[XFCE] not starting

Hello there!

I have a relatively new installation of 8.0-Stable, and TWM, fvwm and KDE4 run just fine. Just installed xfce4 from ports, and when I start it up (either from startx or slim), I get:
Code:
/usr/local/bin/startxfce4: X server already running on display :0
<stdin>:1:3: error: invalid preprocessing directive #Those
<stdin>:2:3: error: invalid preprocessing directive #or
<stdin>:3:3: error: invalid preprocessing directive #Xft
<stdin>:4:3: error: invalid preprocessing directive #Xft
xrdb:  "Xft.hinting" on line 9 overrides entry on line 6
xrdb:  "Xft.hintstyle" on line 11 overrides entry on line 7
Agent pid 1500
xfdesktop[1521]: starting up
process 1508: arguments to dbus_message_new_signal() were incorrect, assertion "_dbus_check_is_valid_path (path)" failed in file dbus-message.c line 1165.
This is normally a bug in some application using the D-Bus library.
  D-Bus not compiled with backtrace support so unable to print a backtrace

(xfce4-settings-helper:1532): libxfcegui4-WARNING **: ICE I/O Error

(xfce4-settings-helper:1532): libxfcegui4-WARNING **: Disconnected from session manager.

(xfdesktop:1521): libxfcegui4-WARNING **: ICE I/O Error

(xfce4-panel:1517): libxfcegui4-WARNING **: ICE I/O Error
Abort trap (core dumped)

(xfce4-settings-helper:1525): libxfcegui4-WARNING **: ICE I/O Error

(xfce4-settings-helper:1525): xfce4-settings-helper-WARNING **: Failed to connect to session manager
xfce4-settings-helper is already running
Agent pid 1500 killed
xscreensaver: 16:44:54: SIGHUP received: restarting...
xscreensaver: 16:44:54: initial effective uid/gid was root/ohle (0/1001)
xscreensaver: 16:44:54: running as ohle/ohle (1001/1001)


waiting for X server to shut down xfce4-settings-helper: Fatal IO error 35 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :0.0.
Dropping master 
xscreensaver: 16:44:55: Can't open display: :0
xscreensaver: 16:44:55: initial effective uid/gid was root/ohle (0/1001)
xscreensaver: 16:44:55: running as ohle/ohle (1001/1001)

xscreensaver: 16:44:55: This is probably because you're logging in as root.  You
              shouldn't log in as root: you should log in as a normal user,
              and then `su' as needed.  If you insist on logging in as
              root, you will have to turn off X's security features before
              xscreensaver will work.

              Please read the manual and FAQ for more information:

              http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/faq.html
              http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/man.html



xfce4-panel: Fatal IO error 0 (Unknown error: 0) on X server :0.0.
fortune: not found


May 20 16:31:10 laphroaig pulseaudio[3024]: x11wrap.c: XOpenDisplay() failed
May 20 16:31:10 laphroaig pulseaudio[3024]: module.c: Failed to load  module
"module-x11-xsmp" (argument: "display=:0.0session_manager=local/laphroaig:/tmp/.ICE-unix/2984"): initialization failed.

There doesn't seem to be any relevant information in the log files. A Dbus problem? Also, I assume xfce uses pulseaudio for sound, and I'm going to have problems with that once it starts up?

The funny part is that when I try to start xfce as root (just for testing), it seems to work.

regards,
Ohle
 
This is a known problem, although currently without a good solution. There are two workarounds:

1. Just keep trying startxfce4, and it should eventually start, maybe every other time, maybe only once out of ten.
or
2. Uninstall xfce4-session and it should start every time. Of course, you won't have the session manager features.
 
Yuck. Thanks for the info. Any pointers to resources about this problem (bugtrackers or so)?
 
Just an update: on the page wblock linked to, kan has posted a patch to
x11/libSM that fixes the problem.
 
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