Mageia forum

I have a desktop switch (pager) on the taskbar.
After each reboot, it comes as 1*4 strip, whereas I configured it to be 2*2 square.
Has anyone faced the issue?
Thank you!

Hello darkduck,

I have had problems like this before with plasma desktop. Part of the problem of troubleshooting these things with plasma desktop is that kde keeps changing the underlying architecture with just about every new release. The config file that stores the information on number of desktops is /home/<user_name>/.kde4/share/config/kwinrc. The structure in question looks like:

Code: Select all

[Desktops]
Name_5=
Name_6=
Number=6
Rows=3

(as you can see, my own config file is a bit insane, including unused "Name" garbage, typical of kde, fortunately not fatal in my case though)

In my case, six desktops arranged:

XX
XX
XX

So I would check permissions to make sure that file is writable by you as the user. My file perms are:

Code: Select all

drwx------ 1 ghmitch ghmitch 4238 Jun  9 20:12 /home/ghmitch/.kde4/share/config/
-rw------- 1 ghmitch ghmitch 2564 Jun  9 20:11 /home/ghmitch/.kde4/share/config/kwinrc


Also, when you change the setting, you can cat that file and make sure the changes are written to it. If write permissions are not the problem, it may be that the kwinrc file has become corrupted in a way that the kde configuration script is unable to properly edit it. I am not sure how to deal with that one. I usually try to find the anomaly that is causing the problem by comparing with the same file of another user. If that doesn't work, sometimes removing the config file will cause kde to regenerate it (no guarantees on that though). I assume that you are attempting to make the change by right clicking the pager and then clicking on pager settings.

Hope something here is helpful for you. I stop by your blog every now and then and enjoy reading your posts.

- George

Hi George,
Thank you for your advice.
Unfortunately, [Desktop] section of the file contains the correct number of rows (=2), and all the access rights are correct
But still I see one only one row after start.

Dmitry

OK, so apparently KDE is not reading the file on startup. You might check ".xsession-errors" to see if anything interesting is showing up there, although unfortunately, .xsession-errors typically has a lot of meaningless garbage in it. The only other thing I can think to do would be to save a copy of the "/home/<user_name>/.kde4/share/config/kwinrc" config file somewhere so you can recover it if necessary and then remove the original file and see if KDE will rebuild it and see if that clears the problem. In the mean time hopefully someone else will come up with a better idea. - George

I removed kwinrc file to a safe location.
Reboot Mageia 3.
File kwinrc is not generated automatically, pager still 4*1.
Set pager to 2*2.
File kwirc created, with Rows=2

Code: Select all

[Desktops]
Rows=2

[Plugins]
desktopchangeosdEnabled=false
kwin4_effect_cubeslideEnabled=false
kwin4_effect_fadedesktopEnabled=false

[Script-desktopchangeosd]
PopupHideDelay=1000
TextOnly=false

[Windows]
RollOverDesktops=true

Reboot Mageia 3.
File kwinrc is still there, but pager is again 4*1.

What do I do wrong?

That is strange. I would have expected it to create:

[Desktops]
Number=2
Rows=2

Assuming you want an

X
X

configuration.

But it only put the Rows??? I never have been able to understand how kde does config files.


OK .. so ... what happens if you edit the same field in "/var/lib/mageia/kde4-profiles/common/share/config/kwinrc"? Does that fix the problem? Or at least change what your panel displays? The panel has to be reading one of the two config files. It SHOULD be reading your personal config file, but perhaps is reading the default config file in /var instead.

Can't really help with this one, as i'm not using virtual desktops. Only thing i do is decrease them to one and remove the pager, gives more screen real estate.

@darkduck: From what i remember, the default setting is 2x2 forthe pager. Maybe some other conflicting settings?
Can you please try with a freshly created user?

@ghmitch:
The /var/... file does not have Rows line at all. I added it there. Nil effect.

@doctor5000:
I created a new user (username = doctor, hehehe). Cold boot with this new user. Pager is there, 1*4. Change its settings to 2*2. Cold boot, and it's again 1*4.

Just so we cover all the bases, could you check each of these:

Code: Select all


[root@localhost ghmitch]# ls -ld .kde4
drwx------ 1 ghmitch ghmitch 210 Mar 31 14:38 .kde4/
[root@localhost ghmitch]# ls -ld .kde4/share
drwx------ 1 ghmitch ghmitch 46 Apr 13 17:08 .kde4/share/
[root@localhost ghmitch]# ls -ld .kde4/share/config
drwx------ 1 ghmitch ghmitch 4248 Jun 16 18:21 .kde4/share/config/



Also you might check to make sure all of your kde packages are in sync, most of them should be 4.10.2:

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[root@localhost ghmitch]# rpm -qa | egrep kde | sort
akonadi-kde-4.10.2-1.mga3
Default-kde4-config-3-0.20130423.1.mga3
flash-player-plugin-kde-11.2.202.285-1.mga3.nonfree
kde4-audiocd-4.10.2-1.mga3
kde4-audiocd-handbook-4.10.2-1.mga3
kde4-filesharing-4.10.2-1.mga3
kde4-macros-4.9.2-2.mga3
kde4-nsplugins-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdeadmin4-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdeadmin4-handbooks-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdeartwork4-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdeartwork4-color-schemes-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdeartwork4-emoticons-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdeartwork4-kscreensaver-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdeartwork4-sounds-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdeartwork4-styles-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdeartwork4-wallpapers-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdebase4-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdebase4-common-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdebase4-handbooks-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdebase4-runtime-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdebase4-runtime-handbook-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdebase4-workspace-4.10.2-3.mga3
kdebase4-workspace-handbooks-4.10.2-3.mga3
kdebase4-workspace-plasma-config-4.10.2-3.mga3
kde-base-artwork-4.10.2-1.mga3
kded_randrmonitor-4.10.2-3.mga3
kdegraphics4-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdegraphics-mobipocket-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdegraphics-strigi-analyzer-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdegraphics-thumbnailers-4.10.2-1.mga3
kde-l10n-en_GB-4.10.2-1.mga3
kde-l10n-en_US-4.10.2-1.mga3
kde-l10n-es-4.10.2-1.mga3
kde-l10n-handbooks-en_GB-4.10.2-1.mga3
kde-l10n-handbooks-es-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdelibs4-core-4.10.2-3.mga3
kdelibs4-devel-4.10.2-3.mga3
kdelibs4-handbooks-4.10.2-3.mga3
kdenetwork4-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdenlive-0.9.6-1.mga3
kde-odf-thumbnail-1.0.0-5.mga3
kdepasswd-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdepasswd-handbook-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdepim4-4.10.2-3.mga3
kdepim4-core-4.10.2-3.mga3
kdepim4-kresources-4.10.2-3.mga3
kdepimlibs4-core-4.10.2-4.mga3
kdepimlibs4-handbooks-4.10.2-4.mga3
kde-rootactions-servicemenu-2.7.3-2.mga3
kdesdk4-core-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdetoys4-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdeutils4-4.10.2-1.mga3
kde-wallpapers-4.10.2-1.mga3
kdewebdev4-4.10.2-1.mga3
libakonadi-kde4-4.10.2-4.mga3
libkde3support4-4.10.2-3.mga3
libkdeclarative5-4.10.2-3.mga3
libkdecorations4-4.10.2-3.mga3
libkdecore5-4.10.2-3.mga3
libkdeedu-common-4.10.2-1.mga3
libkdeedu-devel-4.10.2-1.mga3
libkdefakes5-4.10.2-3.mga3
libkdepim4-4.10.2-3.mga3
libkdepim-copy4-4.10.2-1.mga3
libkdepimdbusinterfaces4-4.10.2-3.mga3
libkdesu5-4.10.2-3.mga3
libkdeui5-4.10.2-3.mga3
libkdewebkit5-4.10.2-3.mga3
liblockdev1-1.0.4-0.120111007git.5.mga3
libreoffice-kde-4.0.3.3-2.mga3
lightdm-kde-greeter-0.3.1-2.mga3
lockdev-1.0.4-0.120111007git.5.mga3
mageia-kde4-config-common-3-0.20130423.1.mga3
mageia-kde-translation-1-3.mga3
mageia-theme-kde-background-1.5.0.35-1.mga3
mlt-kdenlive-0.8.8-3.mga3
polkit-kde-agent-1-0.99.0-3.mga3
polkit-kde-kcmodules-1-0.98.1-3.mga3
python-kde4-4.10.2-1.mga3
task-kde4-handbooks-4.10.2-1.mga3
task-kde4-minimal-4.10.2-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-accounts-kcm-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-approver-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-auth-handler-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-common-internals-core-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-contact-list-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-desktop-applets-0.6.0-2.mga3
telepathy-kde-filetransfer-handler-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-integration-module-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-send-file-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-text-ui-0.6.0-1.mga3
xsettings-kde-0.12.3-2.mga3



Also you could do `rpm -Va` and see if you get any interesting deviations in your packages.

Hi,
Of course, all the directories have the same drwx access as yours. Otherwise, how could KDE create new file after I deleted it?

I checked non-4.10 files they are:

Code: Select all

compiz-decorator-kde4-0.9.9.0-3.mga3
Default-kde4-config-3-0.20130423.1.mga3
kde-odf-thumbnail-1.0.0-5.mga3
lib64lockdev1-1.0.4-0.120111007git.5.mga3
libreoffice-kde-4.0.3.3-2.mga3
lockdev-1.0.4-0.120111007git.5.mga3
mageia-kde4-config-common-3-0.20130423.1.mga3
mageia-kde-translation-1-3.mga3
mageia-theme-kde-background-1.5.0.35-1.mga3
polkit-kde-agent-1-0.99.0-3.mga3
telepathy-kde-accounts-kcm-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-approver-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-auth-handler-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-common-internals-core-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-contact-list-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-desktop-applets-0.6.0-2.mga3
telepathy-kde-filetransfer-handler-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-integration-module-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-send-file-0.6.0-1.mga3
telepathy-kde-text-ui-0.6.0-1.mga3
xsettings-kde-0.12.3-2.mga3

My actual list is smaller than yours.

And here are the rpm -Va results... Nothing obvious for me.

Code: Select all

[darkduck@localhost ~]$ sudo rpm -Va
[sudo] password for darkduck:
.......T.  c /etc/shorewall6/shorewall6.conf
S.5....T.  c /etc/ntp.conf
S.5....T.  c /etc/ntp/step-tickers
S.5....T.  c /etc/mtools.conf
S.5....T.    /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.16.2/XML/SAX/ParserDetails.ini
S.5....T.  c /etc/pam.d/system-auth
S.5....T.    /usr/share/ibus-table/tables/wubi-haifeng86.db
S.5....T.  c /etc/info-dir
S.5....T.  c /etc/rpm/macros
S.5....T.  c /etc/shorewall/interfaces
S.5....T.  c /etc/shorewall/masq
S.5....T.  c /etc/shorewall/policy
S.5....T.  c /etc/shorewall/rules
.......T.  c /etc/shorewall/shorewall.conf
S.5....T.  c /etc/shorewall/start
S.5....T.  c /etc/shorewall/stop
S.5....T.  c /etc/shorewall/zones
S.5....T.  c /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf
S.5....T.  c /etc/xml/catalog
S.5....T.  c /usr/share/sgml/docbook/xmlcatalog
.......T.    /var/log/ppp/connect-errors
.M.......  c /etc/fstab
S.5....T.  c /etc/host.conf
S.5....T.  c /etc/shells
.......T.  c /etc/X11/app-defaults/XScreenSaver
S.5....T.  c /etc/sysconfig/bootsplash
S.5....T.  c /etc/X11/xinit.d/msec
.......T.  c /etc/security/msec/perms.conf
SM5....T.  c /etc/security/msec/security.conf
.M5....T.    /usr/share/msec/config.pyo
.M5....T.    /usr/share/msec/libmsec.pyo
SM5....T.    /usr/share/msec/plugins/audit.pyo
SM5....T.    /usr/share/msec/plugins/msec.pyo
SM5....T.    /usr/share/msec/plugins/network.pyo
SM5....T.    /usr/share/msec/plugins/pam.pyo
SM5....T.    /usr/share/msec/plugins/sectool.pyo
.M....G..    /var/log/security
.M.......  c /etc/sysconfig/system
SM5....T.  c /etc/sysconfig/finish-install
SM5....T.  c /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
SM5....T.  c /etc/default/grub
missing     /var/cache/man/X11R6/cat1
missing     /var/cache/man/X11R6/cat2
missing     /var/cache/man/X11R6/cat3
missing     /var/cache/man/X11R6/cat4
missing     /var/cache/man/X11R6/cat5
missing     /var/cache/man/X11R6/cat6
missing     /var/cache/man/X11R6/cat7
missing     /var/cache/man/X11R6/cat8
missing     /var/cache/man/X11R6/cat9
missing     /var/cache/man/X11R6/catn
missing     /var/cache/man/cat1
missing     /var/cache/man/cat2
missing     /var/cache/man/cat3
missing     /var/cache/man/cat4
missing     /var/cache/man/cat5
missing     /var/cache/man/cat6
missing     /var/cache/man/cat7
missing     /var/cache/man/cat8
missing     /var/cache/man/cat9
missing     /var/cache/man/catn
missing     /var/cache/man/local/cat1
missing     /var/cache/man/local/cat2
missing     /var/cache/man/local/cat3
missing     /var/cache/man/local/cat4
missing     /var/cache/man/local/cat5
missing     /var/cache/man/local/cat6
missing     /var/cache/man/local/cat7
missing     /var/cache/man/local/cat8
missing     /var/cache/man/local/cat9
missing     /var/cache/man/local/catn
S.5....T.  c /etc/qtrc
S.5....T.    /usr/lib/dracut/modules.d/90mgalive/mgalive-root.sh
S.5....T.  c /var/lib/mageia/kde4-profiles/Default/share/config/kdm/kdmrc
S.5....T.    /lib/firmware/intel-microcode/intel-microcode.dat
S.5......  d /usr/share/man/man8/sulogin.8.xz
S.5....T.  c /etc/inittab
S.5....T.  c /etc/sysconfig/init
SM5....T.  c /etc/sysconfig/compositing-wm
S.5....T.  c /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers
.M.......    /proc
.M.......    /sys
S.5....T.  c /etc/modprobe.conf
S.5....T.  c /etc/modprobe.preload
.......T.    /var/log/README
S.5....T.    /lib/modules/3.8.13-desktop-1.mga3/modules.alias
S.5....T.    /lib/modules/3.8.13-desktop-1.mga3/modules.alias.bin
.......T.    /lib/modules/3.8.13-desktop-1.mga3/modules.builtin.bin
S.5....T.    /lib/modules/3.8.13-desktop-1.mga3/modules.dep
S.5....T.    /lib/modules/3.8.13-desktop-1.mga3/modules.dep.bin
.......T.    /lib/modules/3.8.13-desktop-1.mga3/modules.devname
.......T.    /lib/modules/3.8.13-desktop-1.mga3/modules.softdep
S.5....T.    /lib/modules/3.8.13-desktop-1.mga3/modules.symbols
S.5....T.    /lib/modules/3.8.13-desktop-1.mga3/modules.symbols.bin
S.5....T.    /usr/share/X11/icewm/menu
S.5....T.  c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
S.5....T.  c /etc/mdadm.conf
.......T.  c /etc/samba/smb.conf
S.5....T.    /usr/share/indexhtml/index.html
S.5....T.    /usr/share/ibus-table/tables/cangjie-big.db
.M.......    /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs
S.5....T.  c /etc/sudoers
S.5....T.    /usr/bin/startx
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/100dpi/fonts.dir
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/100dpi/fonts.scale
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/75dpi/fonts.dir
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/75dpi/fonts.scale
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/OTF/fonts.dir
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/OTF/fonts.scale
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/Speedo/fonts.dir
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/Speedo/fonts.scale
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/TTF/fonts.dir
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/TTF/fonts.scale
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/Type1/fonts.dir
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/Type1/fonts.scale
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/cyrillic/fonts.dir
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/cyrillic/fonts.scale
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/misc/fonts.dir
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/misc/fonts.scale
S.5....T.  c /etc/ssh/sshd_config
..5....T.    /usr/lib/libDrakX/bootloader.pm
S.5....T.    /usr/lib/libDrakX/pkgs.pm
SM5....T.  c /etc/sysconfig/harddrake2/kernel
S.5....T.  c /etc/sysconfig/harddrake2/previous_hw
S.5....T.    /usr/share/fonts/encodings/encodings.dir
S.5....T.    /var/lib/mageia/kde4-profiles/common/share/config/kwinrc

darkduck wrote:
Hi,
Of course, all the directories have the same drwx access as yours. Otherwise, how could KDE create new file after I deleted it?

True. I have to admit I am kind of grasping at straws here as this is just so weird. I essentially have the same system you do and mine works. We know where the config files are, that is not a mystery. And yet it is exhibitiing this strange behavior, not only on your login, but also on a pristine newly created one. So it is a problem on the system level and it has something to do with KDE. And yet all of your KDE packages are up to date and show no corruptions. All of your package deviations with very few, if any, exceptions are config files, which is absolutely normal. You might check for any packages that I have and you do not have and see if anything on that level looks suspicious, but I just can't tell you how stumped I am on this one. Sorry, I really, really wish I could be of some help. - George

Maybe I should submit a bug report for this?

Yes, at this point I think I would submit a bug report. It is definitely looking like it is going to take more expertise than there is around here. There appears to be something not obvious about your KDE installation that is triggering this behavior. I would go ahead and submit a bug report on it and then post a link to that bug report back here.

Are widgets locked? Did you change the default theme, or do anything to the panel?

Try making the panel a little bit taller, I've seen this problem before and it turned out to be the panel being to 'thin.' I've also seen a lot of panel (and window) problems after selecting a different theme and/or changing colors, styles etc.

oj wrote:Are widgets locked? Did you change the default theme, or do anything to the panel?

Try making the panel a little bit taller, I've seen this problem before and it turned out to be the panel being to 'thin.' I've also seen a lot of panel (and window) problems after selecting a different theme and/or changing colors, styles etc.

Widgets locked/unlocked - this does not solve the problem.
What's the panel theme???
Making panel taller does not solve the problem, even when it takes 1/5 of the screen.

I also noticed than desktop switch animation (cube) does not work...