[SOLVED] New Install of Gnome Flakes Out--$PATH command

[slowtrain]

Hi folks: I compiled the gnome meta-installation yesterday. Near the end of the install process, I noticed a lot of lines saying that a given expected file 'must have been moved.' Unfortunately, I didn't save the output and the lines flew by. So, I expected gnome to be a complete mess because apparently the compiler wasn't able to find a lot of files. To my surprise, everything seemed to work fine yesterday. But, today, after saving my session and restarting, gnome is a mess: all windows are stuck to the upper left corner and can't be moved, it's hard to switch between windows, I can't get at my left panel because it's covered over w/ the windows, and my desktop selector has been reduced to a vertical line and is unusable. I do get messages that gdm is not found when I shut down gnome.

I'm really not sure why things would work one day and not the next. But if it was a compile problem in which files weren't found, perhaps my path variable had something to do with it. Below, you can see the full path variable contents from my root. This seems to be rather too short (relative to vague expectations) and I'm completely puzzled at why 'No such file...' appears. Any idea where I can find the file in which path is set?

mycomputer slowtrain # $PATH
bash: /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin: No such file or directory

Thanks in advance,
slowtrain

[John R. Graham]

Because you're trying to run a command called $PATH, which expands to your path. If you want to see your PATH, you should be doing

[slowtrain]

Hi John: Silly me. It's been a while since I've had to use linux command lines. Anyhow, the correct path info for me as a user and for root can be found below. A little odd that gcc installs under /usr and root doesn't have access to it.

[slowtrain]

Hi again: I was able to write down a few lines of messages after shutting down gnome (wish I knew how to see them all). What I get is this:

(II) Module already built-in
(EE) AIGLX: Screen 0 is not DRI capable
SESSION_MANAGER=local/ghostwheel:/temp/.ICE-unix/6391
**Message: failed to load session from /home/peterm/.nautilus/saved-session-HXCG2T

** (nautilus:6485): WARNING **: Can not caclulate _NET_NUMBER OF DESKTOPS
** (nautilus:6485): WARNING **: Can not get _NET_WORKAREA
** (gnome-panel:6486): WARNING **: Failed to establish a connection with GDM: No such file or directory

So, yes, nautilus seems to be in trouble. This all started when I tried to save a session.

Slowtrain

[Sadako]

Try running `etc-update && env-update && source /etc/profile`, and see if that makes any difference.

For reference, my PATH for root is;

[slowtrain]

Hi folks: Well, I can kind-of fix the problem. If I erase all the dot files in my home directory, gnome goes back to normal, albeit I lose my settings. If I then turn on session saving, the problems reoccur again, until I erase all my settings. Saving sessions seems to cause nautilus to stop working.

This is only a kind-of fix because I'd hate to get deep into setting preferences and my work environment and then hit something else that confuses nautilus and forces me to erase all my configuration files.

One thing I'm wondering is whether this is just me or whether others have had this problem? If it's just me, then maybe it is some kind of compile problem.

And hello again Hopeless: It's interesting that your PATH is so much bigger than mine . I am supposed to emerge software as root, right?

Anyhow, I ran the update commands you suggested and they worked like a charm! I now have this for my PATH: /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/opt/bin:/usr/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/gcc-bin/4.1.1:/usr/qt/3/bin

Do you think my partial path on my emerge run of gnome could have caused problems? Didn't install much but some utilities beforehand.

Many thanks!

[Sadako]

When did you install, and did you follow the handbook carefully?

I haven't looked at the handbook in a while, but I'm fairly sure it tells you to run the same commands more than once.
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[slowtrain]

Hi Hopeless: well, it's certainly possible I missed something. was up quite late trying to get this installed. Hopefully a recompile w/ the fixed up PATH will help. I'm also thinking of going w/ Gnome lite this time. There seem to be a number of things in Gnome heavy I don't want / need anyway: evolution, the 64bit version of firefox that won't play flash, etc. Will have to figure out how to get rid of all the software I compiled and may have messed up.

Thanks for all the helpful advice!

Peter

[Sadako]

You can simply `emerge -C gnome`, then run `emerge -p --depclean`.

That should get rid of everything pulled in by gnome, so if you are happy with it (ie make sure it wont remove any required system stuff) run it without he '-p'.
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[slowtrain]

Hi Hopeless: I thought that portage couldn't uninstall meta packages like gnome. I'll have to check this out. Would be a big time saver.

Thanks! Slowtrain

[slowtrain]

According to the documentation, in order to get rid of a meta package and all its dependencies, I need to run three additional commands after emerge -C (see below). The explanation for why it's necessary to run --update --deep makes no sense to me. If someone could clue me in....

[herdentier]

today i've switched to gnome 2.20.
after starting the new gnome-desktop ALL fonts went damn small.
desktop, panels, applets, applicaitons, ....
in ktorrent, event the chunk-graphics are smaller.

what the hell is going on with my machine, waaaahahaaa


any advice?

here is, what happened between "everythings nice" and "WTF?":