[GRLUG] odd GNOME app behavior for one user but not another

john-thomas richards jtr at jrichards.org
Sun Dec 2 17:50:58 EST 2007


On Sat, Dec 01, 2007 at 09:15:34PM -0500, Raymond McLaughlin wrote:
> Don Wood wrote:
> > On Sat, 2007-12-01 at 15:00 -0500, john-thomas richards wrote:
> >> My wife has a problem with a GNOME app (gnomesword) that I do not have
> >> on the same machine.  When I am logged in the app runs just fine.  When
> >> she tries to run it, she gets an error message that states, "The
> >> Application 'gnomesword' has quit unexpectedly."  Nothing else.  When
> >> she starts the app from a commandline, the only output from the app is
> >> "Initiating GNOME session handler" and then another prompt (after the
> >> GNOME dialog box is closed).  I deleted the subdirectory containing all
> >> the gnomesword settings.  This is regenerated when gnomesword is run
> >> for the "first" time (in that there are no prior settings).  The app
> >> will not start.  Whenever I run it, it works just fine.  What really
> >> puzzles me is that this is on the same machine.  Any ideas?
> >
> > any files for this app in her home dir in .gnome2 or .gnome_private?
> I was going to suggest this too. I'm mostly a KDE guy, but I have used
> some gnome apps (evolution for one) and been frustrated that some but
> not all the settings were kept in it's own dot folder. Definitely grep
> around in .gnome or .gnome2, or what ever, for any references to the
> app. It could be something as simple as an impossible window size
> (like
> with a negative number) in a recent programs description.
>
> If this yields no joy, and you want to fight with it you can create a
> new user, log in as this new user and make sure gnomesword works for
> this user. Backup  this new user's config (~/.gnome*) then start
> copying
> config files from you wife's folder to the new user's. When the app
> breaks you've found your.
>
> A root shell would be handy here. Start with the most likely sounding
> filenames first, and don't forget to chown them so the new user has
> full
> access to them.

Here is the content of the ~/.gnome2/gnomesword config file:

djr at bird:~/.gnome2$ cat gnomesword 

[Placement]
Dock=toolbarNav\\0,1,0,0\\Menubar\\0,0,0,0


I am not sure what this means.  (Buehler?)

I have not found any other files that appear related to this app.  I will
keep searching, though.
-- 
john-thomas
------
The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It
will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.
Robert Maynard Hutchins, educator (1899-1977)


More information about the grlug mailing list