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

Support System Updates
1

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:

IMG_20240114_094541
IMG_20240114_0945411920×1440 125 KB

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]
2

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

greeter-session=lightdm-gtk-greeter
3

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

4

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

5

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

6

@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

7

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:

The greeter was not the culprit.

8

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?

9

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">
10

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

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

pacman -Qo /etc/dbus-1/system.d/gksu-polkit.conf
11

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.

12

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

13

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

Remove gksu-polkit and manjaro-hotfixes.

Glance again. :wink:

14

I see what you did there :grinning:
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.

15

Done. Thank you for the hint.

16

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

17

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