Stable update 2024-01-13: dbus-broker-units has broken Light Display Manager

[D.Dave]

I applyied the current stable update ([Stable Update] 2024-01-13 - Kernels, Systemd, Qt5, Mesa, Dbus, Firefox, Thunderbird), in TTY, using pamac-cli.
I had a choice to install dbus-broker-units (the default choice) or dbus-daemon-units. I choosed dbus-broker-units as reccomended.
After the reboot I faced this error which has prevent me to boot to my system:

Then I restored a timeshift backup, reapplyed the update but this time I choosed dbus-daemon-units instead of dbus-broker-units: this time I have been able to boot to my system, no longer error about Light Display Manager

I also was no able to switch to a TTY: I just got a blinking cursor and nothing else.

What to do, to install and use dbus-broker-units which must be the default choice and in the future will become mandatory?
Can someone else with Light Display Manager tell me if dbus-broker play nice?

I never touched the config of Light Display Manager. However, this is the content of /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf:

[LightDM]
run-directory=/run/lightdm
[Seat:*]
greeter-session=lightdm-webkit2-greeter
user-session=xfce
session-wrapper=/etc/lightdm/Xsession
[XDMCPServer]
[VNCServer]

[jrichard326]

Mine is a bit different and works fine with dbus-broker:

greeter-session=lightdm-gtk-greeter

[D.Dave]

Thank you.
However: at the moment I am reluctant to attempt to install again dbus-broker: I don’t want to broke my system again; also because I need a functional system and also because I don’t wanna stress the SSD with backup restoring.
Any way: is this the right place where, eventually, report the problem which I have encountered: Issues · dbus / dbus · GitLab ?

EDIT: nope, the right place seems to be: GitHub - bus1/dbus-broker: Linux D-Bus Message Broker

[philm]

Some greeters used by lightdm might not work with the new broker. Try to change the greeter or use the old way.

[D.Dave]

@philm

or use the old way

Do you mean to stay with dbus-daemon-units?
There is a downside to stay with such version? Will become deprecated, sooner or later?

[D.Dave]

@philm
A developer of dbus-broker told me that

dbus-broker is unable to start on your machine. This looks unrelated to lightdm, which just happens to also fail to start due to a missing system bus connection.

There is a way to establish this missing bus connection?
However: if you and/or someone else would join to the issue on github: dbus-broker-units has made Light Display Manager (lightdm) unable to start · Issue #337 · bus1/dbus-broker · GitHub

[D.Dave]

I solved. The files /etc/dbus-1/system.d/org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Manjaro.conf and /etc/dbus-1/system.d/gksu-polkit.conf had an improper XML formatting: I fixed them and I have been able to install dbus-broker without the issue on boot; so:

@philm

Some greeters used by lightdm might not work with the new broker. Try to change the greeter or use the old way.

The greeter was not the culprit.

[freggel.doe]

@D.Dave

/etc/dbus-1/system.d/org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Manjaro.conf

That one is part of manjaro-hotfixes package which is installed on my machine.
I’ve got dbus-broker installed and active since 2021-03-14 according to my /var/log/pacman.log and it’s not showing any problems.
What “improper XML formatting” did you fix there?

[D.Dave]

@freggel.doe

What “improper XML formatting” did you fix there?

They had:

<!DOCTYPE busconfig PUBLIC
 "-//freedesktop//DTD D-BUS Bus Configuration 1.0//EN"
 "http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/dbus/1.0/busconfig.dtd">

I replace this with

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE busconfig PUBLIC "-//freedesktop//DTD D-BUS Bus Configuration 1.0//EN"
"http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/dbus/1.0/busconfig.dtd">

[Yochanan]

@freggel.doe

manjaro-hotfixes

I’m dropping that package, it’s long obsolete and apparently is causing issues.

@D.Dave

/etc/dbus-1/system.d/gksu-polkit.conf

What is that from? Sounds like some obsolete, deprecated gksu package.

pacman -Qo /etc/dbus-1/system.d/gksu-polkit.conf

[D.Dave]

@Yochanan

What is that from? Sounds like some obsolete, deprecated gksu package.

pacman -Qo /etc/dbus-1/system.d/gksu-polkit.conf

I have gksu-polkit package installed, so pacman -Qo reports “is owned by gksu-polkit 0.0.3-2”.
But I have no idea why I have gksu-polkit installed; if I check for orphans, this package is not listed.

And /etc/dbus-1/system.d/org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Manjaro.conf is owned by manjaro-hotfixes as @freggel.doe has already reported.

[freggel.doe]

@Yochanan

I’m dropping that package, it’s long obsolete and apparently is causing issues.

I glanced at the iso profiles: this will be explicitly installed on most machines.

[Yochanan]

@D.Dave

I have gksu-polkit package installed,

Like I said, obsolete and deprecated. It neither exists in the repos nor the AUR.

Remove gksu-polkit and manjaro-hotfixes.

@freggel.doe

I glanced at the iso profiles: this will be explicitly installed on most machines.

Glance again.

[freggel.doe]

@Yochanan

Glance again.

I see what you did there
My point was that it will remain installed on most users’ machines even after updates and even on those checking for orphans.
Dropping of packages goes unrecognized by most users - perhaps package removal could be automatied on (stable-)update.

[D.Dave]

@Yochanan

Remove gksu-polkit and manjaro-hotfixes

Done. Thank you for the hint.

[Yochanan]

@freggel.doe

perhaps package removal could be automated on (stable-)update.

Good idea. I’ve converted manjaro-hotfixes to an empty dummy package.

[philm]

Have to check the sources, but yes, we should have a dummy or fix the file.