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Date:      Tue, 4 Dec 2018 18:36:21 +0100
From:      Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de>
To:        B J <va6bmj@gmail.com>
Cc:        freebsd-questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: Fresh Installation Of FreeBSD 11.2--Mate Not Working Properly
Message-ID:  <20181204183621.9358c17e.freebsd@edvax.de>
In-Reply-To: <CAP7QzkPNBSH0ND6XoU074NiNq6FhnUiePQBCSo_-Yu=6mT6xgQ@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <CAP7QzkMd5jZ-DRj%2BUC0r%2B%2BfQPkzxW-_3d7jkEVFzWox6xfX_6A@mail.gmail.com> <CAP7QzkPeWsmUSvxUQpQKASnz5r1LJPR27f9t9t%2BjfDW_iweQzQ@mail.gmail.com> <20181202231414.bc873ae8.freebsd@edvax.de> <CAP7QzkM7Ma7Hn0ESrniGBTE6847FUPVwpHw79x4om3QMjHGxHg@mail.gmail.com> <3b1f0a32-175e-2535-ce70-ac8935cf85eb@yandex.com> <CAP7QzkNo=s=_QedKrFCjF0H5dHVu=Zq=j--xqBG6eO_qbbTkhA@mail.gmail.com> <20181203184153.b37810d9.freebsd@edvax.de> <CAP7QzkPNBSH0ND6XoU074NiNq6FhnUiePQBCSo_-Yu=6mT6xgQ@mail.gmail.com>

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On Tue, 4 Dec 2018 02:25:47 +0000, B J wrote:
> <snip>
> 
> > For better diagnostics, use the following entry in ~/.xinitrc:
> >
> > 	exec xterm
> >
> > Then use "startx", and run "mate-session" from within the
> > terminal. You should be able to see _why_ MATE isn't starting
> > properly, while Xfce does.
> >
> > AS I said in a previous message, the age of the system probably
> > is not the reason for MATE not working. Maybe something has
> > changed in its configuration, so maybe renaming MATE's settings
> > subtree to .old and starting with no configuration at all will
> > work. Incompatibility of older settings sometimes leads to
> > software not starting after an upgrade (e. g., CUPS). So this
> > is something you could try.
> 
> <snip>
> 
> I re-installed Mate and modified the installation as you suggested.
> After running "startx", followed by "mate-session" in the terminal, I
> got a number of messages, including the following:
> 
> mate-session[844]:  WARNING:  Unable to determine session:  Unable to
> lookup session information for process '844'
> mate-session[844]:  WARNING:  Unable to find provider ' ' of required
> component 'dock'
> ** (mate-settings-daemon:862):  WARNING**: <system time>:  There was a
> problem when setting QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=0:
> GDBus.Error:org.gnome.SessionManager.NotInInitialization:  Setenv
> interface is only available during the Initialization phase
> ** (mate-settings-daemon:862):  WARNING**: <system time>:  There was a
> problem when setting QT_SCALE_FACTOR=0:
> GDBus.Error:org.gnome.SessionManager.NotInInitialization:  Setenv
> interface is only available during the Initialization phase
> This libgtop was compiled on FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE-p5 amd64
> If you see strange problems caused by it, you should recompile libgtop
> and dependent applications.
> [15433888288,000,xklavier.c:xkl_engine_start_listen/]  The backend
> does not require manual layout management - but it is provided by the
> application
> Initializing caja-image-convertor extension
> Initializing caja-open-terminal extension
> Initializing caja-xattr-tags extension
> 
> ** Message:<system time>:  Initializing gksu extension....
> 
> (polkit-mate-authentication-agent-1:883):  polkit-mate-1-WARNING**:
> <system time>: Unable to determine the session we are in:
> GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit.Manager.Error.General:  Unable
> to lookup session information for process '883'

Isn't that scary? All those messages are usually hidden.
You can even get more shocked when you build from source,
then you'll see tons of warnings... terrible attitude...
Part of the error messages aren't even helpful, like the
inability to "find provider ' '" - that's really great!
It seems the times of usable and bloat-reduced software
is long gone... :-/



> Then there were some messages regarding the location of
> GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL and SSH_AUTH_SOCK, followed by:
> 
> Connection failure: Connection refused
> pa_context_connect() failed:  Connection refused

Check in /etc/rc.conf for the presence of the following settings,
which I found from a reference MATE system (which uses slim instead
of gdm, as Gnome was removed due to the Gnome 2 -> Gnome 3
trouble):

	hald_enable="YES"
	dbus_enable="YES"
	polkitd_enable="YES"
	volmand_enable="YES"
	slim_enable="YES"

That last line refers to slim, a display manager (GUI login).
Anyway, make sure HAL (deprecated), DBus (obsoleted), PolKit
(nonsense) are actually installed on your system.

Then check your ~/.xinitrc for those entries:

	dbus-launch
	exec ck-launch-session mate-session

I have left out additional programs (xset, xbindkeys, xmodmap,



> The Mate desktop starts with its default configuration except that the
> size was for a larger monitor display.  I was able to start Mate
> Terminal, but it was sluggish moving the window.

You can use xrandr interactively from a terminal to set the
correct screen size. You can make the setting permanent by
adding it to your ~/.xinitrc, for example:

	xrandr --fb 1400x1050
	xrandr --size 1400x1050

There is also a Mate setting for this.

If it doesn't work, use xorg.conf hard-coded values, for
example /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/screen-resolution.conf:

	Section "Screen"
	        Identifier "Screen0"
	        Device "Card0"
	        SubSection "Display"
	                Modes "1280x800"
	        EndSubSection
	EndSection

That isn't nice, but it works. ;-)



> I was able to restart my machine twice from Mate, so that function
> appears to work.

There is some documentation regarding Gnome on how to deal
with HAL, which scatters its stupid XML configuration across
the /usr/local subtree. This documentation also seems to work
with MATE.

https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/

https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/docs/faq2.html

https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/docs/halfaq.html

Relevant files can be found in /usr/local/share/polkit-1/actions,
they should already be installed by MATE.



> So, what does this all mean and would it be possible to salvage the
> installation?

Yes. ;-)

You are more or less fighting the narrow view of programmers
who primarily develop for Linux. In order to get MATE working
on FreeBSD, there is some work you need to do, messing with
stupid XML files, running outdated system services that were
abolished in Linux years ago... but yes, sure, it is of course
possible to get MATE running on FreeBSD, as I refered to from
an older reference system running MATE; I'm not sure I would 
be able to get a similar system installed and configured on a
more recent FreeBSD version from scratch... :-)





-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...



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