6.2.1 .xsession-errors

[utu]

With other linux distros, I usually peruse /var/log files to see if
my system is complaining about anything. In my copy of Knoppix 6.2.1
/var/log is almost bare, except for Xorg.0.log and a puny pm... file.
Nothing very surprising there. But there is another (hidden) file I'd
never been aware of before in /home/knoppix, that is .xsession-errors.

In my case, this little gem, had accumulated two megs of notes over
a week or so of many, many boot-ups (probably over a hundred boots).
For the most part, I had thought my 6.2.1 system was behaving pretty
well, before I began examining this file. But, there is a lot to
learn here. By studying this file line-by-line and doing some
googling you can discover by yourself many tweaks that may reduce
these 'errors'.

I suspect many of these 'errors' are harmless; however, there if this
file gets out-of-hand, it could conceivably become a memory problem.
And, it could also be the case that hidden in this clutter of harmless
'error' indications are some real problems. For this reason, it is
well to clear these up and get rid of them, if possible.

It might also be useful to establish a FAQ relating to frequently-found
.xsession-errors and their solutions, assuming it's not here already
and I've missed it.

[mecho]

I am using 6.2 and I have to major trouble makers - adobe flash and alsa when a game is played. I tackled the problem with flash by starting iceweasel using a small script.
nohup iceweasel 1>/dev/null 2>&1 &
I made my desktop file to point to shell script containing the above command and I no longer have error messages.
Another frequent error in xssession-errors is atk-bridge-WARNING
I fixed that by disabling accessibility in gconf,
gconftool-2 -s --type=bool /desktop/gnome/interface/accessibility false

If anyone has a solution to the alsa errors during game play, I will be very thankful

[krishna.murphy]

I am using 6.2 and I have to major trouble makers - adobe flash and alsa when a game is played. I tackled the problem with flash by starting iceweasel using a small script.
nohup iceweasel 1>/dev/null 2>&1 &
I made my desktop file to point to shell script containing the above command and I no longer have error messages.
Another frequent error in xssession-errors is atk-bridge-WARNING
I fixed that by disabling accessibility in gconf,
gconftool-2 -s --type=bool /desktop/gnome/interface/accessibility false

If anyone has a solution to the alsa errors during game play, I will be very thankful

I had a similar problem with a netbook - turns out that almost all the HD audio drivers out there are stuffed into one (hda_intel, I think), which needs to be customized in a lot of cases. You should see what hardware you have and what driver is being used, google that stuff and see what tweaks you can find.

Cheers!
Krishna

[krishna.murphy]

With other linux distros, I usually peruse /var/log files to see if
my system is complaining about anything. In my copy of Knoppix 6.2.1
/var/log is almost bare, except for Xorg.0.log and a puny pm... file.
Nothing very surprising there. But there is another (hidden) file I'd
never been aware of before in /home/knoppix, that is .xsession-errors.

In my case, this little gem, had accumulated two megs of notes over
a week or so of many, many boot-ups (probably over a hundred boots).
For the most part, I had thought my 6.2.1 system was behaving pretty
well, before I began examining this file. But, there is a lot to
learn here. By studying this file line-by-line and doing some
googling you can discover by yourself many tweaks that may reduce
these 'errors'.

I suspect many of these 'errors' are harmless; however, there if this
file gets out-of-hand, it could conceivably become a memory problem.
And, it could also be the case that hidden in this clutter of harmless
'error' indications are some real problems. For this reason, it is
well to clear these up and get rid of them, if possible.

It might also be useful to establish a FAQ relating to frequently-found
.xsession-errors and their solutions, assuming it's not here already
and I've missed it.

Sounds like a good idea!

Cheers!
Krishna

[utu]

@ mecho

Nice response. Sorry I can't help out on alsa, I'm not up on that.
I like your solution with gconftool-2, since it solves the problem.
I'm not in favor of trashing the errors altogether, and have run across an altertative which saves the
latest info, just not the whole history. It goes as follows:

Knoppix 6.2.1 keeps a running log of .xsession-errors.
Current era Ubuntus only keep current and one old session of these.
The difference (in the current log) is only character in /etc/X11/Xsessions.

Quoting from https://bugs.launchpad.net/+source/gdm/+bug60448

(concerning how to revert FROM (keeping all previous .xsession-errors
and adding that from the current boot) TO (just keeping the
.xsession-errors for the current boot).

Look very closely. The _only_ edit is the deletion of one '>';
that is '>' instead of '>>' at line 94 (or nearby, anyway).

QUOTE ***********

Lea GRIS wrote on 2006-09-21: #3

* Revert to previous overwrite behaviour (310 bytes, text/plain)

The offending code is in /etc/X11/Xsession

Some updates ago, code was changed to increment .xsession-errors instead of overwrite it.

/etc/X11/Xsession line 94:
exec >>"$ERRFILE" 2>&1

Change it back to:
exec >"$ERRFILE" 2>&1

I think reverting to the previous overwrite behaviour would be a good enough choice.

This bug affect any Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu
Offending package:
xinit

UNQUOTE ************

This might be timely advice even now for Knoppix 6.2.1;
I do not favor dumping _all_ the evidence in the trash, because these
errors indicate something's not right.
Hopefully it doesn't matter, but who knows?

[utu]

quoted link should be:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...gdm/+bug/60448

my bad.

[mecho]

Thanks a lot utu - very good tip. I don't really need to have the errors from my previous sessions. I found exec >>"$ERRFILE" 2>&1 at line 77 in knoppix 6.2. I was thinking of making a small script to delete xsession-errors at shut down since it's automatically recreated at boot, but this is much more elegant solution. Perfect

[utu]

@mecho

Most welcome. There are some other ideas in the Bug 60448 thread you may enjoy.

Relative to the Bug 60448 mentioned earlier, the whole thread there is interesting, and still open.
I especially enjoyed posts there #'s 40, 41, 47 and 49.

[utu]

So here's one type, representing 3/4 of my .xsession-errors:

(firefox-bin:####): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

The four digits #### are not always the same.

This occurs using iceweasel 3.5.6-1 with Shockwave Flash Plug-in 10.1r53.

Disabling this plug-in makes these errors stop. Re-enabling and going to
nytimes site, for example makes the errors begin again.

I'm unaware of what, if any performance is not correct.

Disabling compiz and/or java have no effect I'm aware of.

Constructive comments welcome here.
Also, would like to confirm version numbers are standard for Knoppix 6.2.1.

[krishna.murphy]

FWIW, Knoppix is at its' roots a LiveCD that, historically anyway, always had a brand-new home directory, and .xsesssion-errors would automatically be dumped at the end of any given session. This gave a behavior that allowed following up on errors without filling up home (or /var on a separate partition, which is where logs used to be confined, to prevent over-running important stuff, like mail-dirs.) I like the 1-character-edit approach to give somewhat the same performance, without having to partition or get rid of logging altogether.

Cheers!
Krishna