mdm

vincix · 06-21-2015, 02:01 PM

One more thing I should mention that I've just noticed: I ran system tools - new login, the login prompt showed up, then I pressed the shutdown button and right before it started stopping the processes, the previous mdm (associated with cinnamon) came up. So it means that both mdms are installed.

So something (maybe upstart and another system manager, init, systemd?) is starting twice.

I uninstalled mdm, so now there's no login prompt, but processes still show up twice (samba, avahi etc.)

What's there to do?

vincix · 06-21-2015, 02:41 PM

Well, now I've discovered something rather weird. I booted up a new linux mint live cd in virtualbox and looked in /var/log/boot.log, and all the services that I complained about were loaded twice here too. So now I understand that it's not actually related to the fact that I installed Mate and uninstalled Cinnamon, but simply to the way Mint (doesn't) work. It might have something to do with the kernel, maybe, or so I read in a post on a forum written at the end of 2014. Of course, the kernel had some updates since then, but I suppose not essential.

So here it is...

frankbell · 06-21-2015, 07:50 PM

Interesting. You might try some of the variations on the ps command, such as these which I grabbed quite arbitrarily from man ps.

Code:

To print a process tree:
          ps -ejH
          ps axjf

       To get info about threads:
          ps -eLf
          ps axms

       To get security info:
          ps -eo euser,ruser,suser,fuser,f,comm,label
          ps axZ
          ps -eM

I don't think it's safe to assume that, because there are multiple instances of a process, there's necessarily something wrong. From time to time a process forks because it's required for the process to accomplish its purpose. I used to run a little webserver, and Apache would spawn a new process for each site visit.

Wikipedia has a good article on forking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_28system_call%29

vincix · 06-22-2015, 01:20 AM

Yes, I know about the Apache case. You're right, I suppose. What I found suspicious was that it seemed that routines were run twice at bootup, such as cleaning the /tmp directory. There are indeed two mdm processes, one a subprocess of the other, and there seems to be a logical tree and so on. Indeed, ps axjf is a useful command in this case.

Thanks, it cleared things up a little bit for me.

I still don't know why, for instance, it needs to do this twice:
* Starting configure network device security [ OK ]
* Starting configure network device [ OK ]

P.S. There are brackets codes in your link instead of the brackets themselves