Ubuntu
accountsservice package

"Language for menus and windows" is not saved if .profile is missing

Bug #1018621 reported by Martin Thøgersen on 2012-06-27

This bug affects 8 people

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	accountsservice (Ubuntu)	Fix Released	Medium	Gunnar Hjalmarsson
	Precise	Fix Released	Undecided	Gunnar Hjalmarsson

Bug Description

[SRU test case]
Currently, to test if HOME is available, accountsservice in precise tests for the existence of ~/.profile, and if ~/.profile isn't found, no changes of the language settings are made.

To reproduce the bug you can
1. rename your ~/.profile (temporarily)
2. try to change the user language

This will fail with the misplaced message "not access to HOME yet so language not saved".

The attached patch 0010-set-language.patch_precise-SRU.diff changes the behavior, so as soon as the resulting branch is available in precise-proposed, you'll be able to verify that the HOME availability test is no longer dependent of the existence of ~/.profile.

[Original description]
I had problems with changing language from english (to danish). It's not being applied, even after re-login/reboot.

1) Open gnome-language-selector
2) Install wanted language (if not already installed, in my case Danish)
3) Drag the wanted language to top of list (above english)
4) Push close
5) Logout/login
6) Menus and windows are still english (e.g. gnome-panel, firefox menus).
7) Re-open gnome-language-selector > Changes not applied (english on top as original).

Even tried reboot under 5), still didn't work.

The problem can also be reproduced just by reopening gnome-language-selector just after closing it, and verify changes are not applied, i.e. 1)+3)+4) + 7).

# Here's the root cause:
In step 3) when "slipping" the dragged language, following message occurs:
===============================================
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/LanguageSelector/gtk/GtkLanguageSelector.py", line 62, in wrapper
    res = f(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/LanguageSelector/gtk/GtkLanguageSelector.py", line 1047, in on_treeview_locales_drag_end
    self.writeUserLanguage(envLanguage)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/LanguageSelector/gtk/GtkLanguageSelector.py", line 800, in writeUserLanguage
    self.writeUserLanguageSetting(userLanguage=languageString)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/LanguageSelector/LanguageSelector.py", line 83, in writeUserLanguageSetting
    iface.SetLanguage(userLanguage)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line 70, in __call__
    return self._proxy_method(*args, **keywords)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line 145, in __call__
    **keywords)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbus/connection.py", line 651, in call_blocking
    message, timeout)
dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.Accounts.Error.Failed: not access to HOME yet so language not saved
===============================================

The last line " not access to HOME yet so language not saved" made me investigate conf files in my homedir. I noticed that ~/.profile did not exist (my system has been upgraded many times and home conf files have long history).
This fixed the problem:
$ echo "" > ~/.profile
No errors at all, configuration stored on reopen, and re-login applies language change to menus.
However, nothing seems to be written to .profile, neither before/after re-login! It's still empty!

If I remove ~/.profile the bug re-appears completely. I.e.
bug appears if and only if ~.profile is missing.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: language-selector-gnome 0.79
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-26.41-generic 3.2.19
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-26-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu10
Architecture: i386
CheckboxSubmission: 7a947f7b03ad4cd4dfd27d0dc7c36d60
CheckboxSystem: daed2f3d6643b4a84b4520a2427f8c2b
Date: Wed Jun 27 23:22:50 2012
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/gnome-language-selector
InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/python2.7
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: language-selector
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-06-17 (10 days ago)

See original description

Tags:

Revision history for this message

Martin Thøgersen (martint) wrote on 2012-06-27:

Dependencies.txt Edit (5.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcEnviron.txt Edit (300 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcMaps.txt Edit (34.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcStatus.txt Edit (822 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")

Revision history for this message

Nils Rennebarth (nils-rennebarth) wrote on 2012-07-26:

Yes, I can confirm the bug as well as the solution.

Please: Can someone who knows the package can look into it. With this information it should be easy to fix.

Revision history for this message

Steve Langasek (vorlon) wrote on 2012-08-11:

This error message comes from the accountsservice package. Reassigning.

affects:	language-selector (Ubuntu) → accountsservice (Ubuntu)
Changed in accountsservice (Ubuntu):
importance:	Undecided → Medium
status:	New → Triaged

Revision history for this message

Vasil Yakauleu (vasilbelarus) wrote on 2012-09-06:

Yesterday I installed Ubuntu 12.04 and latest updates, changing language work fine now!

Revision history for this message

Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj) wrote on 2012-09-06:

Thanks for taking the time to report this issue!

This is the code in accountsservice (user_change_language_authorized_cb() in src/user.c):

gchar *profile_path = g_build_path ("/", user->home_dir, ".profile", NULL);
if (!g_file_test (profile_path, G_FILE_TEST_IS_REGULAR)) {

                /* SetLanguage was probably called from a login greeter,
                   and HOME not mounted and/or not decrypted.
                   Hence don't save anything, or else accountsservice
                   and ~/.pam_environment would become out of sync. */
                throw_error (context, ERROR_FAILED, "not access to HOME yet so language not saved");
                goto out2;
        }

As you can see, the purpose of the test whether ~/.profile exists is to find out whether HOME is available (please note that /etc/skel includes the file .profile, at least in the latest Ubuntu releases). If there is a safer way to test for the availability of HOME, please let me know, and I'll be happy to submit a suitable merge proposal.

Changed in accountsservice (Ubuntu):
assignee:	nobody → Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)
status:	Triaged → In Progress

Revision history for this message

Eric Rasche (rasche-eric) wrote on 2012-09-08:

Gunnar, I've this bug affects me too. It took a long time to actually track down this "bug" as being the cause of the problem. Given that there are very few items in /etc/skel (.profile, .bash_logout, .bashrc); .profile makes the most sense as a decent test since many people change default shell and there's no guarantee on .bashrc/.bash_logout existing.

That said, I would think that users would benefit from simply changing the error message here. Instead of seeing "no access to HOME", maybe something more descriptive like

"No access to ~/.profile or ~/.profile does not exist, so language not saved."

Revision history for this message

Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj) wrote on 2012-09-17:

0010-set-language.patch.diff Edit (3.5 KiB, text/plain)

Instead of changing the error message I propose a code change so that the availability of HOME is tested independently of the existence of ~/.profile. Since lp:ubuntu/accountsservice doesn't give me the latest accountsservice branch (which it should), I added an attachment which is a diff that can be applied to the latest version of 0010-set-language.patch.

A quantal build of accountsservice, with the proposed code change, is available in my PPA at https://launchpad.net/~gunnarhj/+archive/misc

tags:

added: patch

Revision history for this message

Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton) wrote on 2012-09-17:

The attachment "0010-set-language.patch.diff" of this bug report has been identified as being a patch. The ubuntu-reviewers team has been subscribed to the bug report so that they can review the patch. In the event that this is in fact not a patch you can resolve this situation by removing the tag 'patch' from the bug report and editing the attachment so that it is not flagged as a patch. Additionally, if you are member of the ubuntu-reviewers team please also unsubscribe the team from this bug report.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by Brian Murray. Please contact him regarding any issues with the action taken in this bug report.]

Revision history for this message

Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2012-09-17:

This bug was fixed in the package accountsservice - 0.6.21-6ubuntu4

---------------
accountsservice (0.6.21-6ubuntu4) quantal; urgency=low

* 0010-set-language.patch: Fix saving of language selection if ~/.profile
does not exist. (LP: #1018621)
-- Gunnar Hjalmarsson <email address hidden> Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:26:29 +0200

Changed in accountsservice (Ubuntu):
status:	In Progress → Fix Released

Revision history for this message

Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj) wrote on 2012-09-24:

#10

0010-set-language.patch_precise-SRU.diff Edit (2.7 KiB, text/plain)

Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj) on 2012-09-24

description:	updated
Changed in accountsservice (Ubuntu Precise):
assignee:	nobody → Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)
status:	New → In Progress

Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj) on 2012-09-24

description:

updated

Revision history for this message

Clint Byrum (clint-fewbar) wrote on 2012-10-04: Please test proposed package

#11

Hello Martin, or anyone else affected,

Accepted accountsservice into precise-proposed. The package will build now and be available at http://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/accountsservice/0.6.15-2ubuntu9.4 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please change the bug tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not, change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

Changed in accountsservice (Ubuntu Precise):
status:	In Progress → Fix Committed
tags:	added: verification-needed

Revision history for this message

Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj) wrote on 2012-10-05:

#12

I have successfully installed and run the amd64 build of accountsservice 0.6.15-2ubuntu9.4. It allows me to change the language settings even if ~/.profile does not exist.

tags:

added: verification-done
removed: verification-needed

Revision history for this message

Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2012-10-12:

#13

This bug was fixed in the package accountsservice - 0.6.15-2ubuntu9.4

---------------
accountsservice (0.6.15-2ubuntu9.4) precise-proposed; urgency=low

* 0010-set-language.patch: Fix saving of language selection if ~/.profile
does not exist. (LP: #1018621)
-- Gunnar Hjalmarsson <email address hidden> Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:14:17 +0200

Changed in accountsservice (Ubuntu Precise):
status:	Fix Committed → Fix Released

Revision history for this message

Scott Kitterman (kitterman) wrote on 2012-10-12: Update Released

#14

The verification of this Stable Release Update has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regresssions.