dwm suddenly refuses to start properly

[pun_guin]

OK, that's new:
I try to start dwm over LightDM, the .profile file (containing feh) is visibly executed and the dwm process is running, but there is no bar and not a single hotkey works. I can't do anything except kill dwm to get back to LightDM and choose a different window manager.

Is there a log to debug that?
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I already use the new Genthree.

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

You can check Xorg.log. Or else start your desktop session from the Command line, using startx or just X command and see if the problem persists. The startx command is usually already going to have the session set to the same as your login manager (lightdm), but if you use X then you will need to specify the session as an argument in the command. Of course the first thing to do would be to quit the session or service for xdm so that you can start a X session from a tty.

[pun_guin]

That was the first thing I checked, but there are no errors in it.
_________________
I already use the new Genthree.

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

Or else start your desktop session from the Command line, using startx or just X command and see if the problem persists. The startx command is usually already going to have the session set to the same as your login manager (lightdm), but if you use X then you will need to specify the session as an argument in the command. Of course the first thing to do would be to quit the session or service for xdm so that you can start a X session from a tty.

[pun_guin]

Is there a simple way to use startx without disabling LightDM?
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I already use the new Genthree.

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

[pun_guin]

I fail fo find any log regarding dwm - and I did, indeed, modify the config.h configuration file; but I restarted dwm since then without a problem. It was only the latest reboot that seems to have broken it for no obvious reason.

Reinstalling with a clean configuration did not help though.
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I already use the new Genthree.

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

Not sure but I'd be willing to bet the problem is still with that configuration file for dwm...but other things that could be responsible include if you did upgrade your kernel in between the last time it worked and now, and if so then did you remember to also rebuild Xorg drivers they could be responsible for many problems in the described situation.

[pun_guin]

No, I didn't.
_________________
I already use the new Genthree.

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

Use startx to test what happens in another X session. When I initially suggested it and you asked for a simple way to do this I had ruled out this approach because I felt that running a second session was a risk on top of the already possibly compromised first X session which anyone with experience troubleshooting linux desktops knows is a pain.

But if what you want is a simple way that may not be that accurate and could actually distort results at the same time then try running a second session with this command: startx - :1


Just some suggestion about trying to get help from this forum, generally until you post detail about what is going on with your system like either messages or output from the system then a lot of people are not going to waste efforts in to troubleshoot. Finding a log file is sometimes enough, but even that is often not enough. But one thing that could help is if you treat this like faulty software, then start with the following":
Post back with the following:
1)

[pun_guin]

Oh, sorry - I was somewhat busy.
Here's what you asked:

# emerge --info dwm xorg-server | wgetpaste
--> https://paste.pound-python.org/show/eSPwdIxh3kairg6E08sf/

Xorg configuration files
--> I don't seem to have one...? At least xorg.conf.d only has a 20opengl.conf file.

configurations for dwm
--> https://paste.pound-python.org/show/caba7Cjrxl9ZhtNuOraQ/
I only changed the terminal IIRC - but that's what is loaded when compiling.

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

[quote]However, startx dwm -- :1 vt8 complains that "dwm" would not work ...
[/quot]
That really should be a telling sign, but just to be sure, since I don't know if the syntax is correct in the above, and I didn't look at the link you provided, but try specifying the ENTIRE PATH TO the location of the window manager. If you don't know what that is, exactly you can use the which command (I think) to figure it out, or else check with equery f which packages were installed by dwm.

Somehow I don't think this command is doing what we want it to do. In this format that is, since I don't know that it will work when I typed something similar into my terminal it started another "default" window manager. But when I changed it to the full file path that way worked.

Give it a try and if that seems to fix it, then I think we can narrow it down to a faulty session file probably for the login manager...skipping forward, do you want to provide the configuration for lightdm if you haven't already? Somewhere that will show which sessions it is reading when launching a new session. I think it is called lightdm.conf (did you attach that already?!)

[pun_guin]

Hmm:

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

So ‘pun’guin well here is my best advice. Startx and dwm work so have you considered just reinstalling lightdm?

It looks like your config file for that is the default because every line is commented out. So that does not mean anytgingbif gor example a library is missing or broken dependency or something in Portage. So I would like to see the package info (once again) for lightdm. And I would still recommend double checking the functionality of dwm is perfect, or compromised in amy way using the start approach

And then please post if you have not already the package build info for lightdm, using emerge —info lightdm (is what i think the package atom name is)

Additional note: Your setup sounds very similar to my own except that i use SLiM so in case your unhappy with lightdm in this case maybe just try eith a new login managr

[pun_guin]

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

You are in a bit of a spot with this one. lightdm is running in a "service" mode since just like gdm, sdm, or xdm it relies on openrc service usually, unless you are using some other configurtion which is highly unlikely.

Therefore at this point, to recap
1. You've tested dwm and it works with your X configuration and server (no problems there)
2. You've reinstalled lightdm and the problem has not been fixed
3. It is time now to check further configurations because emerge or reinstall will not fix a problem by itself that you setup with either overrides or wrong configurations. (Luckily X works and you won't have to mess with that, which means this should be an easy find I think).

My suggestion is either include some debugging like the rc.log is where I would suggest starting, and also include session files within the folders that lightdm uses to launch a session of dwm. Since we have isolated the problem to something having to do with the interplay between both lightdm and dwm, the best thing would be to include the session files located in /usr/share/sessions, or in /etc/X11/ where there could be something happening there as well.

A quicker way to identify if the problem with lightdm is related to a bigger issue (e.g. GUI, X11, toolkit issue) would be to test it with another window manager besides lightdm. Have you done so?

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

I just read the lightdm wiki page, and based on the need for dbus, could you please include the following output:

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

Do you have a file at

[pun_guin]

[pun_guin]

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

STRIKE ALL BELOW (see next post for more info)
Set rc logging to verbose mode in /etc/portage/make.conf I believe.

Then in terms of the default configuration files here is what you need to understand...a default config is just that (it is a configuration that may work in most default situations). What it is not is perfect. If you need to test and alter things in that configuration for your setup there is really only one of two ways to go.

The preferred way of the forum for troubleshooting is going to be to institute more debug information in the log (either rc.log, or if lightdm has a log as /var/log/lightdm.log), but I also would advise experimenting with the configurations but only after saving a backup file.

That way this thing that could have probably been fixed already by now (hence needing to see some errors from system output) would be more efficiently handled, instead of this cat and mouse game - IT SEEMS WE'RE PLAYING HERE.

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

Sorry for the runaround. I guess you are definitely after getting this solved with the approach of logs, as your OP says.

Try turning on rc logging.

It is not as I mentioned in make.conf

But in /etc/rc.conf

[pun_guin]

I found the rc.conf entry. rc_logger is set to "NO" though - would it still work?
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I already use the new Genthree.

[LIsLinuxIsSogood]

Set to yes and then try restarting service for xdm. At worst you may just try to reboot after making the change to rc.conf. But I think it should work right away. What your looking for is something in rc.log that would show how come xdm is hanging like if it can't load the keyboard, or something like that.

If that doesn't show anything then it may be time for some more X debugging, but that seems like a waste given the situation you described of other window managers all seeming to work in conjunction with lightdm.

I haven't actually checked around to see, but it may be worth noting the possibility of another source somewhere that better describes a proper config for lightdm (tiny application running behind the larger environment of GUI and X session etc.) in terms of how to propery configure that for dwm specifically.

[pun_guin]

I set both rc_logger and rc_verbose to "YES", restarted xdm - and: no log file. I have not modified the commented out path "/var/log/rc.log", so one should think that it should be there - but it is not.
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I already use the new Genthree.