kdm configuration can't be saved

Thanks for submitting this issue and helping make Kubuntu better!

What is the home directory that is configured for the particular user. It looks like it is set to /var/lib/kdm, which it certainly should *not* be!

Thanks again for your support!

The kdm configuration should have nothing to do with the user's home directory, or am I missing something?

Kdm saves the changes that a user makes to the default configuration inside a directory inside the user's home directory. Kdm cannot be started without having access to those files.

However, maybe I misread the meaning of the issue with adduser.

Could you please provide us with the associated dpkg log in /var/log to be able to see the context of the error message.

Thanks

I get the same error. my dpkg.log is empty. More on this - the settings seem only to relate to kdmrc (login screen). The login screen settings window is also missing the theme on qt4 libraries which probably points to misconfigured root settings. But I do not know how to check.

Setting the report back to incomplete, we do need logs in order to work on it.

Sorry for the late reply.

I'm attaching dpkg.log and term.log. You can find the relevant entries by looking for "kdm (4:4.4.85-0ubuntu1~lucid1~ppa1)" in them. Let me know if you need any other file or information.

As you can see, I tried reinstalling kdm several times to try to correct the bug but the result was always the same. I can confirm that my settings window is also missing the theme of the rest of the desktop so I think it's the same kind of bug that Sic Volo is suffering.

Here is term.log.

I am also having the same problem. login screen setting window is missing the theme. And also the settings can not be changed, same as the error

"Unable to install new kdmrc file from
/tmp/kde-root/kcmshellik4466.tmp
and new backgroundrc file from
/tmp/kde-root/kcmshelldT4466.tmp"

Has this got anything to do with the new user/group kdm? I've not experienced the problems above as I now normally edit /etc/kde4/kdm/kdmrc by hand now so that it keeps the comments and format of the original file.

I have attached a copy of my kdmrc.

At least, I got back my previous user in the login box.
I did this by either:
- Remarking out (with a prepending #) the line 'GreeterUID=kdm' in the [General] section of the file /etc/kde4/kdm/kdmrc.
    - OR -
- By changing the owner of the folder /var/lib/kdm (and all the files inside it) to the user kdm.

Still the buttons in the login window are not working at all for me.
I can only log in by pressing 'enter'.
The buttons to change session, to shutdown and to login simply do nothing.

The login screen buttons are working with middle click, see https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=239006

I have the same problem. In addition the theme of the config dialog is not oxygen or plastiqe but its like windows theme. This info might help I guess.

Same here, all ownership settings are correct

I have this same problem.

I also got that "funny" message from adduser concerning the directory "/var/lib/kdm". Unfortunately I don't have that message anymore.

My /etc/passwd contains this line:

kdm:x:116:126:KDE Display Manager,,,:/var/lib/kdm:/bin/false

That directory has this contents and owners:

$ ls -la /var/lib/kdm/
insgesamt 12
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-03-14 16:43 .
drwxr-xr-x 64 root root 4096 2010-05-01 00:54 ..
-rw------- 1 root root 18 2010-03-14 16:43 kdmsts

So I guess something's fishy here already.

Now, KDM seems to have a configuration here:

$ ls -l /etc/kde4/kdm/
insgesamt 60
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 312 2009-10-23 14:18 backgroundrc
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 181 2010-05-23 19:57 kdm.options
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 23077 2010-06-10 15:15 kdmrc

Is this not used anymore? Doesn't seem like it because

# Greeter config for local displays
[X-:*-Greeter]
# See above
PreselectUser=Previous

seems to have no effekt whatsoever.

So:
- Where should the kdmrc really be located?
- When did this location change?
- Is /var/lib/kdm the correct location?
- Should this directory belong to the user kdm? The (spanish?) error message above seems to say "that directory doesn't belong to this user"
- If so, why does it belong to root?

I'm sure I have had a similar issue. My main login lost all desktop settings and they don't appear to be saved on login. On the main log in screen the passed user name isn't stored. I created a new user and the new user appears to have all the correct settings saved. I tried renamimg all the plasma files in what I think is the place where the stuff is saved , but no use.

I renamed ~/.kde and the login works prperly again. the log in screen still doesn't save the last user name.

mike

For Lucid I uploaded a new version of kdebase-workspace in Kubuntu Beta Backports, it still needs building in this moment:
https://launchpad.net/~kubuntu-ppa/+archive/beta/+packages?field.name_filter=kdebase-workspace&field.status_filter=published&field.series_filter=

For Maverick I pushed the changes in bzr, we will upload it after Alpha2

Here all OK after fix.

Lucid, KDE 4.5 RC1.

Good :) Thanks for the feedback valeriodean

This bug was fixed in the package kdebase-workspace - 4:4.4.90-0ubuntu2

---------------
kdebase-workspace (4:4.4.90-0ubuntu2) maverick; urgency=low

  * Port 21_kdm_doesnt_use_kstandarddirs.diff to 4.4.90
    (LP: #592110)
 -- Alessandro Ghersi <email address hidden> Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:48:10 +0200

I believe that I have this same bug on KDE 4.4 on Karmic, but there seems to be no backport to fix it. Ralph seems to suggest that there is some kind of configuration storage in the <user-home> directory but I cannot find one. Could someone please point out where it is to be found? Changing values in kdmrc doesn't seem to prevail over this, whatever it is.