Xfce Forum

arch2013

Member

Registered: 2013-05-23

Posts: 3

[Solved] xfce4 saves session at shutdown -h now

Hey there!

I'm having some recent trouble with xfce4. I posted this topic yesterday, you can find my post at:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=163830

In short, its the following:
If i shut down my system, xfce4 saves automatically the session and reopens all windows at next boot. I do not want this behaviour, but have no idea how to inhibit it. This behaviour is new since the last update.

I am using xfce4, lxdm and archlinux.

Greetings,

Daniel

SantaFe

Member

From: Freightyard.

Registered: 2010-09-06

Posts: 97

Re: [Solved] xfce4 saves session at shutdown -h now

Well, I'm using Xubuntu, but it should be the same.

There are two places I know of that mention Saving your session.  One is when you log out.  Here is Xubuntus Log Out screen.

If the line Save session for future logins is check-marked, un-check it.

Also, in either Settings Manager, or in the menu as Session and Startup, there is another entry:

As you have seen, I've unchecked both. 

Hope this helps.   Just remember to close all windows before quitting.

Last edited by SantaFe (2013-05-23 15:48:55)

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bah weep grana weep ninny bon.

arch2013

Member

Registered: 2013-05-23

Posts: 3

Re: [Solved] xfce4 saves session at shutdown -h now

Hello SantaFe,

thanks for your reply!

I have checked all those GUI-Settings and they all look fine.
Indeed, xfce4 does not save the session when i log out (it never did), but only if i shut down the computer directly with shutdown -h now. I couldnt find any other post on the net describing this.

--News--
I downgraded three xfce4 packages:
extra/xfce4-session
extra/xfce4-settings
extra/xfce4-xkb-plugin

The downgraded versions are:
extra/xfce4-session    4.10.0-6
extra/xfce4-settings   4.10.0-3
extra/xfce4-xkb-plugin 0.5.4.3-3

The versions this trouble started with were:
extra/xfce4-session    4.10.1-1
extra/xfce4-settings  4.10.1-1
extra/xfce4-xkb-plugin 0.5.5-1

Downgrading these three packages could _not_ fix it.

MountainDewManiac

Member

From: Where Mr. Bankruptcy is Prez

Registered: 2013-03-24

Posts: 1,115

Re: [Solved] xfce4 saves session at shutdown -h now

Could it have something to do with... I am not real clear on exactly what it was, but I seem to remember once reading that "shutdown -h" wasn't technically a "turn off the computer," but instead brings down the system and either powers off or halts (thus the -h), choice being left up to the system. Seems like halt was something akin to suspend, so in that case it would make sense to save current session information. The bit about "choice being left up to the system," if I'm actually remembering any of this correctly, would cause me to assume that there is a setting somewhere which determines what results happen when the command gets called. And if all of that conjecture is right, lol, I wonder if instead of a simple one-or-the-other variable, it's more configurable than that and if something got misconfigured.

BtW, have you tried "shutdown -p" or using the "poweroff" (with or without the -n option, but be aware that this option is to "Prevent the sync before reboot or halt," which may cause more than just your session - such as, possibly, whatever data is in your hard disk's cache waiting to be written, IDK - to not be written and might, therefore, bring unwanted results.

Also, since you believe that this change in behavior is linked to an update... is there a log file (or several) that lists changes to the system related to updates over and above merely listing which new versions of files were downloaded and installed? IOW, something that would list in no uncertain terms any changes to configurations files and the like?

Good luck,
MDM

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Mountain Dew Maniac

How to Ask for Help <=== Click on this link

arch2013

Member

Registered: 2013-05-23

Posts: 3

Re: [Solved] xfce4 saves session at shutdown -h now

Hello!

MDM, this was the right direction!
I could observe the following:
shutdown -h now: Computer saves session, then turns off.
shutdown -H now: Computer halts, i had to manually power off, session was not saved
shutdown -P now: Computer does not save the session and turns power off.
shutdown now: Computer does not save the session (but firefox does!) and turns power off.

poweroff showed similar behaviour than shutdown -P now.

Any data which is still written at the moment were doomed anyway (the only exception was -H), no matter which option i gave shutdown.

-end-

Yes, there are logfiles for the update. I am using arch and i did not updated for at least 2 months, so its about 2GB of data, including the kernel ^^ this is about a fifths of the data of all programs on my pc. If you put out all programs i would not connect with this problem, the other would be

community/lxdm 0.4.1-22
several xfce4 packages
core/systemd 204-2
core/systemd-sysvcompat 204-2
core/linux 3.9.3-1
extra/xorg-server 1.14.1-1

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To come to an end:
I replaced 'shutdown -h now' by 'shutdown now'. I wasn't able to "repair" the xfce4-panel shutdown button, so i build my own panel button with shutdown now. This is fine for me.