Ensure older installations remove the deprecated ReuseSession option from SDDM config

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,
1

I’m writing in response to Nate Graham’s request.

I encountered a problem and created a bug report titled:
”Switching to an already logged-in user causes Plasma to display a black screen with no cursor”

After some investigation, I found that on a fresh installation of Manjaro with Plasma 6, the login screen worked correctly. However, when I installed Manjaro with Plasma 5.27 and then updated to Plasma 6, the bug appeared. It turned out to be caused by a deprecated option in /etc/sddm.conf:
ReuseSession=false

Removing this line fixed the issue. I assume it was leftover from Plasma 5. This bug occurred on my PC and also on my friend’s laptop, who also had Manjaro installed with Plasma 5 before updating, so it’s likely that more users may be affected.

For users who installed Manjaro earlier, the ReuseSession line may still exist in /etc/sddm.conf, even though it should be removed. It might be worth checking whether this can be cleaned up automatically during updates to prevent issues.

Here is the bug report.

2 Likes
2

Welp, I upgraded from 5 to 6, and:

$ grep ReuseSession /etc/sddm.conf
ReuseSession=false

So it might be a workaround, but I don’t think it’s the cause.

3

Anecdotal:-

My /etc/sddm.conf is completely empty since a recent reinstall.

4

The question then, is sddm actually installed? Or are you using plasma login manager? Or even Plasma?

5

Plasma and SDDM are installed:

pacman -Qi sddm
Name            : sddm
Version         : 0.21.0-6
Description     : QML based X11 and Wayland display manager
Architecture    : x86_64
URL             : https://github.com/sddm/sddm
Licenses        : GPL-2.0-only
Groups          : None
Provides        : display-manager
Depends On      : bash  gcc-libs  glibc  libxau  libxcb  pam  qt6-base  qt6-declarative  systemd-libs  ttf-font  xorg-server  xorg-xauth
Optional Deps   : qt5-declarative: for using Qt5 themes [installed]
Required By     : sddm-kcm
Optional For    : None
Conflicts With  : None
Replaces        : None
Installed Size  : 5.27 MiB
Packager        : Antonio Rojas <arojas@archlinux.org>
Build Date      : Wed 08 Jan 2025 18:36:50
Install Date    : Tue 14 Oct 2025 00:55:46
Install Reason  : Explicitly installed
Install Script  : No
Validated By    : Signature

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see whether the setting mentioned by the OP existed in mine – I can safely say it doesn’t. :sweat_smile:

6

Welp, :man_shrugging:

7

Manjaro does not ship sddm with the mentioned configuration.

Please tell Nate Graham that.

 $ cat /usr/lib/sddm/sddm.conf.d/default.conf
...
# When logging in as the same user twice, restore the original session, rather than create a new one
ReuseSession=true
...

EDIT: 2026-01-07T14:19:00Z
I was a tad quick there - /etc/sddm.conf contains the value set to false.

I have to explore where it comes from - no packages appear to own it.

 $ pamac search -f /etc/sddm.conf
/etc/sddm.conf.d/manjaro-handheld.conf is owned by manjaro-handheld
/etc/sddm.conf.d/virtualkbd.conf is owned by manjaro-handheld
/etc/sddm.conf.d/00_manjaro_settings.conf is owned by manjaro-kde-settings
/etc/sddm.conf.d/virtualkeyboard.conf is owned by manjaro-kde-settings

I remember asking about /etc/sddm.conf a while back - but that was in another setting, I will see what I can dig.

The only thing I can dig up is oem profiles which contains the file for reasons unknown to me.

2 Likes
9

Yet I don’t have an /etc/sddm.conf :man_shrugging:

11

Neither do I.

  • cat /etc/sddm.conf reveals nothing.
  • sudo nano /etc/sddm.conf reveals an empty file.
It just don't add up...

12

I don’t even have an empty file.

I don’t remember deleting it, so I presume it must’ve been emptied, and then removed from the profiles, then later restored. :man_shrugging:

13

Well, the “empty file” would be that which nano attempted to create – and I allowed it, considering ls and cat had revealed nothing. Either way, I effectively have no sddm.conf. :man_shrugging:

1 Like
14

Newer installations will use files under /etc/sddm.conf.d/ instead of an /etc/sddm.conf file.

I for one do have an /etc/sddm.conf because my installation is going on 7 years old, and it does contain that line. Furthermore, it’s also got an entire section for X11.

15

Yes, I see. Unexpected, as I was editing sddm.conf only a matter of months ago. I may recreate it for convenience.