Help! Broken Xfce4!

[silencer51]

I had XFCE4 installed with every plugin working perfectly ok, and I must have done something (i remember installing thunar just before the shit hit the fan) because whenever I try to start xfce4 I get the desktop with the taskbar only.

To be more precise: I tried removing xfce4 and all its config files completely, installing it to a different medium etc. but the problem is this - I can start it after a clean install, but whenever I try to add the XFCE Panel menu to the panel the entire panel dissapears and I am left with no option but to ctrl-alt-backspace out of x :-(

I did notice one error message when back in the console:


(xfce4-panel:5687): libxfce4util-CRITICAL **: xfce_desktop_entry_new: assertion `g_file_test (priv->file, G_FILE_TEST_EXISTS)' failed

When this error appears, the panel vanishes and can't be brought back... I'm really worried 'cause XFCE4 is in my opinion, the best WM for the Z right now. It's fast and pretty and very very usable - and I had everything setup perfectly only to flush it down the toilet... This sucks! :-(

Can anybody help?

[karlto]

I had XFCE4 installed with every plugin working perfectly ok, and I must have done something (i remember installing thunar just before the shit hit the fan) because whenever I try to start xfce4 I get the desktop with the taskbar only.

To be more precise: I tried removing xfce4 and all its config files completely, installing it to a different medium etc. but the problem is this - I can start it after a clean install, but whenever I try to add the XFCE Panel menu to the panel the entire panel dissapears and I am left with no option but to ctrl-alt-backspace out of x :-(

I did notice one error message when back in the console:


(xfce4-panel:5687): libxfce4util-CRITICAL **: xfce_desktop_entry_new: assertion `g_file_test (priv->file, G_FILE_TEST_EXISTS)' failed

When this error appears, the panel vanishes and can't be brought back... I'm really worried 'cause XFCE4 is in my opinion, the best WM for the Z right now. It's fast and pretty and very very usable - and I had everything setup perfectly only to flush it down the toilet... This sucks! :-(

Can anybody help?
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See this thread:

[a href=\"https://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=14031&hl=xfce4&st=15]Xfce4 fine tuning[/url]

It seems to take some fiddling with and you have to quickly add the menu then close the panel utility - it took me a few gos, but once you get it there it stays there (just leave it alone).

I think I only added the basic menu too, not the panel menu as I couldn't get past this hiccup either...

Maybe Chero has found a fix by now?

[silencer51]

I still can't do it... I have tried every way of adding the menu to the panel yet it always dies... When I bring it back up the menu is not there... :-(

How come this happens now, and it didn't when I first installed XFCE4? I suspect there's something wrong with libxfce4util... There is no other rational explanation, it working fine one minute, and then, after installing a couple of packages - thunar included - BAM! no more xfce for me... :-(

[silencer51]

I keep trying... Nothing. I also don't get the desktop menu when right-clicking. I just noticed that there is another related error message, this appears when loading xfce  (right before I get to the desktop):

(xfdesktop:6255): libxfce4util-CRITICAL **: xfce_desktop_entry_new: assertion `g_file_test (priv->file, G_FILE_TEST_EXISTS)' failed

Any ideas?

[Chero]

Hi,

Some of the core xfce4 libs don't like to be installed on a different medium. I avoid problems by installing the base system (= xfce4_4.2.2_armv5tel.ipk) to /.

If you don't have the drop-down menu, the desktop likely crashed (this is bad). Probably one of your libs is broken (this happened to me on SD and HD, never on /).

- Remove .config and .cache
- ipkg remove xfce4
- Try reinstalling to /

Then, before fiddling, launch an aterm.

When you try to add the menu to the panel, and the panel disappaers, try bringing it back with the aterm (# xfce4-panel &).

The "crashing panel" is an xfce related bug, it has been solved in 4.2.3.2, but I haven't found the time to recompile it.

Chero.

[silencer51]

Thanks for your help guys, I finally have xfce4 up and running again. I had to remove some packages from / to free up some space (I had about 4mb left) and I did a clean installation of xfce4 on /. It now works like a charm, the error messages (G_FILE_EXISTS etc.) remain but at least now everything works like before. What I don't understand is how could it work perfectly ok the first time I installed it on the MD and suddenly it stopped working...