X11 session fails to start on Ubuntu Jammy

[kgilmer]

This issue is found in unstable, containing the latest package versions.

STR:

1. Install regolith x11 session into Ubuntu Jammy 22.04.04
2. Log into Regolith X11 session

Expected: see desktop
Actual: "error occurred", returns to login screen

Attached log file does not seem to provide a smoking gun, but that for some reason the x11 session is being started multiple times. Wondering if @SoumyaRanjanPatnaik has any thoughts on how to further troubleshoot.

[kgilmer]

log.txt

Log snippet at time of session init

[kgilmer]

Posit of multiple instances of i3 being launched from this log line:

Jun 16 10:54:38 testy-ubuntu-jammy regolith-session-x11[2077]: 06/16/2024 10:54:38 AM - [libi3] ERROR: Refusing to create UNIX socket at /run/user/1000/i3/ipc-socket.1949: Socket is already in use

[kgilmer]

Issue seems only to be present on Jammy. Noble X11 and Sway sessions via lightdm and gdm3 start successfully.

[SoumyaRanjanPatnaik]

Posit of multiple instances of i3 being launched from this log line:

Jun 16 10:54:38 testy-ubuntu-jammy regolith-session-x11[2077]: 06/16/2024 10:54:38 AM - [libi3] ERROR: Refusing to create UNIX socket at /run/user/1000/i3/ipc-socket.1949: Sock eet is already in use

I see this line in the logs indicating i3 being started by regolith-x11.desktop, with pid 1894.

Jun 16 10:54:38 testy-ubuntu-jammy regolith-x11.desktop[1894]: Regolith is launching i3 with /etc/regolith/i3/config

Later, regolith-session-x11 seems to start i3, this time with pid 2050.

Jun 16 10:54:38 testy-ubuntu-jammy regolith-session-x11[2050]: Regolith is launching i3 with /etc/regolith/i3/config

Its pretty clear there are two seperate instances of i3 being started.

[SoumyaRanjanPatnaik]

I think I've found the problem:

On jammy, session management is not delegated to systemd and should be handled by gnome-session due to the --builtin . systemd should only be used on bionic, buster, noble and trixie. However, the logs seem to indicate that systemd is also for some reason starting the session.

Jun 16 10:54:38 testy-ubuntu-jammy systemd[1417]: Starting Regolith Session for i3...

This means, both gnome-session and systemd are trying to start the session, casuing a race condition between both the sessions. The one that starts i3 first will succeed in acquiring the socket and the second instance will fail.

[SoumyaRanjanPatnaik]

Possible fix in #37.

The target file for both the sessions had a Wants directive that tried to start the session via systemd. This means, starting target files causes the systemd to start the corresponding services, leading to double session start.