Weird GUI behaviour in some applications

Support KDE Plasma
1

Hello.

I find it difficult to describe the situation and to categorise it correctly. It started a while ago when I installed a Threema app on Manjaro KDE Plasma 6 Wayland with the idea to use it (independently from my phone) on my ThinkPad x260. It was the Threema Beta from FlatPak. I hardly remember that it worked as expected the first time and since the second program start I can’t really handle the window any more. It is difficult even impossible to resize it because I can’t grab the border (cursor don’t change) or it is not reacting. The effect of mouse clicks seems always be some pixels next to the pointer, also to see because the hover effects are somewhere else as expected. I gave up after a few tries and stopped carrying.

Then, a week or something ago, I installed the Brave browser and remarked immediately the same behaviour. The program already started with a very small window, no chance to move, resize, use. I gave up.

Now, there was another big system update, including the Vivaldi browser I use, and it behaves the same way. I can’t deal with it any more. Very small window, not possible to resize and enlarge. Not possible to aim the buttons with the cursor.

I tried to find similar circumstances online but didn’t succeed. I don’t think that it is really caused by the mentioned apps also I discovered the chromium browser behaves exactly that way. I installed it to test.

I also reinstalled different packages.

I think about installing xfce or another DE to narrow the cause but prefer to collect some ideas or tips or even a solution here. :slight_smile:

1 Like
2

Welcome, as a first time poster you’ll do well to dive into the introduction we prepared and paste into our posts…

Lots to unpack there… so Plasma, Wayland, nVidia or intel - what’s going on…
You can paste code after first typing three Tilde ~ or backticks; even better if you click the ⛭ and ‘HIDE DETAILS’.

inxi -zv8 | grep -vE 'MAC|UUID|IP' 
~~~ 
inxi output pasted between...
~~~

Warning :red_exclamation_mark:

  • Don’t mess things up by simply ‘installing another desktop’ unless you’re someone who knows everything; it’s a good way to introduce unknowns and f@rk everything up.
  • Do make sure you enabled snapshots, as snapshots enable you to do an instant rewind of your system.
  • Also backups (I use back-in-time to snapshot backups to HDD every hour - makes it easy to retrieve old versions of documents, or completely reinstall without fear of losing anything.

Introduction:

Highly Recommended
Technical Resources
Required Reading

:vulcan_salute:

2 Likes
3

What packages?

Please create a new User account (for testing purposes) and login to it. Let us know whether or not these apparent issues persist in that new account.

This is an important troubleshooting step.

Please also provide system information as described (below).

Regards.

System Information

While information from *-fetch type apps might be fine for someone wishing to buy your computer, for Support purposes it’s better to ask your system directly; :eyes:

Output of the inxi command (with appropriate parameters, and formatted according to forum guidelines) will generate information useful for those wishing to help:

inxi --filter --verbosity=8

or the short form (preferred):

inxi -zv8
1 Like
4

@Ben Thank you for the welcome and advices

inxi -zv8 | grep -vE 'MAC|UUID|IP' 
System:
  Kernel: 6.15.11-2-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.15-x86_64
    root=/dev/mapper/luks-fdc6d094-f354-4e1f-a849-00bf8152477a splash
    resume=/dev/mapper/luks-86093af4-9bf4-48ea-b0b8-7fad0f7bee5b
    udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.3.6 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.18.0
    wm: kwin_wayland with: krunner vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro
    base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20F600A4GE v: ThinkPad X260
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: 20F600A4GE v: 0B98417 WIN serial: <superuser required>
    part-nu: LENOVO_MT_20F6_BU_Think_FM_ThinkPad X260 uuid: <superuser required>
    UEFI-[Legacy]: LENOVO v: R02ET77W (1.50 ) date: 01/18/2023
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 19.8 Wh (84.5%) condition: 23.5/23.5 Wh (100%)
    volts: 11.53 min: 11.4 model: LGC 45N1113 type: Li-ion serial: <filter>
    charging: status: not charging control: start: 80% end: 85% cycles: N/A
  ID-2: BAT1 charge: 28.6 Wh (85%) condition: 33.7/47.5 Wh (70.9%)
    volts: 12.39 min: 10.8 model: SANYO 45N1734 type: Li-ion serial: <filter>
    charging: status: not charging control: start: 80% end: 85% cycles: N/A
Memory:
  System RAM: total: 8 GiB available: 7.17 GiB used: 4.17 GiB (58.2%)
  Message: For most reliable report, use superuser + dmidecode.
  Array-1: capacity: 16 GiB slots: 1 modules: 1 EC: None
    max-module-size: 16 GiB note: est.
  Device-1: ChannelA-DIMM0 type: DDR4 detail: synchronous size: 8 GiB
    speed: 2133 MT/s volts: curr: 1 width (bits): data: 64 total: 64
    manufacturer: Samsung part-no: M471A1K43CB1-CRC serial: <filter>
PCI Slots:
  Permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5-6300U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Skylake
    gen: core 6 level: v3 note: check built: 2015 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x4E (78) stepping: 3 microcode: 0xF0
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 2 cores: 2 threads: 4 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 128 KiB desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB
    desc: 2x256 KiB L3: 3 MiB desc: 1x3 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 400/3000 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
    governor: powersave cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 bogomips: 19999
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm acpi adx aes aperfmperf apic arat
    arch_capabilities arch_perfmon art avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2 bts clflush
    clflushopt cmov constant_tsc cpuid cpuid_fault cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64
    dtherm dts epb erms est f16c flush_l1d fma fpu fsgsbase fxsr ht hwp
    hwp_act_window hwp_epp hwp_notify ibpb ibrs ida intel_pt invpcid lahf_lm
    lm mca mce md_clear mmx monitor movbe mpx msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx
    pae pat pbe pcid pclmulqdq pdcm pdpe1gb pebs pge pln pni popcnt pse pse36
    pti pts rdrand rdseed rdtscp rep_good sdbg sep smap smep smx ss ssbd sse
    sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 stibp syscall tm tm2 tsc tsc_adjust
    tsc_deadline_timer vme x2apic xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveopt xsaves
    xtopology xtpr
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Vulnerable: No microcode
  Type: ghostwrite status: Not affected
  Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX unsupported
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed mitigation: IBRS
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: IBRS; IBPB: conditional; STIBP: conditional;
    RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsa status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: TSX disabled
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Skylake GT2 [HD Graphics 520] vendor: Lenovo driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-9 process: Intel 14n built: 2015-16 ports: active: eDP-1
    empty: DP-1, DP-2, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:1916
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Bison ThinkPad P50 Integrated Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-8:5 chip-ID: 5986:0706
    class-ID: 0e02
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.18 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.8
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics 0x106c built: 2012 res:
    mode: 1366x768 hz: 60 scale: 85% (0.85) to: 1607x904 dpi: 126 gamma: 1.2
    chroma: red: x: 0.592 y: 0.322 green: x: 0.294 y: 0.537 blue: x: 0.141
    y: 0.165 white: x: 0.314 y: 0.329 size: 276x155mm (10.87x6.1")
    diag: 317mm (12.5") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1366x768
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris surfaceless: drv: iris wayland:
    drv: iris x11: drv: iris
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.2.3-arch1.2
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 520 (SKL GT2)
    device-ID: 8086:1916 memory: 7 GiB unified: yes display-ID: :1.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.321 layers: 1 device: 0 type: integrated-gpu name: Intel
    HD Graphics 520 (SKL GT2) driver: mesa intel v: 25.2.3-arch1.2
    device-ID: 8086:1916 surfaces: N/A
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor wl: wayland-info
    x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Lenovo
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_avs bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:9d70 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.15.11-2-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off tools: aucat,midicat,sndioctl
  Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-3: PipeWire v: 1.4.8 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-LM vendor: Lenovo driver: e1000e v: kernel
    port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:156f class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
    broadcast: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Wireless 8260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:24f3 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp4s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: wwp0s20f0u3c3 state: down mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-7:4 chip-ID: 8087:0a2b
    class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: down bt-service: disabled
    rfk-block: hardware: no software: no address: see --recommends
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found.
  Device-1: luks-fdc6d094-f354-4e1f-a849-00bf8152477a maj-min: 253:0
    type: LUKS dm: dm-0 size: 468.13 GiB
  Components:
  p-1: sda1 maj-min: 8:1 size: 468.13 GiB
  Device-2: luks-86093af4-9bf4-48ea-b0b8-7fad0f7bee5b maj-min: 253:1
    type: LUKS dm: dm-1 size: 8.8 GiB
  Components:
  p-1: sda2 maj-min: 8:2 size: 8.8 GiB
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 432.32 GiB (90.6%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: MZ7LN512HMJP-00000
    size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 100Q scheme: MBR
  Message: No optical or floppy data found.
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 468.13 GiB size: 459.71 GiB (98.20%)
    used: 430.18 GiB (93.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 253:0
    mapped: luks-fdc6d094-f354-4e1f-a849-00bf8152477a label: N/A
    uuid: 7d2f24ba-d8f8-4257-ac44-34cd1f882b83
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: yes
    compressor: zstd max-pool: 20%
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 2.14 GiB (24.3%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/dm-1 maj-min: 253:1
    mapped: luks-86093af4-9bf4-48ea-b0b8-7fad0f7bee5b label: swap
    uuid: a94a51a9-ebd2-4aa3-a1ba-ea08518f3db8
Unmounted:
  Message: No unmounted partitions found.
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 12 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-3:2 info: Huawei ME906s LTE M.2 Module
    type: communication,CDC-data driver: cdc_mbim,option,option1 interfaces: 3
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 power: 2mA
    chip-ID: 12d1:15c1 class-ID: 0a00 serial: <filter>
  Device-2: 1-5:3 info: Alcor Micro AU9540 Smartcard Reader type: smart card
    driver: N/A interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes: 1
    mode: 1.1 power: 50mA chip-ID: 058f:9540 class-ID: 0b00
  Device-3: 1-7:4 info: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: bluetooth
    driver: btusb interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes: 1
    mode: 1.1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0a2b class-ID: e001
  Device-4: 1-8:5 info: Bison ThinkPad P50 Integrated Camera type: video
    driver: uvcvideo interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s)
    lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 power: 500mA chip-ID: 5986:0706 class-ID: 0e02
  Device-5: 1-9:6 info: Validity Sensors VFS 5011 fingerprint sensor
    type: <vendor specific> driver: N/A interfaces: 1 rev: 1.1
    speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 138a:0017 class-ID: ff00 serial: <filter>
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 6 rev: 3.0
    speed: 5 Gb/s (596.0 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 48.0 C pch: 48.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): fan-1: 0
Repos:
  Packages: 2498 pm: pacman pkgs: 2473 libs: 520 tools: octopi,pamac
    pm: flatpak pkgs: 14 pm: snap pkgs: 11
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main
  Active pacman repo servers in: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
    1: https://mirror1.sox.rs/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    2: https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    3: https://mirror.netcologne.de/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    4: https://manjaro.mirrors.lavatech.top/stable/$repo/$arch
    5: https://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    6: https://ba.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    7: https://mirrors.dotsrc.org/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    8: https://mirrors.nic.cz/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    9: https://manjaro.mirror.wearetriple.com/stable/$repo/$arch
    10: https://manjaro.mirror.garr.it/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    11: https://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/repo.manjaro.org/repos/stable/$repo/$arch
    12: https://mirror.bouwhuis.network/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    13: https://manjaro.ynh.ovh/stable/$repo/$arch
    14: https://mirror.23m.com/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    15: https://ftpmirror1.infania.net/mirror/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    16: https://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    17: https://mirrors.up.pt/pub/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    18: http://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/linux/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    19: https://mirror.telepoint.bg/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    20: https://ct.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    21: https://ftp.psnc.pl/linux/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    22: https://mirror.init7.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    23: https://mirror.it4i.cz/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    24: https://mirror.easyname.at/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    25: https://quantum-mirror.hu/mirrors/pub/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    26: https://mirror.truenetwork.ru/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    27: https://ftp.caliu.cat/pub/distribucions/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    28: https://manjaro.kurdy.org/stable/$repo/$arch
    29: https://mirror.dkm.cz/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    30: https://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/linux/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    31: https://mirrors.eric.ovh/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    32: https://mirror.kamtv.ru/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    33: https://mirror.komelt.dev/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    34: https://mirror.alwyzon.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    35: https://mirror.alpix.eu/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    36: https://manjaro.ipacct.com/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    37: https://mirror.vinehost.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
Processes:
  CPU top: 5 of 257
  1: cpu: 12.7% command: firefox pid: 2438 mem: 519.1 MiB (7.0%)
  2: cpu: 7.8% command: kwin_wayland pid: 1696 mem: 205.9 MiB (2.8%)
  3: cpu: 3.9% command: kactivitymanagerd pid: 1895 mem: 36.7 MiB (0.5%)
  4: cpu: 2.4% command: firefox pid: 3850 mem: 252.7 MiB (3.4%)
  5: cpu: 2.2% command: doublecmd pid: 8403 mem: 206.2 MiB (2.8%)
  Memory top: 5 of 257
  1: mem: 519.1 MiB (7.0%) command: firefox pid: 2438 cpu: 12.7%
  2: mem: 393.4 MiB (5.3%) command: plasmashell pid: 1869 cpu: 2.1%
  3: mem: 350.2 MiB (4.7%) command: thunderbird pid: 4566 cpu: 1.1%
  4: mem: 275.3 MiB (3.7%) command: firefox pid: 2750 cpu: 2.0%
  5: mem: 264.4 MiB (3.6%) command: nextcloud pid: 6216 cpu: 0.2%
Info:
  Processes: 257 Power: uptime: 5h 6m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 2.85 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,upowerd
    Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Compilers: clang: 20.1.8 gcc: 15.2.1 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 default: Bash
    v: 5.3.3 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.39

I haven’t thought about using a snapshot. Especially if I won’t miss an update.

@soundofthunder Thank you also.
Unfortunately I haven’t documented my attempts. I mainly tried different sources if available: pacman, aur, flatpak.

Fortunately your hint brought an approach. Both applications (Vivaldi and Threema) work and behave as they should on a new user account.
Back on my account I cleared ./cache without success.

Not sure if it is worth to mention for this issue, but the new account showed a notification from akonadi_migration_agent, being in progress, but seemed to freeze at 66 %.
Some time ago this happened also on my account, but I could get rid of it. If I remember correctly it was by clearing the cache. I am not sure. I found a solution online somewhere ^^
I don’t know if there might be any connection.

Is it a good and easy solution to just make a new account or are there further chances to find the source of the problem?

5

Throwing more software at a problem might seem to work in Windows (I say that only because it’s a common trait of some users, fresh from the world of Windows), but the habit can potentially cause problems further down the track.

Wherever possible, try to stick with only one source for your software – the official Manjaro repositories, preferably – or, at least keep an active awareness of any foreign sources used; the AUR isn’t officially supported by Manjaro (or Arch) so there may come a time when you’re completely on your own.

A clear indicator that the issue is local; misconfiguration or poor maintenance are the usual culprits; and that there is no wider problem with the applications concerned. And yes, this limits the focus and gives starting point for those wishing to help.

It’s usually best to delete the ~/.cache directory from a TTY – outside of the GUI;

Reboot; instead of logging in via SDDM, enter a TTY and delete ~/.cache while it’s not being used.

rm -rf ~/.cache

Then logout (exit) and reboot again – the cache will progressively rebuild itself as needed.

If removing the ~/.cache directory doesn’t magically solve it, the focus can then shift to finding the actual problem.

This might include renaming specific directories under ~/.config that are associated with a particular application, and then running the application, to see if a newly generated configuration solves it. It can be a case of trial and error before finding a specific cause to the problem.

Difficult to know for sure, but I’d guess if the state of your User account has already affected some applications, it’s always possible there could be more problems on the horizon.

Using a new account solves the issue, but it also forces you to set everything up again the way you like it; that’s a deal breaker for some, but sometimes it’s the logical choice when the current account can’t be easily or quickly fixed.

2 Likes
6

@soundofthunder Thanks again for breaking it done, explaining and advices.

I followed your steps, but the magic doesn’t happened.

I tried the renaming of some config dir renaming but couldn’t notice any effect.

So I logged in with the new user, solved the akonadi problem by uninstalling knotes (found that as a solution) and copied the vivaldi config folder from the broken to the new profile and could start the application. (The opened tabs are missing, but no big deal.) I guess I will create a new profile by transferring one by one some configuration.

7

What is the reason and objective of apparently having this incompatible package manager (apt)?
Using this to install an app like signal-desktop has the potential to seriously mess up your system.
You should probably remove everything you installed using it (apt) and then the Debian/Ubuntu package manager itself
and then assess the damage (which might have been or might not have been caused).

ps:
I do have dpkg (and rpm) installed in Manjaro - it just makes it easier to unpack .deb and .rpm packages to look at their content, which I sometimes do when inspecting such packages that are often used in AUR packages.
Simply having those tools installed doesn’t hurt anything.
But never ever use either one (or apt) to actually install anything! Never!

4 Likes
8

I somehow missed the apt reference, but, just a quick note:

When finding instructions for installing random software on random sites; blogs, etc.; keep in mind that many of the authors appear to believe “there is no other Linux apart from Ubuntu”. :facepalm:

A reflection of this is that often instructions given are all Ubuntu-centric; they should only be used on Ubuntu (or, perhaps Debian and other Debian-based distributions).

Avoid these. If you’re searching for a way to achieve something, adding “Manjaro” or “Arch Linux” to the search term will probably generate more relevant results.

Even better, ask in the forum first; chances are someone has already done what you hoped to achieve, or solved the problem you might have been facing;

and knowledge you gain will naturally be relevant to Manjaro. :wink:

2 Likes
9

@soundofthunder Alright, I understand :slight_smile:

@Nachlese I have no idea. I absolutely can’t remember. I have installed the Signal messenger with the Manjaro package manager and also get it updated like this.
I also have no idea how to remove everything apt- or Debian-like :smiley:

10

There must have, at some stage, been an attempt to install signalusing the Linux instructions on the Signal >> Download Signal page:

Linux (Debian-based) Install Instructions

# NOTE: These instructions only work for 64-bit Debian-based
# Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Mint etc.

# 1. Install our official public software signing key:
wget -O- https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt/keys.asc | gpg --dearmor > signal-desktop-keyring.gpg;
cat signal-desktop-keyring.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg > /dev/null

# 2. Add our repository to your list of repositories:
wget -O signal-desktop.sources https://updates.signal.org/static/desktop/apt/signal-desktop.sources;
cat signal-desktop.sources | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-desktop.sources > /dev/null

# 3. Update your package database and install Signal:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install signal-desktop

Even if the installation failed at the time, the apt repo & key information may have still been written to the system.

2 Likes
11

Maybe the inxi tool detected some remnant of something not there anymore or not actually active.

There is a Ubuntu repo description present:
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list
maybe nothing more.

First you can check whether apt or dpkg is actually installed and present:

which apt

which dpkg

If it is, you can check what it thinks is/was installed using it:

sudo apt list --installed

Perhaps it’s nothing - it definitely doesn’t belong there natively.

The mere presence of apt or dpkg itself is no problem.
Using these tools to install software is.

2 Likes
12

Just musing;
no accusing. :slight_smile:

Well, there are two ways that apt might have been installed, I suppose…

  • As a (misguided) dependency of some package sourced from the AUR (But, why? :man_shrugging: ), or;
  • Manually by the user (following some random guide)

I note that apt is available from the official Manjaro repositories (no doubt inherited from Arch), so, it’s certainly within the realm of possibility to install apt manually;

that doesn’t automatically mean it will work properly, or won’t cause unforeseen issues, if it did.

I dare say, albeit arguably possible, it would take some serious manipulation to have it work at all.

13

@scotty65 Right. If I start to enter these commands in my console, they get autofilled. So I must have used them.

@Nachlese Both aren’t there (any more?). apt and dpkg weren’t found by which
apt is an unknown command.

14

They where never there - you just used these commands, which lead to the creation of these files.
The commands / instructions are intended to be used on an Ubuntu system, where apt and dpkg are present because these are two of the package management tools on Debian/Ubuntu systems.
The last command didn’t work because on Manjaro / Arch these are not usually present.
No harm was done - just some files created.

You can just delete them - or leave them be.

1 Like
15

Okay. I think I can consider the case as closed. I will start over with a new profile. Is it okay to copy folder by folder from one ~/.config to another? Would be nice if I could prevent to redo all the settings.

16

You could do that, but always rename the existing directory (rather than copying old over new) so you can revert that change easily, if needed.

Keep in mind that one of those “old” directories may potentially be the problem child, so you’ll want to avoid re-introducing the issue to the new account.

Regards.

2 Likes
17

Indeed, the .config folder has a lot of small files so it isn’t too big to backup.

I find a good strategy is to zip up and add your timestamp, so tar -czf Bak-config-2025-10-05-Mon@12.40.tar.gz ~/.config would do it.

2 Likes
18

Alright, understood.

Thank you all very much. I learned a lot.

2 Likes
19

This topic was automatically closed 3 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.