Disabling/Uninstalling service

Altoid · 05-20-2017, 10:33 AM

Hello:

My setup is:

Code:

$ uname -a
Linux groucho 4.4.0-62-generic #83-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jan 18 14:10:15 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$

I'm regularly getting (every minute or so) this in my /var/log/syslog file:

Code:

May 20 12:09:44 groucho org.a11y.Bus[1818]: Activating service name='org.a11y.atspi.Registry'
May 20 12:09:44 groucho org.a11y.Bus[1818]: Activated service 'org.a11y.atspi.Registry' failed: Failed to execute program org.a11y.atspi.Registry: Permission denied

The "Failed" and "Permission denied" bits occur because I have unset the 'executable' program flag, which I did this after exploring the syslog (because it had grown to 2.3Gb) and found this service running which I did not need so I decided to close it down.

But ...
Something (what/where IS it?) keeps trying to execute the 'org.a11y.atspi.Registry' service, which I do not want to happen.

Once there was BUM which was a great tool but it seems that with the arrival of systemd, it does not work anymore.

The service is not running.

When I ask ...

Code:

service --status-all

It is not listed.

and

Code:

$ service --atspi
--atspi: unrecognized service

So the question is:

Where do I find the script/s responsible for starting services (in general) and this one (in particular?)

Thanks in advance.

A.

hydrurga · 05-20-2017, 12:51 PM

"Ally" is Accessibility.

Do you use the accessibility options?

If not, you can disable startup of the AT-SPI D-Bus Bus program through your control centre (depends on your desktop environment - with MATE it is Control Centre->Personal->Startup Applications).

See if that solves the problem.

Altoid · 05-20-2017, 01:29 PM

Hello:

Thanks a lot for the fast reply.
Much obliged.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

"Ally" is Accessibility.

Yes, that much I was able to find out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

Do you use the accessibility options?

No ...
Which is why I don't need/want to have it loading or doing anything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

If not, you can disable startup of the AT-SPI D-Bus Bus program through your control centre (depends on your desktop environment - with MATE it is Control Centre->Personal->Startup Applications).

I use Cinnamon as it came OOTB.
Not too happy about it but it will do for now, in spite of how Nemo runs the desktop and the icon placing.

There is a Startup Applications screen but no 'Accessibility' service listed.
There is an Accessibilty screen but everything is there is 'off'.

I looked up 'Accessibility' in Synaptic and found a at-spi2-core (Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface) but if I try to uninstall it it will take Cinnamon along with it.

Brings back memories of how you could not get rid of IE in W95/98 without ripping up the whole OS.

I'm not liking not being easily able to choose which services will load/run at startup.

So the question remains:
Where do I find the script/s responsible for starting services (in general) and this one (in particular)?

Thanks a lot for you input.

A.

hydrurga · 05-20-2017, 01:58 PM

Yes, that's strange, Cinnamon lists less startup programs than MATE.

Anyway, have a look in /etc/xdg/autostart. I imagine that if you move at-spi-dbus-bus.desktop out of there (keep a copy somewhere) then it might well not be loaded on startup.

In saying that, my Mint 18.1 VM has three desktop environments installed so that desktop file may not be there in a pure Cinnamon setup.

Altoid · 05-20-2017, 02:37 PM

Hello:

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

Yes, that's strange, Cinnamon lists less startup programs than MATE.

No idea.
Tried to install MATE once but it screwed up everything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

Anyway, have a look in /etc/xdg/autostart.

OK.
There's a bundle of files there.
Must investigate them.
Yes, it's there. =-)

Code:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=AT-SPI D-Bus Bus
Exec=/usr/lib/at-spi2-core/at-spi-bus-launcher --launch-immediately
NoDisplay=true
X-GNOME-AutoRestart=true
X-GNOME-Autostart-Phase=Initialization

It's owned by root.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

... if you move at-spi-dbus-bus.desktop out of there (keep a copy somewhere) then it might well not be loaded on startup.

If I move/delete it, my guess is that it should not be loaded.
Like a missing or commented line in an autoexec.bat or config.sys file.

I'll try it out later on and see if it still shows up in syslog.

Thanks a lot for your input.

A.

Altoid · 05-20-2017, 03:11 PM

Hello:

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

... if you move at-spi-dbus-bus.desktop out of there ...
... it might well not be loaded on startup.

No luck.

I moved it and I still get this in syslog:

Code:

May 20 17:10:18 groucho org.a11y.Bus[1845]: Activating service name='org.a11y.atspi.Registry'
May 20 17:10:18 groucho org.a11y.Bus[1845]: Activated service 'org.a11y.atspi.Registry' failed: Failed to execute program org.a11y.atspi.Registry: Permission denied

Seems that something is calling it before the .desktop file runs.(?)

A side effect (?) is that WPA Supplicant gets stalled when it usually gets up and running in a jiffy.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

A.

ondoho · 05-21-2017, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Altoid

I looked up 'Accessibility' in Synaptic and found a at-spi2-core (Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface) but if I try to uninstall it it will take Cinnamon along with it.

Brings back memories of how you could not get rid of IE in W95/98 without ripping up the whole OS.

you can't uninstall it; it's a dependency of gtk3 which is the core of your cinnamon desktop. it is also installed on my machine, although i do not use any accessibility features whatsoever.

i suspect that it is NOT the same as the ally accessibility sevice that you want to remove.

unfortunately i cannot tell you how to remove that ally (it didn't show up in synaptic search? please make sure you use the search function properly. clicking on the lense gives advanced options).

yes, with gnome3 (which cinnamon is a fork of) you will get these flashbacks. it's a rather large, tightly integrated blob.
if you want true linux freedom, you should start tinkering with a more minimalist distro/DE, but not as your main os because you WILL break things before you get your bearings.

edit:
oops, your output shows a11y, not ally. so it's A-one-one-Y, and not A-L-L-Y.

TxLonghorn · 05-21-2017, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Altoid

There is a Startup Applications screen but no 'Accessibility' service listed.

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=AT-SPI D-Bus Bus
Exec=/usr/lib/at-spi2-core/at-spi-bus-launcher --launch-immediately
NoDisplay=true
X-GNOME-AutoRestart=true
X-GNOME-Autostart-Phase=Initialization

The reason you don't see it in your Startup Applications is because it shows
NoDisplay=true
Change that to
NoDisplay=false
and you will see it in Startup Applications.

In fact, I want all those to be displayed, so I always run the command:

Code:

sudo sed -i 's/NoDisplay=true/NoDisplay=false/g' /etc/xdg/autostart/*.desktop

Having said that, I disabled AT-SPI D-Bus in my Startup Applications, but it still appears in syslog.

Code:

May 21 04:46:33 skynet1 console-kit-daemon[3101]: (process:3174): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_slice_set_config: assertion 'sys_page_size == 0' failed
May 21 04:46:34 skynet1 org.a11y.Bus[3252]: Activating service name='org.a11y.atspi.Registry'
May 21 04:46:34 skynet1 org.a11y.Bus[3252]: ** (process:3266): WARNING **: Failed to register client: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.gnome.SessionManager was not provided by any .service files
May 21 04:46:34 skynet1 org.a11y.Bus[3252]: Successfully activated service 'org.a11y.atspi.Registry'
May 21 04:46:34 skynet1 org.a11y.atspi.Registry[3271]: SpiRegistry daemon is running with well-known name - org.a11y.atspi.Registry
May 21 04:46:34 skynet1 dbus[875]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.RealtimeKit1' unit='rtkit-daemon.service'

Altoid · 05-21-2017, 05:36 AM

Hello:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

you can't uninstall it; it's a dependency of gtk3 ...
... the core of your cinnamon desktop.

So it seems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

i suspect that it is NOT the same as the ally accessibility sevice that you want to remove.

I agree.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

... didn't show up in synaptic search?

No.
My search was done with the lens and the term was 'accessibility' so as to round up all related packages.
Among the 'installed' ones, the only one that seemed to fit was the one I refer to in the OP.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

... gnome3 (which cinnamon is a fork of) you will get these flashbacks.
... rather large, tightly integrated blob.
if you want true linux freedom ...

Up to some time ago (at least to me) Linux=freedom.
Now I am beginning to doubt the idea.
Unneeded services auto-started at boot and I am not able to stop/not load without breaking the install?
Hmmm ...
That's MS talk there... =-/

And from what I have read, I feel that the way systemd works is a step in that (wrong) direction.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

... start tinkering with a more minimalist distro/DE, but not as your main os because you WILL break things before you get your bearings.

Indeed, so I have found.

Mint is nice but I am not to happy with some things and this is one of them.
I have started to look at Devuan but it is a bit early in their development to go any further now.
Eventually, I guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

oops, your output shows a11y, not ally. so it's A-one-one-Y, and not A-L-L-Y.

Quite so.

Thanks for your input.

A.

Altoid · 05-21-2017, 05:55 AM

Hello:

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxLonghorn

The reason you don't see it in your Startup Applications is because it shows
NoDisplay=true
Change that to
NoDisplay=false
and you will see it in Startup Applications.

OK.
Thanks for the info.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxLonghorn

In fact, I want all those to be displayed, so I always run the command:

Code:

sudo sed -i 's/NoDisplay=true/NoDisplay=false/g' /etc/xdg/autostart/*.desktop

Thanks for the info.
But I really don't see why it is not displayed by default.

That is the type of thing I learnt to expect from MS software.
But this is Linux.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxLonghorn

... disabled AT-SPI D-Bus in my Startup Applications, but it still appears in syslog.

Code:

May 21 04:46:33 skynet1 console-kit-daemon[3101]: (process:3174): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_slice_set_config: assertion 'sys_page_size == 0' failed
May 21 04:46:34 skynet1 org.a11y.Bus[3252]: Activating service name='org.a11y.atspi.Registry'
May 21 04:46:34 skynet1 org.a11y.Bus[3252]: ** (process:3266): WARNING **: Failed to register client: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.gnome.SessionManager was not provided by any .service files
May 21 04:46:34 skynet1 org.a11y.Bus[3252]: Successfully activated service 'org.a11y.atspi.Registry'
May 21 04:46:34 skynet1 org.a11y.atspi.Registry[3271]: SpiRegistry daemon is running with well-known name - org.a11y.atspi.Registry
May 21 04:46:34 skynet1 dbus[875]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.RealtimeKit1' unit='rtkit-daemon.service'

So ...
Something which is 'not' the at-spi-dbus-bus.desktop application is activating the 'org.a11y.atspi.Registry' service.

Well ...
Back to the drawing board.

Hopefully someone else can also chip in.

Thanks a lot for your help in this.

A.

Altoid · 05-21-2017, 06:10 PM

Hello:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Altoid

Well ...
Back to the drawing board.

I did some digging around and found this post from 2011: Manage the startup applications

It talks about a tool in GNOME 3 which allows to add, modify and remove the autostart entries which can be run from a terminal:

Code:

gnome-session-properties

Turns out that it is the same 'Startup Applications' we saw before.

But ...
In the posted example we see this window.

As you can see, the 'Startup Applications' window lists the AT-SPI Registry application, thus allowing the option to autostart it or not.

For some reason ...

Code:

sudo sed -i 's/NoDisplay=true/NoDisplay=false/g' /etc/xdg/autostart/*.desktop

... does not make it visible but that's probably because it is not in /etc/xdg/autostart/*.desktop.

Anyone knows where it can be found?

Thanks in advance.

A.

TxLonghorn · 05-22-2017, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Altoid

For some reason ...

Code:

sudo sed -i 's/NoDisplay=true/NoDisplay=false/g' /etc/xdg/autostart/*.desktop

... does not make it visible but that's probably because it is not in /etc/xdg/autostart/*.desktop.

Anyone knows where it can be found?

It was there, according to your Post #5, 05-20-17, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Altoid

There's a bundle of files there.
Must investigate them.
Yes, it's there. =-)

So the question is what did you do with it? Delete? Or Move To Trash?

Altoid · 05-22-2017, 06:40 AM

Hello:

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxLonghorn

It was there, according to your Post #5, 05-20-17, 02:37 PM
So the question is what did you do with it? Delete? Or Move To Trash?

I'm sorry, it would seem that I have not explained myself correctly.

If you are referring to at-spi-dbus-bus.desktop, indeed, it is there.

First, so as not to have to move it, I tried to rename it.
As root, I was not able to do that.

Then, also as root, I moved it out which did not work as expected.
So I moved it back to where it was.

If you have a closer look, you will see that the 'Startup Applications Preferences' screen from the link I added to my previous post lists not only AT-SPI-D-Bus-Bus but also AT-SPI-Registry, which is the one I am referring to.

Two different desktop applications, the second one (AT SPI Registry) related to the .desktop file that is not in /etc/xdg/autostart (al least in my setup).

I'm sorry if I was not clear in my previous post.

Thanks a lot for your input.

A.

Altoid · 05-25-2017, 11:27 AM

Hello:

I think I may have found found a solution to AT-SPI-Registry not being in 'Startup Applications Preferences' (at least in my setup).

NB: had it been 'deleted' or 'moved to trash' (from /etc/xdg/autostart) I don't think it would have kept starting up.

In any case, see this post at the Ubuntu forum.

Quote:

"The problem is that all of the 'assistive technology' stuff like at-spi2-registryd and at-spi-core cannot be removed properly, despite being disabled, without pulling out a whole load of programs."

Quite so, uninstalling it does away with Cinnamon.

The OP's proposed solution is to stop it from running by renaming the applications.

Code:

sudo mv /usr/lib/at-spi2-core/at-spi2-registryd /usr/lib/at-spi2-core/at-spi2-registryd.old
sudo mv /usr/lib/at-spi2-core/at-spi-bus-launcher /usr/lib/at-spi2-core/at-spi-bus-launcher.old

As the post indicated the location of the files, I decided to try removing the executable flag from each one instead of renaming them.

This seems to have been enough.

There's probably more unknown/unneeded 'startup' stuff to be found by having a look at demsg and syslog.

The next one I'll have to deal with is 'speech dispatcher'.
Happens that in spite of being set not to run ...

Code:

$ cat /etc/default/speech-dispatcher
# Defaults for the speech-dispatcher initscript, from speech-dispatcher
# Set to yes to start system wide Speech Dispatcher
RUN=no
$

... systemd ignores the default setting and loads it while at the same time tells you that you should edit your previous instructions to NOT load it (!).

Code:

11:08:04 speech-dispatcher[992]:  * speech-dispatcher disabled; edit /etc/default/speech-dispatcher
11:08:06 dbus[1010]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.nm_dispatcher' unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service'
11:08:07 dbus[1010]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.nm_dispatcher'

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

A.

ondoho · 05-25-2017, 03:01 PM

you know it would be really easier to start with nothing and build onto that just what you need, instead of starting off with the 2nd or 3rd most bloated DE, then start ripping out stuff...
just my 2ct.