Debian 8 Terminal no longer starts up

[bnvk]

I'm not really sure what happened, but as of early this week, after running normal Debian package update, the terminal app will no longer launch in either the debian-8 TemplateVM or any of my AppVMs based on this template. Launching terminal looks like it is going to start up, but after the icon bounces up and down for a few moments it then disappears and never launches.

However, running Chromium from my AppVMs based on my debian-8 template still seems to run.

[marmarek]

Try starting xterm and check locale output - you'll probably receive
some error - please tell what exactly message is.

Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[marmarek]

Try starting xterm and check locale output - you'll probably receive
some error - please tell what exactly message is.

Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[bnvk]

@marmarek I added XTerm to the TemplateVM launcher and ran it. Then I typed locale into that terminal. Here is the printout

user@debian-8:~$ local
locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MOENTARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=
user@devian-8~$

[bnvk]

@marmarek I added XTerm to the TemplateVM launcher and ran it. Then I typed locale into that terminal. Here is the printout

user@debian-8:~$ local
locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MOENTARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=
user@devian-8~$

[marmarek]

Ok, so you don't have en_US.UTF-8 locale generated - run sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales and make sure the entry en_US.UTF-8 is
selected.
I'll add some script to somehow automate this task...

Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[marmarek]

Ok, so you don't have en_US.UTF-8 locale generated - run sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales and make sure the entry en_US.UTF-8 is
selected.
I'll add some script to somehow automate this task...

Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[marmarek]

@adrelanos what is the best way to fix this problem? Changing
/etc/locale.gen in qubes-agent-linux.postinst doesn't look like the
cleanest solution... The problem is that users already have system
installed and if selected locale isn't generated, some applications
(notably gnome-terminal) doesn't work at all. So we need some solution
for already installed systems, not only for fresh template installs.
Maybe pulling locales-all package is the way to go?

Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[marmarek]

@adrelanos what is the best way to fix this problem? Changing
/etc/locale.gen in qubes-agent-linux.postinst doesn't look like the
cleanest solution... The problem is that users already have system
installed and if selected locale isn't generated, some applications
(notably gnome-terminal) doesn't work at all. So we need some solution
for already installed systems, not only for fresh template installs.
Maybe pulling locales-all package is the way to go?

Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[adrelanos]

Not sure. This is essentially what @grml -debootstrap does during build.

[ -n "$DEFAULT_LANGUAGE" ] || DEFAULT_LANGUAGE='en_US:en'
[ -n "$DEFAULT_LOCALES" ] || DEFAULT_LOCALES='en_US.UTF-8'
/usr/sbin/update-locale LANGUAGE="$DEFAULT_LANGUAGE" LANG="$DEFAULT_LOCALES"

Does that help, fix it? Do you have instructions on how to force/reproduce this issue? Then I might be able to research how to fix this.

I also think inventing code to write to /etc/locale.gen is too hacky/unstable. If still needed, we could try reusing code from /var/lib/dpkg/info/locales.postinst.

If still it would fix this reliably, I guess installing the locales-all package by making it a dependency would also be an acceptable solution. Not great. (Not most minimal image.) But nevermind.

Edit:

• grml-debootstrap also copies locale.gen to /etc/locale.gen
• (The content of /etc/locale.gen is en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8.)

[adrelanos]

Not sure. This is essentially what @grml -debootstrap does during build.

[ -n "$DEFAULT_LANGUAGE" ] || DEFAULT_LANGUAGE='en_US:en'
[ -n "$DEFAULT_LOCALES" ] || DEFAULT_LOCALES='en_US.UTF-8'
/usr/sbin/update-locale LANGUAGE="$DEFAULT_LANGUAGE" LANG="$DEFAULT_LOCALES"

Does that help, fix it? Do you have instructions on how to force/reproduce this issue? Then I might be able to research how to fix this.

I also think inventing code to write to /etc/locale.gen is too hacky/unstable. If still needed, we could try reusing code from /var/lib/dpkg/info/locales.postinst.

If still it would fix this reliably, I guess installing the locales-all package by making it a dependency would also be an acceptable solution. Not great. (Not most minimal image.) But nevermind.

Edit:

• grml-debootstrap also copies locale.gen to /etc/locale.gen
• (The content of /etc/locale.gen is en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8.)

[bnvk]

@marmarek thanks much. Setting the locale solved the issue and I can now run Terminal again.

Regarding @adrelanos question, I'm not sure what caused the issue exactly, but I just opened #1196 as I've been having weird issues updating my debian-8 TemplaceVM for the last week or two and the Terminal / locale issue might be correlated!

[bnvk]

@marmarek thanks much. Setting the locale solved the issue and I can now run Terminal again.

Regarding @adrelanos question, I'm not sure what caused the issue exactly, but I just opened #1196 as I've been having weird issues updating my debian-8 TemplaceVM for the last week or two and the Terminal / locale issue might be correlated!

[marmarek]

On Sat, Sep 19, 2015 at 09:17:15PM -0700, Patrick Schleizer wrote:

Does that help, fix it?

No, the problem is when the locale is set to value not present in
/etc/locale.gen, it will not be regenerated. And even worse - when
generated manually, it will be removed on next locale-gen run (for
example locales package upgrade.
By default /etc/locale.gen contains only comments.

Do you have instructions on how to force/reproduce this issue? Then I might be able to research how to fix this.

Ensure you have unmodified /etc/locale.gen, then call locale-gen (as
it would be called on locales package upgrade). You'll see that
locale command returns errors now and gnome-terminal isn't working.

Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[marmarek]

On Sat, Sep 19, 2015 at 09:17:15PM -0700, Patrick Schleizer wrote:

Does that help, fix it?

No, the problem is when the locale is set to value not present in
/etc/locale.gen, it will not be regenerated. And even worse - when
generated manually, it will be removed on next locale-gen run (for
example locales package upgrade.
By default /etc/locale.gen contains only comments.

Do you have instructions on how to force/reproduce this issue? Then I might be able to research how to fix this.

Ensure you have unmodified /etc/locale.gen, then call locale-gen (as
it would be called on locales package upgrade). You'll see that
locale command returns errors now and gnome-terminal isn't working.

Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[marmarek]

@adrelanos how should we proceed here? Install locales-all or some better idea?
Does apt-get install the Recommends: packages on dist-upgrade? If not, how this should be done (to not force locales-all in minimal template at the same time)?

[marmarek]

@adrelanos how should we proceed here? Install locales-all or some better idea?
Does apt-get install the Recommends: packages on dist-upgrade? If not, how this should be done (to not force locales-all in minimal template at the same time)?

[adrelanos]

I don't know yet.

Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:

Does apt-get install the Recommends: packages on dist-upgrade?

Definitively not.

If not, how this should be done (to not force locales-all in minimal template at the same time)?

There is no great solution to this. As a technical limitation of apt (and others), there is no such thing as a "weak dependency". What you could do is inventing a qubes-recommended-packages meta package, that depends on locales-all. Not great. I would suggest to not care about minimal templates. If it helps, just install locales-all. It's not that big.

[adrelanos]

I don't know yet.

Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:

Does apt-get install the Recommends: packages on dist-upgrade?

Definitively not.

If not, how this should be done (to not force locales-all in minimal template at the same time)?

There is no great solution to this. As a technical limitation of apt (and others), there is no such thing as a "weak dependency". What you could do is inventing a qubes-recommended-packages meta package, that depends on locales-all. Not great. I would suggest to not care about minimal templates. If it helps, just install locales-all. It's not that big.

[desci]

sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales on the debian-8 template haven't helped, when trying to launch terminal from menu in an AppVM with debian-8 template, it still doesn't show up. Also, once it crashed the Qubes VM Manager.

I'm still right-clicking on the AppVM and running x-terminal-emulator.

PS: I used "pt_BR.UTF-8" as locale.

PS²: I have Qubes 3.0 rc3.

[desci]

sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales on the debian-8 template haven't helped, when trying to launch terminal from menu in an AppVM with debian-8 template, it still doesn't show up. Also, once it crashed the Qubes VM Manager.

I'm still right-clicking on the AppVM and running x-terminal-emulator.

PS: I used "pt_BR.UTF-8" as locale.

PS²: I have Qubes 3.0 rc3.

[desci]

The fix provided in #1182 (using en_US.UTF-8) seemed to have no effect whatsoever.

Also, adding Xterm and UXterm shortcuts on the menu also won't work.

"Run command in VM" from right-clicking in the AppVM on Qubes VM Manager is the only thing that works, giving the user these options:

x-terminal-emulator
gnome-terminal
xterm
uxterm

debian-7 TemplateVM doesn't seem to be affected, nor its AppVMs.

[desci]

The fix provided in #1182 (using en_US.UTF-8) seemed to have no effect whatsoever.

Also, adding Xterm and UXterm shortcuts on the menu also won't work.

"Run command in VM" from right-clicking in the AppVM on Qubes VM Manager is the only thing that works, giving the user these options:

x-terminal-emulator
gnome-terminal
xterm
uxterm

debian-7 TemplateVM doesn't seem to be affected, nor its AppVMs.

[marmarek]

Try installing updates, similar problem (about missing python-dbus
package) was recently fixed. The locale problem affected only
gnome-terminal, not xterm.

Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[marmarek]

Try installing updates, similar problem (about missing python-dbus
package) was recently fixed. The locale problem affected only
gnome-terminal, not xterm.

Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[desci]

The locale problem affected only gnome-terminal, not xterm.

As I stated, my AppVMs relying on debian-8 TemplateVM won't start anything from the KDE menu.

Also, I can no longer use commands like "attach/detach audio/bloc device" from within the Qubes VM Manager on those AppVMs.

They're only usable when I "run command in VM" and x-terminal-emulator.

I am forced to use debian-7 for all my non Fedora work (Mumble, for instance).

[desci]

The locale problem affected only gnome-terminal, not xterm.

As I stated, my AppVMs relying on debian-8 TemplateVM won't start anything from the KDE menu.

Also, I can no longer use commands like "attach/detach audio/bloc device" from within the Qubes VM Manager on those AppVMs.

They're only usable when I "run command in VM" and x-terminal-emulator.

I am forced to use debian-7 for all my non Fedora work (Mumble, for instance).

[desci]

Just backed up everything, installed R3 and restored backup.

AppVM previously relying on debian-7 TemplateVM was assigned to debian-8 TemplateVM and seems to be working.

Not sure how people who had installed R3 rc3 will deal with this, though.

[desci]

Just backed up everything, installed R3 and restored backup.

AppVM previously relying on debian-7 TemplateVM was assigned to debian-8 TemplateVM and seems to be working.

Not sure how people who had installed R3 rc3 will deal with this, though.

[adrelanos]

It seems "just install locales-all" is the "easy, magic fix" here, no? I think that is much better than troubling more with config file edit by scripts and manual locale generation.

My suggestion is:

• remove all the custom code
• install locales-all
• minimal templates complaints (I doubt that) -> patches welcome

One day, for multiple languages support, we'd need this anyhow, no?

[adrelanos]

It seems "just install locales-all" is the "easy, magic fix" here, no? I think that is much better than troubling more with config file edit by scripts and manual locale generation.

My suggestion is:

• remove all the custom code
• install locales-all
• minimal templates complaints (I doubt that) -> patches welcome

One day, for multiple languages support, we'd need this anyhow, no?

[marmarek]

On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 09:18:07AM -0700, Patrick Schleizer wrote:

• install locales-all

Ok, so it should go to Depends:, right?

One day, for multiple languages support, we'd need this anyhow, no?

Yes, probably.

Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[marmarek]

On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 09:18:07AM -0700, Patrick Schleizer wrote:

• install locales-all

Ok, so it should go to Depends:, right?

One day, for multiple languages support, we'd need this anyhow, no?

Yes, probably.

Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[adrelanos]

Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:

On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 09:18:07AM -0700, Patrick Schleizer wrote:

• install locales-all

Ok, so it should go to Depends:, right?

Yes.

(I see no other way to install it / fix it on existing systems.)

[adrelanos]

Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:

On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 09:18:07AM -0700, Patrick Schleizer wrote:

• install locales-all

Ok, so it should go to Depends:, right?

Yes.

(I see no other way to install it / fix it on existing systems.)

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-vm-3.0.19-1.fc20 has been pushed to the r3.0 testing repository for the Fedora fc20 template.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo yum update --enablerepo=qubes-vm-r3.0-current-testing

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-vm-3.0.19-1.fc20 has been pushed to the r3.0 testing repository for the Fedora fc20 template.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo yum update --enablerepo=qubes-vm-r3.0-current-testing

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-vm-3.0.19-1.fc21 has been pushed to the r3.0 testing repository for the Fedora fc21 template.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo yum update --enablerepo=qubes-vm-r3.0-current-testing

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-vm-3.0.19-1.fc21 has been pushed to the r3.0 testing repository for the Fedora fc21 template.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo yum update --enablerepo=qubes-vm-r3.0-current-testing

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-agent_3.0.19-1+deb8u1 has been pushed to the r3.0 testing repository for the Debian jessie template.
To test this update, first enable the testing repository in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qubes-*.list by uncommenting the line containing jessie-testing, then use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-agent_3.0.19-1+deb8u1 has been pushed to the r3.0 testing repository for the Debian jessie template.
To test this update, first enable the testing repository in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qubes-*.list by uncommenting the line containing jessie-testing, then use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-agent_3.0.19-1+deb7u1 has been pushed to the r3.0 testing repository for the Debian wheezy template.
To test this update, first enable the testing repository in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qubes-*.list by uncommenting the line containing wheezy-testing, then use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-agent_3.0.19-1+deb7u1 has been pushed to the r3.0 testing repository for the Debian wheezy template.
To test this update, first enable the testing repository in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qubes-*.list by uncommenting the line containing wheezy-testing, then use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

[adrelanos]

The sudo apt-get install locales-all approach has worked for another existing user. (https://www.whonix.org/forum/index.php/topic,1855.0.html) I think the above commit is a good solution.

[adrelanos]

The sudo apt-get install locales-all approach has worked for another existing user. (https://www.whonix.org/forum/index.php/topic,1855.0.html) I think the above commit is a good solution.

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-vm-3.0.19-1.fc20 has been pushed to the r3.0 stable repository for the Fedora fc20 template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo yum update

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-vm-3.0.19-1.fc20 has been pushed to the r3.0 stable repository for the Fedora fc20 template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo yum update

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-vm-3.0.19-1.fc21 has been pushed to the r3.0 stable repository for the Fedora fc21 template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo yum update

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-vm-3.0.19-1.fc21 has been pushed to the r3.0 stable repository for the Fedora fc21 template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo yum update

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-agent_3.0.19-1+deb8u1 has been pushed to the r3.0 stable repository for the Debian jessie template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes included in this update

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-agent_3.0.19-1+deb8u1 has been pushed to the r3.0 stable repository for the Debian jessie template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes included in this update

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-agent_3.0.19-1+deb7u1 has been pushed to the r3.0 stable repository for the Debian wheezy template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes included in this update

[marmarek]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-agent_3.0.19-1+deb7u1 has been pushed to the r3.0 stable repository for the Debian wheezy template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes included in this update

[v6ak]

Because I have a VM with 1GiB root filesystem, adding locales-all was a space issue for me. So I have created following exclusion file:
https://gist.github.com/v6ak/b3cfbb9de5101d5393fd

Reinstall of some packages is needed after adding the file to /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/ .

[v6ak]

Because I have a VM with 1GiB root filesystem, adding locales-all was a space issue for me. So I have created following exclusion file:
https://gist.github.com/v6ak/b3cfbb9de5101d5393fd

Reinstall of some packages is needed after adding the file to /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/ .

[adrelanos]

I didn't know about the path-exclude feature yet. Thanks for sharing!

[adrelanos]

I didn't know about the path-exclude feature yet. Thanks for sharing!