Xscreensaver will not start

audiodef · Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:57 pm Post subject: Xscreensaver will not start

And that about says it all. I'm using Fluxbox. I can change the xscreensaver settings, and it starts without errors. I can find the process running. But it doesn't kick in when it's supposed to. Why? What should I post for troubleshooting?

It kicked in once but then stopped. The process was still running, but no screensaver.
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pianosaurus · l33t Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 944 Location: Bash$

Try running xscreensaver-command -activate to see if you can force it to start. Also, make sure you run xscreensaver from a terminal while troubleshooting, so you can see any error messages.
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audiodef · Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:44 pm Post subject:

I'll try those.

It does seem to be working. Maybe some of the screensavers aren't working, but normally when that happens you get a blank screen with "This screensaver has not been configured correctly".
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pianosaurus · l33t Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 944 Location: Bash$

I'm guessing you're getting spurious input from somewhere. You could try to disconnect your mouse, too.
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Mike Hunt · Watchman Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 5287

What happens if you run xscreensaver-demo & and play around with it?

audiodef · Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:22 pm Post subject:

Mike Hunt · Watchman Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 5287

Is xscreensaver built with (at least) USE="jpeg opengl pam"

Does /etc/pam.d/xscreensaver exist?

audiodef · Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:55 pm Post subject:

Yep to all that. I'll try recompiling it. And maybe do that revdep-rebuild.

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audiodef · Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:10 pm Post subject:

Without disconnecting anything, is there a way to find out if there is any input that could be interfering with xscreensaver?
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Mike Hunt · Watchman Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 5287

Unless it's a hardware issue, you could always rebuild xscreensaver and it's dependencies with this geeky command (there must be an easier way)

pianosaurus · l33t Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 944 Location: Bash$

Mike Hunt · Watchman Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 5287

Yes true. I was thinking that since everything else is working (an assumption), then the entire system and modular X wouldn't need rebuilding, therefore emerge -e xscreensaver seemed like overkill, hence the reason for the geeky command.

audiodef · Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:30 pm Post subject:

Mike, I tried your command and xscreensaver still does not always start when it should.

I noticed when I log out from Fluxbox (no login manager, I just use startx), I see this:

Mike Hunt · Watchman Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 5287

Hmmm, strange. Maybe a stale ~/.Xauthority ?

Try removing ~/.Xauthority and re-login and re-startx.

Also look at the output of this if anything weird jumps out:

audiodef · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 3:51 pm Post subject:

Nothing weird jumps out. Xscreensaver now will not start at all. When I try that last suggest command, I get this:

Mike Hunt · Watchman Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 5287

That looks ok.

Another thing to try is removing the ~/.xscreensaver file.

Check permissions:

audiodef · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:31 pm Post subject:

The permissions are the same as what you show.

Rm'd .xscreensaver. Will letcha know how that goes.
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audiodef · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 7:28 pm Post subject:

Nope. It's still not working. I'll try downgrading a step. If that works, I'll know I should file a bug report. If not, I'll know I have a boo-boo somewhere.
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audiodef · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 7:29 pm Post subject:

OK, downgrading appears not to be an option, as 5.10 is the only ebuild I have.

Is there anything else I should try before running to bugs?
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Mike Hunt · Watchman Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 5287

audiodef · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 9:05 pm Post subject:

The same way yours is.

Maybe I need to enable one of the currently disabled use flags?
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Mike Hunt · Watchman Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 5287

Strange. Never seen xscreensaver act so bizarrely.

The last thing I would try before bugzilla is unmerge it, delete any lingering xscreensaver files including the distfile and anything in /var/tmp/portage, disable ccache if it is enabled, and re-emerge it one more time.

audiodef · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:18 pm Post subject:

I'll give those a try.
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audiodef · Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 3:58 pm Post subject:

An emerge -e world seems to have solved two things: this screensaver issue and the keyboard repeat issue I've been having. I guess a good old "recompile it all, baby" was what the doctor ordered.

EDIT: Nope. Once again, I have spoken too soon.

Having exhausted all other options, including a bug report, I'm going to go over to the xscreensaver home page and see if I can contact whoever wrote it.
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ffpp · Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 1:21 am Post subject:

Erm, for me an