xfce4-notifyd is not started by dbus #106494

dminuoso · 2020-12-09T21:56:36Z

Describe the bug
xfce4-notifyd is not started by dbus in 20.09
This is verifiable by checking systemctl or just nix-shell -p libnotify --run 'notify-send It works!'

To Reproduce
Add xfce.xfce4-notifyd to systemPackages and cause a dbus restart.

This seems to be a regression between 20.03 and 20.09 (I don't have proof of this, but I'm confident this all worked before I upgraded to 20.09).

Expected behavior
That xfce4-notifyd gets picked up by dbus as per https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/nixos/modules/services/system/dbus.nix#L116-L119

Notify maintainers
@worldofpeace

Metadata

λ ~/ nix-shell -p nix-info --run "nix-info -m"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ~
 - system: `"x86_64-linux"`
 - host os: `Linux 5.9.11, NixOS, 20.09.2076.ffb3aab257e (Nightingale)`
 - multi-user?: `yes`
 - sandbox: `yes`
 - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.3.9`
 - channels(dminuoso): `"nixos-unstable-21.03pre253635.2247d824fe0, nixpkgs-unstable-21.03pre250093.0da76dab4c2, nixpkgs-20.09beta992.7badbf18c45, nixpkgs-static"`
 - channels(root): `"nixos-hardware, nixos-20.09.2076.ffb3aab257e, home-manager, nixos-unstable-21.03pre250162.34ad166a830, nixpkgs-unstable-21.03pre250093.0da76dab4c2"`
 - nixpkgs: `/home/dminuoso/.nix-defexpr/channels/nixpkgs`

Maintainer information:

# a list of nixpkgs attributes affected by the problem
attribute:
# a list of nixos modules affected by the problem
module:
- "services/system/dbus.nix"

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

dminuoso · 2020-12-09T22:20:14Z

Updated channel, problem still appears.

λ /nix/store/ nix-shell -p nix-info --run "nix-info -m"                                                                                            /nix/store
 - system: `"x86_64-linux"`
 - host os: `Linux 5.9.12, NixOS, 20.09.2190.78dc359abf8 (Nightingale)`
 - multi-user?: `yes`
 - sandbox: `yes`
 - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.3.9`
 - channels(dminuoso): `"nixos-unstable-21.03pre253635.2247d824fe0, nixpkgs-unstable-21.03pre250093.0da76dab4c2, nixpkgs-20.09beta992.7badbf18c45, nixpkgs-static"`
 - channels(root): `"nixos-20.09.2190.78dc359abf8, nixos-hardware, home-manager, nixos-unstable-21.03pre250162.34ad166a830, nixpkgs-unstable-21.03pre250093.0da76dab4c2"`
 - nixpkgs: `/home/dminuoso/.nix-defexpr/channels/nixpkgs`

I also see the following message in the dbus-daemon journal:

Dec 09 23:17:19 Verleihnix dbus-daemon[2148]: [session uid=1000 pid=2148] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'xfce4-notifyd.service': Unit xfce4-notifyd.service not found.

dminuoso · 2020-12-09T23:20:47Z

No idea why I'm seeing those errors at all.

/etc/dbus-1/session.conf does not contain xfce4-notifyd as it should.

dminuoso · 2020-12-09T23:56:56Z

Interestingly, if I explicitly put in services.dbus.packages = [ pkgs.xfce.xfce4-notifyd ]; the /etc/dbus-1/session.conf contains the right reference, but dbus still cant start the notifyd service:

Dec 10 00:56:41 Verleihnix dbus-daemon[2070]: [session uid=1000 pid=2070] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.Notifications' unit='xfce4-notifyd.service' requested by ':1.33' (uid=1000 pid=7971 comm="notify-send It works! " label="kernel")
Dec 10 00:56:41 Verleihnix dbus-daemon[2070]: [session uid=1000 pid=2070] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'xfce4-notifyd.service': Unit xfce4-notifyd.service not found.
Dec 10 00:56:41 Verleihnix dbus-daemon[2070]: [session uid=1000 pid=2070] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.Notifications' unit='xfce4-notifyd.service' requested by ':1.34' (uid=1000 pid=7971 comm="notify-send It works! " label="kernel")
Dec 10 00:56:41 Verleihnix dbus-daemon[2070]: [session uid=1000 pid=2070] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'xfce4-notifyd.service': Unit xfce4-notifyd.service not found.

dminuoso · 2020-12-10T00:17:55Z

If xfce4-notifyd is explicitly added to dbus.packages, there's an appropriate .service file in the system:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 130 Jan  1  1970 /nix/store/h7yby2r3csqhnq7napknal3yplm2hwhn-system-path/share/dbus-1/services/org.xfce.xfce4-notifyd.Notifications.service -> /nix/store/j7kzylhr7ms7ph9ihndm8bwxl5ak4i0b-xfce4-notifyd-0.6.1/share/dbus-1/services/org.xfce.xfce4-notifyd.Notifications.service

dminuoso · 2020-12-10T13:38:02Z

For other users stumbling on this, as a temporary workaround I'm running xfce4-notifyd from my

services.xserver.desktopManager.sessionCommands = ''
     ${pkgs.xfce.xfce4-notifyd}/lib/xfce4/notifyd/xfce4-notifyd &
'';

rzetterberg · 2021-01-27T09:06:39Z

I updated from 20.03 to 20.09 yesterday without any configuration changes and I got hit with the same problem.

Here's my metadata (Yes, I'm also using lambda as shell prompt 😄)

λ nix-shell -p nix-info --run "nix-info -m"
 - system: `"x86_64-linux"`
 - host os: `Linux 5.9.16, NixOS, 20.09.2674.a058d005b3c (Nightingale)`
 - multi-user?: `yes`
 - sandbox: `yes`
 - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.3.10`
 - channels(root): `"nixos-20.09.2674.a058d005b3c"`
 - nixpkgs: `/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos`

Also, I'm running xfce as DM (noDesktop = true; enableXfwm = false;) + Xmonad as WM.

As a workaround I created a systemd user service for xfce4-notifyd:

{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:

with lib;

let
  cfg = config.services.xfce4-notifyd;
in
  {
    options = {
      services.xfce4-notifyd = {
        enable = mkOption {
          type    = types.bool;
          default = false;
        };

        package = mkOption {
          type    = types.package;
          default = pkgs.xfce.xfce4-notifyd;
        };
      };
    };

    config = mkIf cfg.enable {
      systemd.user.services.xfce4-notifyd = {
        description = "XFCE4 notifyd";
        requires    = [ "graphical-session.target" ];
        after       = [ "graphical-session.target" ];

        serviceConfig = {
          ExecStart    = "${cfg.package}/lib/xfce4/notifyd/xfce4-notifyd";
          Restart      = "on-failure";
          RestartSec   = "1";
        };
      };
    };
  }

And then in my configuration.nix:

{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:

{
  imports = [
    ./xfce4-notifyd/default.nix
  ];

  services.xfce4-notifyd.enable = true;
}

Since I didn't restart my graphical session I just started it manually the first time:

systemctl --user start xfce4-notifyd

acarrico · 2021-03-03T15:43:50Z

Caution: when xfce4-notifyd is down, you may hit a severe issue with xfce4-power-manager which I've reported upstream in that link.

acarrico · 2021-03-03T15:54:58Z

@rzetterberg,

As a workaround I created a systemd user service for xfce4-notifyd:

Thanks, I haven't tried this method to make a systemd service before. Is there a way to restrict this to just xfce4 sessions?

acarrico · 2021-03-03T15:55:52Z

Also, has anyone tracked down the change that introduced the issue?

rzetterberg · 2021-03-04T10:08:22Z

@acarrico,

Thanks, I haven't tried this method to make a systemd service before. Is there a way to restrict this to just xfce4 sessions?

I don't think there's a streamlined way to do this, as graphical-session.target is used for all different session types.

Maybe you could change ExecStart to only run xfce4-notifyd when the environment variable DESKTOP_SESSION contain xfce.

stale · 2021-09-03T01:14:42Z

I marked this as stale due to inactivity. → More info

dminuoso · 2021-09-04T12:26:08Z

I just looked at it again and think I found the immediate problem.

xfce4-notifyd no longer carries the dbus-1 directories around in the share directory.

λ ~/ find /nix/store/vdxhkljhr4fzzcy17y29dm4kpn5zhxgx-xfce4-notifyd-0.2.4/share -name dbus-1                                                                                      ~
/nix/store/vdxhkljhr4fzzcy17y29dm4kpn5zhxgx-xfce4-notifyd-0.2.4/share/dbus-1
λ ~/ find /nix/store/r2k5w1vzmh5g3s6sdapmnffjyq9qki9l-xfce4-notifyd-0.6.2/share -name dbus-1                                                                                      ~
λ ~/

So this appears to be a regression at some point in 2020.

@romildo You seem to have bumped the package and done quite a bit work on xfce. Do you know what could be the cause or a fix here?

romildo · 2021-09-04T16:01:58Z

The following configure option is available:

--enable-dbus-start-daemon
                          Start daemon via DBus instead of regular session
                          autostart. (default=no)

We can try to enable it and see if it works for you.

Note that the default (autostart session) works for me with the default NixOS configuration for Xfce.

dminuoso · 2021-09-05T18:04:53Z

Thanks!

@romildo
The autostart file is indeed correctly provided, but that only helps if ones WM/DE is XDG Autostart compliant. Xmonad is not, which is why I was affected, other environments might also lack XDG Autostart.

Given the pull request I managed to track down the regression:
https://gitlab.xfce.org/apps/xfce4-notifyd/-/issues/27

As for everyone else, the linked PR is a permanent fix. Autostart users should not be affected. The following is a morally correct workaround until the PR hits a nix channel in case any other users are affected by this and don't want to wait.

let
  xfceOverlay = self: super: { xfce = super.xfce // {
      xfce4-notifyd = super.xfce.xfce4-notifyd.overrideAttrs (old: {
        configureFlags = (old.configureFlags or []) ++ [ "--enable-dbus-start-daemon" ];
      });
    };
  };
in
{
  config = {
    nixpkgs.overlays = [ xfceOverlay ];
  };
}

Once PR is merged I will close this issue.

rzetterberg · 2021-09-13T06:26:24Z

@dminuoso Nice workaround! Much cleaner than the one I suggested 👍

nixos-discourse · 2022-09-24T18:46:43Z

This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/help-xfce4-notifyd-seems-to-be-a-ghost-package/21966/1

dminuoso added the 0.kind: bug label Dec 9, 2020

veprbl added the 6.topic: nixos label Dec 10, 2020

veprbl added the 6.topic: xfce The Xfce Desktop Environment label Dec 10, 2020

fogti mentioned this issue Mar 6, 2021

nixos/xfce: enable notification daemon by default #115130

Merged

10 tasks

stale bot added the 2.status: stale https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/.github/STALE-BOT.md label Sep 3, 2021

stale bot removed the 2.status: stale https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/.github/STALE-BOT.md label Sep 4, 2021

romildo mentioned this issue Sep 4, 2021

xfce.xfce4-notifyd: enable starting the daemon via DBus #136705

Merged

12 tasks

romildo closed this as completed in #136705 Sep 11, 2021

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xfce4-notifyd is not started by dbus #106494

xfce4-notifyd is not started by dbus #106494

dminuoso commented Dec 9, 2020

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nixos-discourse commented Sep 24, 2022

xfce4-notifyd is not started by dbus #106494

xfce4-notifyd is not started by dbus #106494

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