cinnamon-session will not launch [solved]

[ralvez]

Hi. I'm new to Linux Mint but not to Linux.
I've been using Arch for more than 20 years.
I have a new install and everything went well.
Then I changed two things: Installed zsh and removed the default file manager in favour of Thunar.
Since I changed the shell I had to log out and log in and as soon as I try to log in again I get this error:
"Unable to launch "cinnamon-session-cinnamon" X session ---
"cinnamon-session-cinnamon" not found; falling back to default session.

The first time it happened I thought "may be I did something wrong". I re-installed ... and it happened again. Now I'm not so sure is something I did.
I re-installed by the 3rd. time and after logging out and in ... same issue?
Any ideas as to where the problem may be?

[karlchen]

Hello, ralvez.

Please, Include your System Information for help with technical problems.
The steps how to do so can be found in the linked post.
We need to learn a few basic details about your Linux Mint system. The mentioned "System Information" will provide such basic details.

Then I changed two things: Installed zsh and removed the default file manager in favour of Thunar.

Removing Nemo from the Cinnamon desktop in favour of Thunar is not one of the wisest ideas.

Karl

[ralvez]

@Karl,

Thanks for the reply.
I'm not sure what you mean by "Removing Nemo from the Cinnamon desktop in favour of Thunar is not one of the wisest ideas."
The whole point of running Linux is the power of customization. I can make "anything" (within limits )in Linux. Or is this some
sort of constraint in Linux Mint?

[karlchen]

Please, Include your System Information for help with technical problems.

[ralvez]

@Karl,

Sorry but since I cannot log in I cannot provide the requested system information.
The box I'm using is an older Intel system. Here are some of the relevant details about it:

CPU: quad core Intel Core2 Quad Q6600(_MCP_) speed/min/max: 1602/1596/2394 MHz
Kernel: 5.15.0-91-generic x86_64 Up: 2h 26 Mem: 847.6/7937.2 MiB (10.7%)
Storage: 931.51 GiB (2.2% userd) Procs:196 Shell: zsh

Hope this helps.

Note: The video card is Nvidia G98, GeForce 8400 using nouveau

[karlchen]

Hello, ralvez.

About System Information (inxi output)
The system information can also be collected on one of the 6 pseudo console monitors tty1 ... tty6.
They are text only. I.e. no copy and paste.
But you can redirect the output to a file and copy the file e.g. to a USB pendrive.
From this pendrive you can read it and share it with us here.

inxi -Fxxxrz > $HOME/inxi.txt

Or (not quite as good, because it would not document the installed system, only the live system):
Boot from the Linux Mint live system which you used to install Linux Mint.
The live system offers a fully functional live desktop, i.e. including Cinnamon and the System Reports. Which would permit following the linked post.


About Linux Mint desktop environments and their default file-managers:
Linux Mint by default comes with 1 of 3 different desktop environments, Cinnamon, Mate or xfce.
Each of the 3 desktop environments comes with its default file-manager.
- Cinnamon: Nemo
- Mate: Caja
- xfce: Thunar

The default file-manager permits you to manages your files and folders (obviously). But it also manages your desktop.
So to a certain degree each file-manager is more or less closely tied to its desktop environment.

I cannot check right now (Windows does not come with Cinnamon, Mate or xfce), but I am pretty sure that uninstalling Nemo from a Linux Mint Cinnamon system will warn you that a lot of Cinnamon related software packages will be removed as well, not just Nemo.
This would explain why Cinnamon refuses to start up.

Not sure whether switching the user-specific shell from bash to zsh may have some pitfalls as well. I have never replaced bash by zsh.

Provided your Linux Mint can connect to the internet without Cinnamon running, you might try reverting e.g.

• by re-installing mint-meta-cinnamon, which would pull in what ever is missing from Cinnamon
  sudo apt-get --reinstall install mint-meta-cinnamon
• or
• provided you have got a Timeshift snapshot, created before you removed Nemo (and possibly much more), you could restore this snapshot

Karl

[ralvez]

@karlchen,

Thanks for the reply.
I did not see any warning messages because I usually use CLI.
Nevertheless, your command fixed the issue by re-installing the default file manager.
Shame I cannot use Thunar, I think it is a far better file manager, but it is what it is.

I appreciate your help

[karlchen]

Hello, ralvez.

Nevertheless, your command fixed the issue by re-installing the default file manager.

Congratulation on returning your Cinnamon to a functional state again.
--

I did not see any warning messages because I usually use CLI.

I am not sure that you can put the blame on the CLI.

Code: Select all

$ inxi -Sx3
System:
  Host: paulchen Kernel: 5.10.0-27-686 arch: i686 bits: 32 compiler: gcc
    v: 10.2.1 clocksource: hpet Desktop: Cinnamon v: 5.6.8 tk: GTK v: 3.24.24
    wm: muffin vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.26.0 Distro: LMDE 5 Elsie
    base: Debian 11.2 bullseye

Code: Select all

$ sudo apt-get remove nemo
[sudo] password for karl:           
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  gir1.2-gsound-1.0 html2text libgsound0
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED: ### here is the warning what all will be removed ###
  cinnamon cinnamon-dbg mint-meta-cinnamon nemo nemo-dbg nemo-fileroller nemo-preview nemo-share
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 8 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 18.1 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n
Abort.

Of course, I did not confirm thus preventing any removal.
--

Shame I cannot use Thunar, I think it is a far better file manager, but it is what it is.

Well, you can install Thunar in addition to Nemo. You could configure Cinnamon to use Thunar for file & folder management, but let Nemo manage the desktop.
System Settings => Preferred Applications. Go down to the System section, item "File Management", selected by default "Files" (which is Nemo). Select "other applications" and select Thunar instead.

I suspect you may have to check/modify the file ~/.config/mimeapps.list as well.
Content on my Cinnamon desktop here:

Code: Select all

[Added Associations]
text/plain=xed.desktop;
text/csv=xed.desktop;
application/x-desktop=xfw.desktop;
application/x-ms-dos-executable=userapp-wine-C8GH31.desktop;
application/x-msi=userapp-wine-C8GH31.desktop;
inode/directory=nemo.desktop;

[Default Applications]
inode/directory=nemo.desktop

I assume you may have to replace the 2 occurrences of nemo.desktop by thunar.desktop.

Finally I assume that logging off from Cinnamon and logging back in may be helpful.

Have not replaced Nemo for many years. Did so for a while back at the time of Mint 13, when Nemo was in his childhood still and had just replaced Nautilus on Mint 13 Cinnamon.

Karl

[ralvez]

@ karlchen,

Oh! I did see the "warning" but I also assumed that on installing something else it would bring all "dependencies" so the system would not be broken.
I'm used that in Arch I would get a dependency cycle error.

Ah! It's a good work around to have both file managers installed. I actually installed Thunar and then created a short cut key (win + t) to start it as opposed to win + e which is the default. Your solution is better because I can keep the default key which is already in my "muscle memory".
Thanks a lot!!