Startup Applications not working after upgrade to Karmic

[sktsee]

On Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:45:54 +0000, Colin Law wrote:

[snip]
> 
> /etc/gdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup... Setting IM through
> im-switch for locale=en_GB. Start IM through
> /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/all_ALL linked to
> /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/default.
> GNOME_KEYRING_SOCKET=/tmp/keyring-3nd2gS/socket
> SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/keyring-3nd2gS/socket.ssh
> 
> Then goes on with messages from gnome-settings-daemon and other
> components.
> 
> On the failing user the above header is completely missing, the first
> message is from gnome-settings-daemon.  This suggests a fundamental
> problem with Xsession, but only for this user.  I probably just have to
> delete a config file somewhere but I do not know what.
> 
> Colin

Some things to check and do in no particular order:
1. You've already checked .xsession-errors. I would also check /var/log/
syslog, daemon, user, gdm/:0-slave.log (this one you have to sudo to root 
to read). Maybe there's some clues lurking there in the logs.

2. check if there are any .X or .x files in the user's home directory. 
Files like ~/.Xession or ~/.xinit provide a user-controlled X session 
startup/configuration that overrides the system defaults. Maybe there's 
something in one or more of them that gnome-session doesn't like, or 
causes it to be bypassed altogether.

3. Start gnome-session in debug mode. One way to do this is to edit one 
of the desktop files in /usr/share/xsessions and modify its Name= line to 
"Gnome Debug Session" and the exec lines to "gnome-session --debug". Save 
the file as gnome-debug.desktop. Then, when you are at the gdm login 
screen, choose the Gnome Debug Session from your list of sessions and 
proceed to login.

Note that starting gnome-session in debug mode may generate copious 
amounts of data in ~/.xsession-errors so you don't want to stay logged 
into that session any longer than it's necessary to gather the data that 
you need to pinpoint the problem. Once you logout, do NOT log back in 
right away because if you do ~/.xsession-errors will be overwritten. 
Switch to a vt and make a copy of .xsession-errors before logging in 
through gdm. Also, don't forget to choose GNOME from the session selector 
so you get the regular Gnome session on login and not the debug one.

4. clear out user startup files from ~/.config/autostart then selectively 
put them back in.

5. clear out user saved sessions from ~/.config/gnome-session/saved-
session/ and, if any exists, ~/.gnome2/session*.

-- 
sktsee