gnome-settings-daemon trashes monitor config

Here is a section of the greeter log:

[+0.10s] DEBUG: Wrote 18 bytes to daemon
[+0.11s] DEBUG: main-window.vala:184: Screen is 3200x1200 pixels
[+0.11s] DEBUG: main-window.vala:190: Monitor 0 is 1920x1200 pixels at 0,0
[+0.11s] DEBUG: main-window.vala:190: Monitor 1 is 1280x800 pixels at 320,200
[+0.11s] DEBUG: main-window.vala:190: Monitor 2 is 1280x1024 pixels at 1920,176
[+0.11s] DEBUG: unity-greeter.vala:543: Showing greeter
[+0.11s] DEBUG: unity-greeter.vala:228: Showing main window
[+0.14s] DEBUG: background.vala:483: Regenerating backgrounds
[+0.14s] DEBUG: background.vala:68: Making background /usr/share/backgrounds/warty-final-ubuntu.png at 1920x1200,1280x800,1280x1024
[+0.14s] DEBUG: background.vala:159: Error loading background: Failed to open file '/usr/share/backgrounds/warty-final-ubuntu.png': No such file or directory
[+0.16s] DEBUG: unity-greeter.vala:586: Starting main loop
[+0.16s] DEBUG: Read 8 bytes from daemon
[+0.16s] DEBUG: Read 32 bytes from daemon
[+0.16s] DEBUG: Ignoring prompt authentication with invalid sequence number 1
[+0.16s] DEBUG: background.vala:68: Making background /media/al/cde35ee1-efc0-44b2-b5f4-c30b17758612/al/old-picture/3-Abstract-Colors-3200x1200.jpg at 1920x1200,1280x800,1280x1024
[+0.16s] DEBUG: background.vala:159: Error loading background: Failed to open file '/media/al/cde35ee1-efc0-44b2-b5f4-c30b17758612/al/old-picture/3-Abstract-Colors-3200x1200.jpg': Permission denied
[+0.16s] DEBUG: Read 8 bytes from daemon
[+0.16s] DEBUG: Read 32 bytes from daemon
[+0.16s] DEBUG: Prompt user with 1 message(s)
[+0.47s] DEBUG: main-window.vala:184: Screen is 4480x1200 pixels
[+0.47s] DEBUG: main-window.vala:190: Monitor 0 is 1280x1024 pixels at 0,0
[+0.47s] DEBUG: main-window.vala:190: Monitor 1 is 1280x800 pixels at 1280,0
[+0.47s] DEBUG: main-window.vala:190: Monitor 2 is 1920x1200 pixels at 2560,0
[+0.47s] DEBUG: menubar.vala:537: Adding indicator object 0x1af89d0 at position 0
[+0.48s] DEBUG: menubar.vala:537: Adding indicator object 0x1af8710 at position 0

At first the monitor layout is correct, and then it is reset to default.

Disabling the xrandr module of unity-settings-daemon prevents this from happening in the greeter. (settings-daemon.vala)

Thank you for your bug report. Is there any reason to not use the standard system settings tool to configure the screens?

There is an issue with g-s-d/u-s-d though, if you don't have a monitors.xml it shouldn't change the screens configuration but let Xorg does it work

Yes, because Xubuntu doesn't ship the standard monitor configuration
tool, and even if it did, it doesn't work properly with nvidia.

On 27 February 2014 10:55, Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> wrote:
> Thank you for your bug report. Is there any reason to not use the
> standard system settings tool to configure the screens?
>
> There is an issue with g-s-d/u-s-d though, if you don't have a
> monitors.xml it shouldn't change the screens configuration but let Xorg
> does it work
>
> ** Changed in: unity-settings-daemon (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Low
>
> ** Changed in: gnome-settings-daemon (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Low
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1283615
>
> Title:
> gnome-settings-daemon trashes monitor config
>
> Status in “gnome-settings-daemon” package in Ubuntu:
> New
> Status in “unity-greeter” package in Ubuntu:
> Invalid
> Status in “unity-settings-daemon” package in Ubuntu:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> This is actually a bug in unity-settings-daemon and gnome-settings-
> daemon. To reproduce:
>
> 1. Have Nvidia multimonitor layout.
> 2. Position the monitors however you want.
> 3. Run g-s-d or u-s-d.
>
> Expected result: Monitor layout does not change.
>
> Actual result: Monitor layout is reset to default.
>
> Original description:
>
> To reproduce:
>
> 1. Have a multimonitor set up with nvidia
> 2. Position the monitors however you like.
> 3. Save the positions to xorg.conf
> 4. Log out
>
> Expected result: the configured monitor positions are used at the
> login screen.
>
> Actual result: the monitor positions are all reset to default, and
> this configuration persists past login, forcing the user to
> reconfigure monitor positioning after each login.
>
> Impact: When I boot up my computer with unity-greeter I see what is
> shown in the photo, regardless of how I attempt to configure the
> monitor layout.
>
> This bug does not affect lightdm-gtk-greeter or lightdm-webkit-
> greeter, which both correctly honour the Xorg configuration.
>
> This is also a regression, unity-greeter honoured the layout in 13.10.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
> Package: unity-greeter 14.04.3-0ubuntu2
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-8.28-generic 3.13.2
> Uname: Linux 3.13.0-8-generic x86_64
> NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
> ApportVersion: 2.13.2-0ubuntu5
> Architecture: amd64
> CurrentDesktop: XFCE
> Date: Sun Feb 23 00:57:58 2014
> InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-02-11 (11 days ago)
> InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Alpha amd64 (20140210)
> SourcePackage: unity-greeter
> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-settings-daemon/+bug/1283615/+subscriptions

--
Alistair Buxton
<email address hidden>

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

g-s-d/u-s-d shouldn't be running in xubuntu either no?

Renaming that bug, it's a feature request for the settings code to detect nvidia custom configs and bail out of doing its work in those case.

It would be better if nvidia users would use the standard interface for their configuration though (their current drivers implements proper xrandr and that should be working)

No, that's not correct at all.

g-s-d/u-s-d do not run in Xubuntu, however, they do run in the greeter if the greeter is unity-greeter. They exit before Xubuntu desktop starts up, but at that point they have already ruined the monitor configuration.

Since they do not run in Xubuntu, there is no way to configure them. I can use randr to set up my displays, but it won't be saved to g-s-d because g-s-d is not running. This is true regardless of what graphics card I use.

This is not a feature request to detect custom nvidia configs, it is a feature request to not stomp all over the standard interface for configuring Xorg, which is Xorg.conf.

Setting the bug name back to the original for this reason.

Also, if you do for some reason run g-s-d in Xubuntu desktop, it will reset your monitor configuration to defaults.

This bug appears to run deeper than just Xubuntu and nvidia, see for example: http://bernaerts.dyndns.org/linux/74-ubuntu/309-ubuntu-dual-display-monitor-position-lost

The solution is simple: if g-s-d cannot find a monitors.xml it should leave the display configuration alone. There is no reason to care about any other configuation mechanism the user might or might not be using.

I believe this bug may be related to
https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-shell/+bug/1292398