Can't run Plasma X11 from SDDM, or using startx

mrmazda · 11-24-2023, 07:22 AM

PC works fine with several other installed distros, and boots from Tumbleweed's grub2-efi.

Apparently I started this 15.0 installation late last Winter, got distracted before debugging the installation, then forgot about it until now. I don't remember ever trying Slackare before. Today I ran:

Code:

slackpkg update
slackpkg upgrade-all
mkinitrd -F

then rebooted before trying to start Plasma.

Eventually I ran slackpkg install-new, selected several packages for installation, let them process, then rebooted. SDDM didn't start, just a black screen with a mouse pointer, so after Ctrl-Alt-BS didn't accomplish anything, I rebooted again, only to have SDDM start with the same theme error messages.

Code:

# inxi -GMCSIz
System:
  Kernel: 5.15.139 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Console: pty pts/0
    Distro: Slackware 15.0
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: FM2A88X Extreme6+ serial: <filter>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: P4.20 date: 01/13/2016
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: AMD A10-7850K Radeon R7 12 Compute Cores 4C+8G
    bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache: L2: 4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1700 min/max: 1700/4000 cores: 1: 1700 2: 1700 3: 1700
    4: 1700
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Kaveri [Radeon R7 Graphics] driver: amdgpu v: kernel
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.20.14 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu resolution:
    1: 2560x1440 2: 1680x1050 3: 1920x1200 4: 1680x1050
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: N/A platforms: gbm
  API: OpenGL Message: GL data unavailable for root.
  API: Vulkan Message: No Vulkan data available.
Info:
  Processes: 160 Uptime: 13m Memory: total: 8 GiB note: est.
  available: 6.72 GiB used: 527.6 MiB (7.7%) Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.31
#

Trying to start Plasma from SDDM, password is accepted, but instead of a Plasma session starting, SDDM just returns to its in barely legible red text report below the user selection list:

Code:

The current theme cannot be loaded due to the errors below. please select another theme.

file:///usr/share/sddm/themes/breeze/Main.qml:14.1: plugin cannot be loaded for module
"org.kde.plasma.core": Cannot load library /usr/lib64/qt5/qml/org/kde/plasma/core/
libcorebindingsplugin.so: (libKF5Package.so.5: cannot open shared object file:No such file or
directory)

I can't tell that there's anything actually wrong with the SDDM theme. It looks just like I'm used to seeing it elsewhere, such as in Neon, except for the theming error message in red.

Code:

# ls -gG /usr/share/sddm/themes/breeze/Main.qml
-rw-r--r-- 1 23938 Jan  4  2022 /usr/share/sddm/themes/breeze/Main.qml
# ls -gG /usr/lib64/qt5/qml/org/kde/plasma/core/libcorebindingsplugin.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 411768 Jan  8  2022 /usr/lib64/qt5/qml/org/kde/plasma/core/libcorebindingsplugin.so
#

How do I find what the problem really is?

startx /usr/bin/startplasma-x11 simply prints what looks like the head of Xorg.0.log ending with:

Code:

.../usr/bin/startplasma-x11: error while loading shared libraries: libKF5I18n.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
xinit: connection to X server lost

and returns a prompt. MC can't locate libKF5I18n.so.5 anywhere. Is this actually needed for an en_US installation? If so, why didn't it get installed, and what package is missing that should have provided it? OK, I determined ki18n was missing, installed it, and the error message changed to file libKF5Package.so.5. So I installed kpackage, and the error changed to KF5IconThemes.so.5. Installing kiconthemes changed it to libKF5WaylandClient.s0.5. Obviously there must be some metapackage to install all this that has been missed, but what would that be? Googling this seems to be doomed after about 5 hours tonight getting to this point.

marav · 11-24-2023, 08:38 AM

I suggest:

slackpkg install kde

BrunoLafleur · 11-24-2023, 08:38 AM

May be you didn't installed KDE or part of it in the first install ? And then slackpkg didn't upgrade it.

You say you forgot where you finish the first install.

You can also choose another desktop like xfce or ... if you don't want to have KDE.

You can try to reinstall kde.

slackpkg won't install-new or upgrade non installed initial packages.

henca · 11-24-2023, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

can't locate libKF5I18n.so.5 anywhere. Is this actually needed for an en_US installation? If so, why didn't it get installed, and what package is missing that should have provided it? OK, I determined ki18n was missing, installed it, and the error message changed to file libKF5Package.so.5. So I installed kpackage, and the error changed to KF5IconThemes.so.5. Installing kiconthemes changed it to libKF5WaylandClient.s0.5. Obviously there must be some metapackage to install all this that has been missed, but what would that be? Googling this seems to be doomed after about 5 hours tonight getting to this point.

The quick and easy way to install Slackware is to do a full install. Manually trying to select packages will end up in a non complete system like this. If you find your time more worth more than some extra GB of disk space you should make sure that you have done a full install.

With a custom installation omiting some packages you will also be on your own when trying to build third party packages from slackbuilds.org. All those build scripts have been tested and verified on full installs only.

regards Henrik

enorbet · 11-24-2023, 03:51 PM

Hello! Just to 2nd henca's "motion" I too recommend a Full Recommended Install (terse is the same with just lesser readouts). Aldso, just FTR I've been using Slackware non-stop for over 20 years and always build my own kernels within minutes of first install so I'm likely pretty well qualified to select omissions... but I don't. It's just in so many ways better to just have the libraries with very little downside. There is a reason so many "outsiders" seem to think Slackware is some kind of religious cult with our BDFL, but the simple truth is that one brilliant man's vision has organization and coherency highly unlikely in committee projects.

Good Fortune!

mrmazda · 11-24-2023, 04:14 PM

My goal was a fundamental Slackware installation, with just KDE's necessities. It still is. Would slackpkg install kde give me what I want, or something more like an emulation of Neon, a future of bandwidth wasted on updates to software never to be used?

USUARIONUEVO · 11-24-2023, 04:47 PM

Quote:

.../usr/bin/startplasma-x11: error while loading shared libraries: libKF5I18n.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
xinit: connection to X server lost

slackpkg install ki18n

mrmazda · 11-24-2023, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by USUARIONUEVO

slackpkg install ki18n

Last paragraph in OP explains I already did that, and more, but then was unable to determine what more were lacking.

USUARIONUEVO · 11-24-2023, 05:24 PM

install slackyd to find broken packages

https://slackbuilds.org/repository/1...search=slackyd

then after install run

slackyd -d

Is the best tool i use ever to find broken packages cause he test all , not only executables ..he read packages and see if every file is okey or need something.

I see some times on forum scripts for that but no one can beat it slackyd , cause he is written on c , and see every directory and file.

For example slackyd can find broken "shared" libs or plugins , like /usr/share/gtreamer/plugins ...

normally scritps only test files on common lib directories and executables but fail on shared things.

And one more important thing , slackyd can say you what package you need to fix.

If run slackyd -U , he get the list of slackware packages . if some fail on your system he check to say you what package you need to install to fix.

----------------
several ways to fix the system ..

slackpkg update
slackpkg install-new
slackpkg upgrade-all

and you can clean with

slackpkg clean-system

if you no customizing configs from some apps ...

slackpkg new-config

0XBF · 11-24-2023, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

My goal was a fundamental Slackware installation, with just KDE's necessities. It still is. Would slackpkg install kde give me what I want, or something more like an emulation of Neon, a future of bandwidth wasted on updates to software never to be used?

If you are actually wanting to use sddm and plasma-x11, then you're going to be best off just installing all of kde/. Otherwise you will be chasing dependencies and installing packages one at a time, like you did with the first two kde frameworks packages. You will have to continue in this process until you arrive at something that works. You can choose how to spend your time and/or disk space as you see fit of course, but disk space is pretty cheap and kde isn't outrageously large.

You could always opt to use xdm and xfce4 if you really don't want to install kde/. To me that seems like the only point of not installing kde/.

pghvlaans · 11-24-2023, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 0XBF

kde isn't outrageously large.

It really isn't: well under 3 GiB. My copy of the Hornblower miniseries is twice that size.

mrmazda · 11-25-2023, 12:21 AM

I have 25 installations of Plasma 5.27.9 on Fedora and openSUSE, and several Plasmas on Mageia 9, which doesn't offer newer than 5.27.5 yet. My point is not to have more Plasmas, but to have one working Slackware, with a familiar DE that starts and runs. That makes Plasma the only option, unless there's a build of TDE for it that I don't know about.

I did try slackpkg install kde, but saw nothing that looked compelling to basic plasma session function, and likewise with slackpkg install plasma.

I used more error messages from SDDM screen to point me to more missing packages, so I one-by-one installed followed by Ctrl-Alt-BS to get to another: plasma-wayland-protocols, kwayland, kjobwidgets, kcompletion, karchive, kitemviews, libplist, kirigami2 until the SDDM theme changed and the error messages quit. I entered password and reached Plasma's default splash screen. That cleared to black on all 4 displays, plus one mouse pointer. I get the same result initially from startx /usr/bin/startplasma-x11 in runlevel 2, but that times out and exits back to tty. Plain startx opens a login window and 2 xterm windows, but without keyboard or mouse response even though libinput, xinput and 5 xf86-input-* packages are installed. From SDDM login and waiting until the splash quits, from ps -A tail I get:

Code:

 1858 ?        00:00:00 kworker/u9:2
 1890 ?        00:00:00 kworker/1:2-events
 1921 ?        00:00:00 kworker/2:2-events
 1937 ?        00:00:00 sddm.bin
 1940 tty7     00:00:03 Xorg
 1979 ?        00:00:00 dbus-launch
 1980 ?        00:00:00 dbus-daemon
 1981 ?        00:00:00 kworker/0:2-events
 2056 ?        00:00:00 sddm-helper
 2059 ?        00:00:00 gnome-keyring-d
 2064 ?        00:00:00 kworker/u8:0-events_unbound
 2066 ?        00:00:00 kwalletd5
 2067 ?        00:00:00 dbus-run-sessio
 2083 ?        00:00:00 dbus-daemon
 2084 ?        00:00:00 startplasma-x11
 2087 ?        00:00:03 ksplashqml
 2095 ?        00:00:00 plasma_session
 2100 ?        00:00:00 start_kdeinit
 2101 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit5
 2102 ?        00:00:00 klauncher
 2113 ?        00:00:00 kcminit_startup
 2121 ?        00:00:00 kded5
 2139 ?        00:00:00 dconf-service
 2159 ?        00:00:00 kglobalaccel5
 2165 pts/1    00:00:00 ps
#

Next after some sleep to start same from Slowroll to see what's different, then probably more hunting to do, like to figure out where Plasma puts error messages that don't show up in .xsession-errors or systemd journal.

Petri Kaukasoina · 11-25-2023, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

Would slackpkg install kde give me what I want, or something more like an emulation of Neon, a future of bandwidth wasted on updates to software never to be used?

Of the packages in 15.0 kde/, only two packages have seen an update in /patches:

Code:

Sun Sep  3 19:37:21 UTC 2023
patches/packages/rocs-21.12.1-x86_64-2_slack15.0.txz:  Rebuilt.
  Fix crash on startup. Thanks to Lockywolf and ponce.
+--------------------------+
Fri Dec  2 20:58:24 UTC 2022
patches/packages/krusader-2.8.0-x86_64-1_slack15.0.txz:  Upgraded.
  This is a bugfix release.
+--------------------------+
Wed Feb  2 22:22:22 UTC 2022
Slackware 15.0 x86_64 stable is released!

Those two packages need 5.1 MB. That's the bandwidth wasted.

rizitis · 11-25-2023, 03:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

My point is not to have more Plasmas, but to have one working Slackware, with a familiar DE that starts and runs. That makes Plasma the only option, unless there's a build of TDE for it that I don't know about.

I dont know if this is what you like? https://github.com/Ray-V/tde-slackbuilds