Panel Editing Disabled??

[foberle]

I'm using 64 bit Mint 18.3/Cinnamon 3.6.7 with Kernel 4.15.0-36-generic and a Logitech m510 wireless mouse.

I imagine that somewhere in Mint/Cinnamon there is a setting to prevent a user from editing the Panel configuration.

I also imagine that I must have recently (and certainly inadvertently) activated this setting, as right-clicking on the panel now does nothing at all.

I checked that right-clicking works everywhere else I've tried it so I don't think it's a mouse issue.

I've looked through System Settings → Hardware → Mouse and Touchpad, but found nothing suspicious.

I've wandered through the dconf editor and found no likely setting.

I also booted into a previous version as well as into a "Live-Persistent" USB and things work fine.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks ...

[all41]

You can try:

Code: Select all

gsettings reset-recursively org.cinnamon

That should reset things to the point you will have right-click edit functions
in the panel

[foberle]

Thanks for the response, but the words "**should** reset things" concern me a bit. Is there a more specific schema or path there I could look at?

Resetting what looks to be over 900 values (based on an estimate from "gsettings list-recursively | grep org.cinnamon"), an unknown number of which may have been changed from their defaults legitimately, in the hope that this "should" help - particularly when I scrolled through all of them and didn't see anything that looked like it would relate to this problem, sounds like it would have a lot of downside ...

Was there some particular setting in there that you had in mind?

[smurphos]

There is no setting to prevent right-click on the panel so this is a bug with something.

I'd suspect in this order - buggy third party applet, buggy extension or possibly some weird theme issue. A couple of things to try before before going for an all out Cinnamon settings reset.

1) Restart Cinnamon (Ctrl-Alt-Esc), test right click on the panel, and then review the output of cat ~/.xsession-errors for any clues. Feel free to post back the content (in <code> tags) if you would like help reviewing the output.

2) Review and test after disabling non default applets, extensions and theme.

Please report back what you have active....

gsettings get org.cinnamon enabled-applets
gsettings get org.cinnamon enabled-extensions
gsettings get org.cinnamon.theme name

One applet - system-monitor@pixunil has recently been pulled from Cinnamon Spices for various unfixed bug reports one of which was freezing the panel.

If you want to quickly reset enabled applets, extensions and the desktop theme to defaults in the command line the commands are as follows After each command restart Cinnamon (Ctrl-Alt-Esc) and check if you can right click on the panel.

gsettings reset org.cinnamon enabled-applets
gsettings reset org.cinnamon enabled-extensions
gsettings reset org.cinnamon.theme name

[foberle]

Hi Smurfos: Thanks for the reply.

Here are the outputs

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$ gsettings get org.cinnamon enabled-applets
['panel1:right:8:systray@cinnamon.org:0', 'panel1:left:0:menu@cinnamon.org:1', 'panel1:left:2:panel-launchers@cinnamon.org:3', 'panel1:left:6:window-list@cinnamon.org:4', 'panel1:right:9:notifications@cinnamon.org:6', 'panel1:right:19:user@cinnamon.org:8', 'panel1:right:11:network@cinnamon.org:9', 'panel1:right:15:calendar@cinnamon.org:12', 'panel1:right:17:sound@cinnamon.org:13', 'panel1:right:12:spacer@cinnamon.org:16', 'panel1:right:20:spacer@cinnamon.org:20', 'panel1:right:18:spacer@cinnamon.org:21', 'panel1:right:13:keyboard@cinnamon.org:22', 'panel1:right:10:spacer@cinnamon.org:23', 'panel1:right:16:spacer@cinnamon.org:24', 'panel1:left:1:spacer@cinnamon.org:25', 'panel1:right:14:spacer@cinnamon.org:26', 'panel1:left:5:spacer@cinnamon.org:27', 'panel1:right:3:removable-drives@cinnamon.org:31']

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$ gsettings get org.cinnamon enabled-extensions
@as []

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$ gsettings get org.cinnamon.theme name
'Mint-X-Blue'

... and here is the .xsession-errors output

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** (cinnamon-session:1547): WARNING **: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /tmp/dbus-5N18FAY0D2: Connection refused

** (csd-cursor:1812): WARNING **: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /tmp/dbus-5N18FAY0D2: Connection refused

** (csd-sound:1813): WARNING **: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /tmp/dbus-5N18FAY0D2: Connection refused

** (csd-orientation:1814): WARNING **: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /tmp/dbus-5N18FAY0D2: Connection refused

** (csd-background:1815): WARNING **: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /tmp/dbus-5N18FAY0D2: Connection refused

** (csd-housekeeping:1816): WARNING **: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /tmp/dbus-5N18FAY0D2: Connection refused

** (csd-a11y-settings:1829): WARNING **: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /tmp/dbus-5N18FAY0D2: Connection refused
Activating service name='org.a11y.atspi.Registry'
Successfully activated service 'org.a11y.atspi.Registry'
[cinnamon-settings-daemon-smartcard] Failed to start: no suitable smartcard driver could be found
/usr/bin/xbindkeys_autostart: line 24: CONF: unbound variable

** (caribou:2082): WARNING **: AT-SPI: Error in GetItems, sender=org.freedesktop.DBus, error=The name :1.24 was not provided by any .service files
Cjs-Message: JS LOG: About to start Cinnamon

** (caribou:2082): WARNING **: AT-SPI: Error in GetItems, sender=org.freedesktop.DBus, error=The name :1.22 was not provided by any .service files
** Message: nemo-desktop: session is cinnamon, establishing proxy
St-Message: cogl npot texture sizes SUPPORTED
Cjs-Message: JS LOG: Cinnamon started at Sat Oct 06 2018 06:25:39 GMT-0500 (CDT)
Cjs-Message: JS LOG: network applet: Cannot find connection for active (or connection cannot be read)

** (caribou:2082): WARNING **: AT-SPI: Error in GetItems, sender=(null), error=Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.

** (caribou:2082): WARNING **: AT-SPI: Error in GetItems, sender=(null), error=Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.

(cinnamon:2065): St-WARNING **: Ignoring length property that isn't a number at line 1715, col 13
openGL version 3.3 detected (GL3 Cogl Driver)
MetaSyncRing disabled: couldn't find required GL extensions, or the minimum safe openGL version was not met
failed to create drawable
Cjs-Message: JS LOG: Invalid network device type, is 14
Cjs-Message: JS LOG: network applet: Found connection for active

** (caribou:2082): WARNING **: AT-SPI: Error in GetItems, sender=org.freedesktop.DBus, error=The name :1.27 was not provided by any .service files
"sni-qt/2168" WARN  06:25:47.810 void StatusNotifierItemFactory::connectToSnw() Invalid interface to SNW_SERVICE 
[31;01merror: Unable to find hp-upgrade --notify on PATH.[0m
mintUpdate: no process found

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: enum unrecognised: 0

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: enum unrecognised: 0

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: in an undefined state we are not charging or discharging and the batteries are also not charged

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: enum unrecognised: 0

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: enum unrecognised: 0

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: in an undefined state we are not charging or discharging and the batteries are also not charged

** (caribou:2082): WARNING **: AT-SPI: Error in GetItems, sender=org.freedesktop.DBus, error=The name :1.32 was not provided by any .service files

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: enum unrecognised: 0

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: enum unrecognised: 0

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: in an undefined state we are not charging or discharging and the batteries are also not charged

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: enum unrecognised: 0

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: enum unrecognised: 0

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: in an undefined state we are not charging or discharging and the batteries are also not charged

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: enum unrecognised: 0

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: enum unrecognised: 0

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: in an undefined state we are not charging or discharging and the batteries are also not charged

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: enum unrecognised: 0

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: enum unrecognised: 0

(csd-power:1862): power-plugin-WARNING **: in an undefined state we are not charging or discharging and the batteries are also not charged

I'm assuming the power warnings are normal, since I'm on a desktop computer. Since I do use multiple Input Methods for typing other scripts and languages (and have encountered lots of bugs and oddities in that area over the years), I was sensitive to anything having to do with keyboards, and so looked at the following files mentioned in the error output:

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$ ls -l .xbindkeysrc
ls: cannot access '.xbindkeysrc': No such file or directory
$ ls -l .xbindkeysrc.scm
ls: cannot access '.xbindkeysrc.scm': No such file or directory
$ ls -l /etc/xbindkeysrc
ls: cannot access '/etc/xbindkeysrc': No such file or directory

I don't use any on-screen keyboard (which I believe is what Caribou is), and I don't (at least not intentionally) use any accessibility functions.

I'm going to keep looking around in the areas mentioned above, but if you spot anything in particular I should look at I would appreciate letting me know. I would prefer to figure out why this is happening rather than just resetting everything.

Again, thanks for the input...

[foberle]

UPDATE: Now I'm getting quite annoyed...

I moved the panel to the bottom of the screen with:

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gsettings set org.cinnamon panels-enabled "['1:0:bottom']"

Right-clicking on the panel works just as would be expected!

Then I moved the panel back to the top with:

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gsettings set org.cinnamon panels-enabled "['1:0:top']"

Right-clicking on the panel once again does absolutely nothing.

To make sure the screen edges weren't somehow out of range, I right-clicked at the very top of the visible screen while the panel was on the bottom and got the usual desktop menu. At any rate, when I right-click on one of the open application bars on the panel, the expected "Visible on all workspaces, etc." shows up.

I suspect this means the issue might not be the Cinnamon settings at all, since none of the panel settings I could locate seem to be dependent on the panel's position.

I looked on the Board Index for a Psychological Warfare sub-forum but couldn't locate one, so I guess I'll leave this posting here for the moment.

[smurphos]

OK another couple of things to try.

Check for file ownership issues in your home - they are often an explanation for otherwise weird behaviour.

Run this command first find $HOME ! -user $USER

if it returns no output it's not an issue. If it does return any output run sudo chown -R $USER:$USER $HOME to correct ownership to your user.

Restart Cinnamon with Ctrl-Alt-Delete - test right click on your top panel.

if that doesn't solve the issue then set up a temporary new user account in Users & Groups - log in to the new user - is the issue apparent there? Obviously have a play with various panel layouts. If you can't reproduce the issue in the fresh user account we know it's something problematic in your home folder / settings.

A couple of queries arise from your xsession-errors output. Are you using xbindkeys for anything? If not get rid it - apt purge xbindkeys*, If you are not using the onscreen keyboard double check the Accessibility settings module and uncheck it if enabled.

[foberle]

Thanks again for your time and suggestions. Here's a step-by-step answer ...

File ownership issues don't seem to be a problem. (I assume you meant Ctrl+Alt+Esc rather Ctrl+Alt+Delete to restart Cinnamon) ...

I already had another user account on this machine, but hadn't thought to try that, so I logged into it and it worked just fine. So I suspect you are correct that there is something problematic in my home folder settings.

xbindkeys is a whole other issue, however. I do NOT explicitly use xbindkeys for anything, BUT: I do enter text in multiple Scripts (Latin, of course for English, but also Arabic (for Arabic, Persian and Urdu), Cyrillic (only for Russian), Devanagari (only for Hindi), Greek (Attic only, not modern), Hebrew, Korean, and Thai. The "normal" method for activating any of these in most distributions I'm familiar with is quite broken in Cinnamon (not Mint itself) - Cinnamon's panel selector, for instance, only permits choosing one of the first four Scripts/Keyboard layouts activated; if the fifth is selected, the first is activated and so forth in a sort of sinister MOD function. Using this method "works" for writing most languages, but has rather humorous results with Korean (Jamo are not conjoined for one thing). Therefore, to type any Korean text, it's also necessary to have some other IME active; as a result I have the iBus selector also installed on the Cinnamon panel so I can use the m17n version of the han2 Korean keyboard layout. During the course of convincing myself that Cinnamon itself was the issue, I did notice that some references to xbindkeys appeared periodically; my GUESS at the time was that the particular Hangul/Korean implementation in Cinnamon must have been using that - I also noticed, by the way, that the relevant files had a "kr" abbreviation rather than the standard "ko." So it's really hard to discount your suspicion, particularly since xbindkeys can also mess with the mouse keys. I was excited ...

BUT - much as I was hoping you had nailed it, I can't convince myself that the problem I'm experiencing with the top panel lies there for the following reasons:
1. Moving the panel to another location permits the right click to work properly.
2. I have another machine that is set up identically (well, as far as OS, Desktop, and functionality goes, although this one is an AMD and the other is an Intel). For whatever reason (old age, temporary insanity or whatever) I had neglected to see whether this same issue appeared on that machine. It doesn't!!
3. I went ahead and did the purge on xbindkeys anyway. Restarting/retesting shows that nothing has changed with my top panel right-click problem. (To be fair, this doesn't prevent me from doing anything, as I've figured out work-arounds for each issue, but this is becoming an interesting issue.) I did a quick check of each script and all of them seem to still work correctly.

Finally, I rechecked the accessibility settings under Preferences, and confirmed that everything there is OFF.

SO: you are likely correct that the issue lies in my user or my /home, so if you have any other ideas, I would appreciate hearing them. The other user account on this machine does NOT have multi-script capabilities installed, but the similar set up on my Intel machine DOES have an identical setup.

Thanks again for your time and suggestions ...

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