[SOLVED]Can't write to /tmp as user and resulting problems

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Clad in Sky · Post by **Clad in Sky** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 3:51 pm

I have trouble with my XFCE (4.10). It starts up really slowly. Wine programmes won't run at all, existing with "wineserver: mkdir /tmp/.wine-1000 : No space left on device". Dropbox won't start, neither. I get a lot of errors in my xsession.errors (see below) that are gconf related .
I assume what causes this is some stale file handle somewhere, but I don't know where to look.
So, how did I get into this mess? In order to get a backtrace for xorg-server I sshd into the machine, ran gdb on it and got the backtrace. I forgot to end the ssh session, however, and restarted the machine that was logged into the one I'm having trouble with now.

So, any ideas how I can get back to working setup? Logging into xfce as root naturally doesn't cause any trouble.

Here's my .xsession.errors

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gpg-agent[2401]: can't create directory `/tmp/gpg-tj8uVd': No space left on device
(xfce4-session:2351): xfce4-session-WARNING **: ICE connection 0x1ce67d0 rejected
(xfwm4:2402): GLib-WARNING **: (gerror.c:390):g_error_new_valist: runtime check failed: (domain != 0)
(xfwm4:2402): xfwm4-WARNING **: Failed to connect to session manager: Failed to connect to the session manager: Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and host-based authentication failed

xfwm4-Message: Another Window Manager (Xfwm4) is already running on screen :0.0
xfwm4-Message: To replace the current window manager, try "--replace"
Repeated 5x

(xfwm4:2408): xfwm4-WARNING **: Could not find a screen to manage, exiting
(xfce4-session:2351): xfce4-session-WARNING **: ICE connection 0x1c5f590 rejected
(xfce4-session:2351): xfce4-session-WARNING **: ICE connection 0x1ce67d0 rejected

(xfce4-panel:2417): GLib-WARNING **: (gerror.c:390):g_error_new_valist: runtime check failed: (domain != 0)
xfce4-panel: Failed to connect to session manager: Failed to connect to the session manager: Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and host-based authentication failed

(xfce4-session:2351): xfce4-session-WARNING **: ICE connection 0x1ca39a0 rejected

(xfsettingsd:2418): GLib-WARNING **: (gerror.c:390):g_error_new_valist: runtime check failed: (domain != 0)
Failed to connect to session manager: Failed to connect to the session manager: Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and host-based authentication failed
Errors encountered in /tmp/fileHzs9K1; not compiled.
Errors encountered in /tmp/file35nD7q; not compiled.
Errors encountered in /tmp/fileXQUBvQ; not compiled.
libpager-Message: Setting the pager rows returned false. Maybe the setting is not applied.
Errors encountered in /tmp/filefHxRhw; not compiled.

(xfce4-session:2351): xfce4-session-WARNING **: ICE connection 0x1ca5e30 rejected

(xfdesktop:2447): GLib-WARNING **: (gerror.c:390):g_error_new_valist: runtime check failed: (domain != 0)
Failed to connect to session manager: Failed to connect to the session manager: Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and host-based authentication failed

** (xfdesktop:2447): WARNING **: Thumbnailer failed calling GetFlavors
xfdesktop[2451] is already running; assuming --reload
xfdesktop[2452] is already running; assuming --reload

** (xfdesktop:2447): WARNING **: Thumbnailer failed calling GetFlavors
xfdesktop[2453] is already running; assuming --reload
xfdesktop[2454] is already running; assuming --reload

** (xfdesktop:2447): WARNING **: Thumbnailer failed calling GetFlavors
xfdesktop[2455] is already running; assuming --reload

(xfdesktop:2447): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: invalid (NULL) pointer instance

(xfdesktop:2447): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_signal_handlers_disconnect_matched: assertion `G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed

(xfdesktop:2447): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

** (xfdesktop:2447): WARNING **: Thumbnailer failed calling GetFlavors

(xfdesktop:2447): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: invalid unclassed pointer in cast to `XfdesktopFileIconManager'

** (xfdesktop:2447): CRITICAL **: xfdesktop_file_icon_manager_files_ready: assertion `enumerator == fmanager->priv->enumerator' failed

** (xfdesktop:2447): WARNING **: Thumbnailer failed calling GetFlavors

(xfdesktop:2447): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: invalid (NULL) pointer instance

(xfdesktop:2447): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_signal_handlers_disconnect_matched: assertion `G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed

(xfdesktop:2447): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

** (xfdesktop:2447): WARNING **: Thumbnailer failed calling GetFlavors

** (xfdesktop:2447): CRITICAL **: xfdesktop_file_icon_manager_files_ready: assertion `enumerator == fmanager->priv->enumerator' failed
GConf Error: Failed to contact configuration server; the most common cause is a missing or misconfigured D-Bus session bus daemon. See http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: GetIOR failed: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildSignaled: Process /usr/libexec/gconfd-2 received signal 5)
** Message: applet now removed from the notification area
Repated many (30 or more) times

** (bluetooth-applet:2574): WARNING **: Could not open RFKILL control device, please verify your installation
E: [autospawn] core-util.c: Failed to create random directory /tmp/pulse-Wf0fzR3y7wVi: No space left on device
E: [autospawn] core-util.c: Failed to symlink /home/christian/.pulse/3e2d480b5b77fd4b42193fc90000000a-runtime.tmp: No space left on device
W: [autospawn] lock-autospawn.c: Cannot access autospawn lock.
E: [pulseaudio] main.c: Failed to acquire autospawn lock

(xfce4-session:2351): xfce4-session-WARNING **: ICE connection 0x1cda020 rejected

(xfce4-session:2351): xfce4-session-WARNING **: ICE connection 0x1cda020 rejected
GConf Error: Failed to contact configuration server; the most common cause is a missing or misconfigured D-Bus session bus daemon. See http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: GetIOR failed: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildSignaled: Process /usr/libexec/gconfd-2 received signal 5)
GConf Error: Failed to contact configuration server; the most common cause is a missing or misconfigured D-Bus session bus daemon. See http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: GetIOR failed: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildSignaled: Process /usr/libexec/gconfd-2 received signal 5)
Failed to create random directory /tmp/pulse-PKdhtXMmr18n: No space left on device
Failed to symlink /home/christian/.pulse/3e2d480b5b77fd4b42193fc90000000a-runtime.tmp: No space left on device

(xfce4-session:2351): xfce4-session-WARNING **: ICE connection 0x1cd64c0 rejected
Agent unregistration failed: Method "UnregisterAgent" with signature "o" on interface "org.bluez.Adapter" doesn't exist
 'dbus-glib-error-quark'

UPDATE:
It's not only XFCE4. It seems like permissions for users in general are affected. I can't access /tmp as a user, only as root, which makes then XFCE behave in a weird way.

lxg · Post by **lxg** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 4:12 pm

You're getting lots of "No space left on device" for write operations on /tmp. Please check your output of df -h – especially if /tmp has got its own partition.

Clad in Sky · Post by **Clad in Sky** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 4:33 pm

I know. /tmp is not on a separate partition, it's on the root partition and there's plenty of space. The problem is, that I don't have permission to write on /tmp because of my other problem. Before the problem with gconf occurred I didn't have these messages.

lxg · Post by **lxg** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 5:20 pm

Is it possible that you've run of inodes on /tmp? What does df -i show?

Does echo test > /tmp/test.txt from command line work?

Clad in Sky · Post by **Clad in Sky** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 5:30 pm

df -i

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Filesystem       Inodes  IUsed    IFree IUse% Mounted on
rootfs          1572864 749062   823802   48% /
/dev/root       1572864 749062   823802   48% /
tmpfs           1001278    514  1000764    1% /run
udev            1001278    630  1000648    1% /dev
shm             1001278      2  1001276    1% /dev/shm
cgroup_root     1001278      6  1001272    1% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda2        655360 164842   490518   26% /usr/portage
/dev/sda4      28286976  95971 28191005    1% /home

Enough inodes I'd say.
echo test works for root, not for the user.

Clad in Sky · Post by **Clad in Sky** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 5:30 pm

df -i

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Filesystem       Inodes  IUsed    IFree IUse% Mounted on
rootfs          1572864 749062   823802   48% /
/dev/root       1572864 749062   823802   48% /
tmpfs           1001278    514  1000764    1% /run
udev            1001278    630  1000648    1% /dev
shm             1001278      2  1001276    1% /dev/shm
cgroup_root     1001278      6  1001272    1% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda2        655360 164842   490518   26% /usr/portage
/dev/sda4      28286976  95971 28191005    1% /home

Enough inodes I'd say.
echo test works for root, not for the user.

Bones McCracker · Post by **Bones McCracker** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:33 pm

aCOSwt told me to tell you to just wipe the hard drive and reinstall.

lxg · Post by **lxg** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 10:20 pm

Clad in Sky wrote:Enough inodes I'd say.
echo test works for root, not for the user.

Yup, inodes aren't the problem. But still I think you should investigate what's up with /tmp … a user should be able to write there.

Could you please post the output of ls -l / | grep tmp and mount | grep tmp?

Btw, did you reboot since you first encountered these problems?

Clad in Sky · Post by **Clad in Sky** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 1:48 pm

Yes, I rebooted several times since then.

ls -l
drwxrwxrwt 4 root root 4096 Dez 17 14:46 tmp

mount:
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,mode=755)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,size=10240k,mode=755)
shm on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
cgroup_root on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=10240k,mode=755)

I still believe that not being able to write to tmp is an effect of my problem, not the cause.

lxg · Post by **lxg** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 3:55 pm

I agree that your /tmp looks ok so far. However, I still doubt that this has got anything to do with XFCE/GConf or anything else related to X. I mean, if you even can't create a file in /tmp as regular user, something beyond the GUI is wrong.

Can you create another user, log in as this user (from a "real" tty) and create files in /tmp?

Sorry for me keeping focused at the /tmp thing, but as far as I see, that's the most specific hint to the actual problem, whatever it may be.

Clad in Sky · Post by **Clad in Sky** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 6:58 pm

When I create another user I can't write to /tmp, neither.
I'm also not able to write to /tmp when I log in as a user without starting X.

lxg · Post by **lxg** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 9:07 pm

I think it might be a good idea to start a whole new thread named "Can't write to /tmp as user" or something like that. I bet this will get attention from the right people … because I must admit I'm pretty much out of ideas.

Bones McCracker · Post by **Bones McCracker** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:21 pm

You've checked permissions on /tmp of course.

lxg · Post by **lxg** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:23 pm

@BoneKracker:

Clad in Sky wrote:drwxrwxrwt 4 root root 4096 Dez 17 14:46 tmp

Ant P. · Post by **Ant P.** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 11:43 pm

Do you have PAM or quotas enabled? That's the only other thing on a default profile that can screw up /tmp.

Clad in Sky · Post by **Clad in Sky** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:31 am

Yes, I do have PAM enabled. Didn't do anything with quotas.
So, is it enough to unmerge PAM and reemerge?

wcg · Post by **wcg** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 12:37 am

I would reemerge pam over the top of the existing installation
rather than unmerge pam and try to re-emerge it. Lots of things
depend on it, you might not be able to login.

Do you have a spare scratch partition somewhere? (You
could mount it on /tmp and see if the behavior persists.
You could do that with a USB stick, too.)

s_bernstein · Post by **s_bernstein** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:47 am

Maybe a silly idea, but if your mount output is complete, you are not mounting your root (/) partition. I miss proc, sysfs and a lot of other virtual filesystems. So maybe your system doesn't start correctly. You should try to run fsck -vf on *all* you partitions, probably from a live linux.

lxg · Post by **lxg** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:15 am

s_bernstein wrote:Maybe a silly idea, but if your mount output is complete, you are not mounting your root (/) partition. I miss proc, sysfs and a lot of other virtual filesystems. So maybe your system doesn't start correctly. You should try to run fsck -vf on *all* you partitions, probably from a live linux.

What Clad in Sky posted is the output of mount | grep tmp.

Clad in Sky · Post by **Clad in Sky** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:35 am

Exactly. System is running normally when I log in as root, only users have the problem with /tmp - why ever.
Trying with remerging PAM.

Bones McCracker · Post by **Bones McCracker** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 3:09 pm

When logged in as the troubled user, what are the output of:

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echo $TMP
echo $TMPDIR

Also, is USE="mktemp" currently enabled for sys-auth/pambase?

Have you been manually diddling with your /etc/pam.d/ files?

Clad in Sky · Post by **Clad in Sky** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 3:56 pm

Output of the echo commands is an empty line.
I've never done anything to PAM.

Doing an emerge -e world right now, but I'm not sure this will do anything useful. As I can't remember having done anything to cause this mess (the computer ran flawlessly until sunday and the only thing I did then was getting that backtrace for xorg-server), I'm at a loss here.

Edit:
OK, ran into an error while emerging world -e: No space left on device. So I did ran df and lo and behold, /root is full. Is there anything in /root that can be safely deleted, like old log files or stuff that gets accumulated there? It's 24GB, which should be enough I think.

Edit II:
Found an old post by me (http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-91 ... art-0.html). Was a very similar problem which got solved by emerge --depclean. Unfortunately, this time there is nothing left to clean. I've only got very few programmes on that computer, so I don't know why / is so full. Any suggestions for stuff that tends to clutter the root file system are welcome.

lxg · Post by **lxg** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:25 pm

Clad in Sky wrote:OK, ran into an error while emerging world -e: No space left on device. So I did ran df and lo and behold, /root is full

Earlier, Clad in Sky wrote:I know. /tmp is not on a separate partition, it's on the root partition and there's plenty of space.

That's exactly what I thought first: Root has always a reserve of 5 to 10 %, that's why root can write and others can't.

…

When you say /root do you actually mean /root, or do you mean / (root directory of your system)? I'd guess you mean the latter.

The places I'd look for clutter first, would be:

/var/tmp/portage: Leftovers of failed/aborted emerge runs
/usr/src: Remainders of kernel sources
/usr/portage/distfiles: Downloaded source packages
/usr/portage/packages: Built binary packages (only when using buildpkg)
/opt: External packages

Clad in Sky · Post by **Clad in Sky** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:49 pm

Thank you.
I meant / . /usr/portage is on a different partition, but I'll try the other ones.

I thought there was plenty of space. I'm totally surprised there wasn't.

Post by **NeddySeagoon** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:53 pm

lxg,

I would add /var/log/* to that.
I have seen some huge log files 10G+ with lots of kernel debug options on.

Warning to the unwary.
rm'ing a file will not free the space it uses until the file is no longer used. That means that if its a log file and the program that owns it is running, you need to restart that program.

If you logs are getting huge, look into rotating them somehow. Exactly how depends on your logger.