Re: [gdm-list] at-spi-registryd not starting automatically in gdm [was multiple at-spi...]

[Francesco Fumanti <francesco fumanti gmx net>]

Hi Brian,


> > PS: Meanwhile, I suspect the XEVIE error that I mentioned in a 
> > previous email is due to the fact that I tried to start it with a 
> > terminal remotely through X and my local X server does not offer 
> > the necessary lib. (at-spi-registryd does start automatically in 
> > the gnome session, and also by a dwell gesture in the gdm session)
>
> So perhaps you are only saying that at-spi-registryd doesn't startup
> for remote sessions?  If a dwell gesture to start GOK, orca, or
> gnopernicus works on a local X server, then the existing logic
> probably just doesn't work in a remote situation.  I don't see
> any code disabling the startup of at-spi-registryd in a remote
> case.

Here is the error message that I was talking about:

[code]
frafu UbuntuDesktop:~$ /usr/lib/at-spi/at-spi-registryd &
[1] 10245
frafu UbuntuDesktop:~$ Xlib:  extension "XEVIE" missing on display ":0.0".

frafu UbuntuDesktop:~$
[/code]

Meanwhile, I have discovered (by doing several tests with enabling 
and disabling Assistive Technology in gnome sessions) that the error 
message seems not to be relevant regarding the starting of 
at-spi-registryd, because at-spi-registryd gets started despite the 
error message. And I am able to use mousetweaks, which requires 
at-spi. (But I don't know whether all applications requiring at-spi 
will run.)


Please, do not get me wrong: at-spi-registryd still does not 
automatically start at the gdmlogin session started remotely through 
NX from nomachine.com .

I don't have the possibility to try it locally. (at least moment)





> > Sorry, my assertion of at-spi-registryd being probably disabled on 
> > purpose was not correct; here is what Sebastien Bacher replied to 
> > me on the ubuntu-desktop mailing list; Sebastien Bacher is the 
> > maintainer of the desktop for ubuntu:
>
> I'm glad to hear that Sebastien is not applying patches to disable
> a11y on Ubuntu.  The problem must, as he suggests, be upstream.  That
> said, it seems to work okay on Solaris.


As the problem is probably upstream, I also filed a bug against gdm 
in gnome. Here are the urls filed in ubuntu and gnome:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/gdm/+bug/135903

http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=471978


> Note the code in gui/gdmcommon.c, the function gdm_common_atspi_launch
> which calls pre_atspi_launch in the same file.  It assumes that
> at-spi-registryd is in LIBEXECDIR.  If it is in a different location
> on your system, this could cause the problem.  I don't see any other
> obvious things that would make the code not work on a different
> platform.  You mention it fails when you log in remotely.  If it
> works when you log in locally, then perhaps the current code is
> broken for the remote case.

Here is the full path:  /usr/lib/at-spi/at-spi-registryd
I don't know yet how to look whether it is in LIBEXECDIR. I have to 
look that up how to check it.


> I'd recommend inserting gdm_debug calls into this area of the code to see
> what the code is doing and to print out any failure return codes, etc.
> Then I'd run make and in the build tree do the following
>
> export DOING_GDM_DEVELOPMENT=1
> ./gdmlogin
>
> Setting this environment variable allows you to run the GUI programs
> like gdmlogin and gdmgreeter from a logged in session for debugging
> and theme development purposes.  However, the code to call
> gdm_common_atspi_launch in gui/gdmlogin.c is only executed if
> DOING_GDM_DEVELOPMENT is not true, so you'll need to comment
> out those if-tests so it always calls the function.  Normally
> you don't want it to try to start the registry daemon in this
> mode because the user should already have one running if they
> need it.  And it will fail to start if one is already running.
> But if you run your desktop without accessibility turned off,
> then you can see if running gdmlogin this way starts it.  This
> might be easier than however you are testing this issue now.

I am currently trying this. Could you please give me the prototype of 
the gdm_debug function, and tell me what header to include in 
gdmlogin.c for the gdm_debug function?



> Note you can also test gestures in this way if you run gdmlogin
> or gdmgreeter with the GTK_MODULES environment variable set to
> the value in the GDM configuration file.
>
> Also note you can turn on debugging in the gesture modules by
> setting the GDM_DEBUG_GESTURES=1 environment variable or turn
> it on in the GDM configuration.

That is good to know.



> > Moreover, the fact that at-spi-registryd starts automatically in 
> > Ubuntu 7.04 could be seen as a confirmation of that fact; I just 
> > checked it. (I am using normally Ubuntu 7.10)
>
> So you are saying it worked in 7.04 but doesn't in 7.10.  We changed
> the way GDM starts at-spi-registryd in GDM 2.17.1, and a similar
> change went into gnome-session.  The "new" way of launching
> at-spi-registryd hasn't changed significantly since then.  Does
> at-spi-registryd require the gdm user have a writable $HOME
> directory now or something?  This is a common reason some
> programs will fail to startup if you try to run them from GDM.

Does the fact, that I am able to start at-spi-registryd with a dwell 
gesture not exclude the problem of a writeable $HOME directory? If I 
remember correctly, when I start it with a gesture, it runs under the 
user gdm.


Cheers

Francesco