system settings fail after 5.0.6 upgrade

[rchas1023]

 * Cinnamon version (cinnamon --version)
   - Please specify if you are using the daily builds PPA
     (https://launchpad.net/~linuxmint-daily-build-team/+archive/ubuntu/daily-builds).
 * Distribution - (Mint 17.2, Arch, Fedora 25, etc...)
 * Graphics hardware *and* driver used
 * 32 or 64 bit
 * Attach ~/.xsession-errors, or /var/log/syslog

Issue Cannot change Desktop Background

Steps to reproduce After upgrade to 5.0.6+uma Right click on desktop, select Change Desktop Background - no response Right click on menu bar, select System Settings - no response

Expected behaviour Expect to see images for current background selection, and menu of alternate lists

Other information Running Linux Mint 2.2, 64-bit Last update manager run on 15/10/2021 Carried out timeshift rollback today and ran update manager selectively until the fault appeared.

Configuration info, if applicable If this bug report is related to an Applet, Desklet or Extension, please paste (or use a pastebin service) the offending extension's settings, if it has any. You can obtain this by opening its configuration, clicking the 'hamburger' button in the upper-right corner of the window, and selecting "Export to a file". Please be sure to review the contents and remove any personal data it may contain.

Please paste here

[mtwebster]

Run cinnamon-settings from a terminal and paste the output please.

Also, the output for dpkg --list | grep '\-pil'

[rchas1023]

Note that I have performed a rollback, to remove the fault:-

roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ cinnamon-settings Using PAM module (python3-pam) ... and the System Settings window appears.

roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ dpkg --list | grep '-pil' ii python3-pil:amd64 7.0.0-4ubuntu0.4 amd64 Python Imaging Library (Python3)

With the fault present, I could not run cinnamon-settings. As I remember, it reported that 'PIL' was missing. I could not find PIL, nor could I install it - probably because I was doing it wrong.

[mtwebster]

Well, next time you try the updates, run cinnamon-settings from a terminal, and then navigate to the backgrounds page - if it's failing to open from the desktop, it probably will die there.

Have installed any python3 packages other than by using apt or the software manager? Using pip3 maybe? Or have you installed a different version of python than what the package manager gives you?

PIL is 'python imaging library' - the backgrounds page uses it to render the thumbnails you see there. There's currently a broken version available thru the python package manager (pip3), or at least, incompatible with cinnamon-settings. This issue has come up a number of times due to these packages conflicting. What's surprising is the most recent update should be preventing this problem you're having, so I suspect this might be a related, but unique issue.

[rchas1023]

I am currently running under a rollback, to avoid the problem.

When the fault was present, cinnamon-settings reported that PIL was missing. I could not find PIL in the system, nor could I install it, probably because of my ignorance.

Currently I get:-

roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ cinnamon-settings
Using PAM module (python3-pam)
^C
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ dpkg --list | grep '\-pil'
ii  python3-pil:amd64                             7.0.0-4ubuntu0.4                      amd64        Python Imaging Library (Python3)
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ 

... and the Systems Settings window appears, until I enter CTRL-C.

[mtwebster]

A couple of other information gathering things to try (you can be in your 'working' state for this):

pip3 list | grep -i pil

python3 -c "import sys; print(sys.path)"

python3 --version

[rchas1023]

Sorry about the repeated message. Wires crossed.

If I could not run cinnamon-settings before, I doubt it will run if I try the updates again. I shall try when the version number changes.

Note that when I tried to access Backgrounds through the menu by Preferences/Backgrounds, it was unresponsive.

[rchas1023]

I tried all three of your suggested "couple". I would not expect anything out of the ordinary, as I do not tamper with pythons. I am pure C/perl.

roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ pip3 list
Package                 Version
----------------------- --------------------
apsw                    3.28.0.post1
apt-clone               0.2.1
apturl                  0.5.2
beautifulsoup4          4.8.2
blinker                 1.4
Brlapi                  0.7.0
certifi                 2019.11.28
cffi                    1.14.5
chardet                 3.0.4
Click                   7.0
colorama                0.4.3
coloredlogs             15.0
command-not-found       0.3
configobj               5.0.6
cryptography            2.8
css-parser              1.0.4
cssselect               1.1.0
cssutils                1.0.2
cupshelpers             1.0
cycler                  0.10.0
dbus-python             1.2.16
decorator               4.4.2
defer                   1.0.6
distro                  1.4.0
dnspython               1.16.0
entrypoints             0.3
feedparser              5.2.1
grpcio                  1.16.1
html2text               2020.1.16
html5-parser            0.4.9
html5lib                1.0.1
httplib2                0.14.0
humanfriendly           9.1
idna                    2.8
ifaddr                  0.1.6
imageio                 2.9.0
IMDbPY                  6.8
img2pdf                 0.4.1
imutils                 0.5.4
keyring                 18.0.1
kiwisolver              1.3.1
launchpadlib            1.10.13
lazr.restfulclient      0.14.2
lazr.uri                1.0.3
louis                   3.12.0
lxml                    4.6.3
macaroonbakery          1.3.1
Mako                    1.1.0
Markdown                3.1.1
MarkupSafe              1.1.0
matplotlib              3.4.2
mechanize               0.4.5
msgpack                 0.6.2
mutagen                 1.44.0
nemo-emblems            5.0.0
netaddr                 0.7.19
netifaces               0.10.4
networkx                2.5.1
nose                    1.3.7
notify2                 0.3
numpy                   1.20.3
oauthlib                3.1.0
ocrmypdf                12.0.2
onboard                 1.4.1
opencv-python           4.5.2.52
packaging               20.3
PAM                     0.4.2
pdfminer.six            20201018
pexpect                 4.6.0
pikepdf                 2.12.1
Pillow                  8.2.0
pip                     21.3
pluggy                  0.13.1
protobuf                3.6.1
psutil                  5.5.1
pycairo                 1.16.2
pychm                   0.8.6
pycparser               2.20
pycrypto                2.6.1
pycups                  1.9.73
pycurl                  7.43.0.2
Pygments                2.3.1
PyGObject               3.36.0
PyICU                   2.4.2
pyinotify               0.9.6
PyJWT                   1.7.1
pymacaroons             0.13.0
PyNaCl                  1.3.0
pyparsing               2.4.6
pyparted                3.11.2
PyPDF2                  1.26.0
PyQt5                   5.14.1
PyQtWebEngine           5.14.0
pyRFC3339               1.1
python-apt              2.0.0+ubuntu0.20.4.6
python-dateutil         2.8.1
python-debian           0.1.36ubuntu1
python-magic            0.4.16
python-xapp             2.2.1
python-xlib             0.23
pytz                    2019.3
PyWavelets              1.1.1
pyxattr                 0.6.1
pyxdg                   0.26
PyYAML                  5.3.1
regex                   2019.8.19
reportlab               3.5.67
repoze.lru              0.7
requests                2.22.0
requests-file           1.4.3
requests-unixsocket     0.2.0
Routes                  2.4.1
scikit-image            0.18.1
scipy                   1.6.3
screen-resolution-extra 0.0.0
SecretStorage           2.3.1
setproctitle            1.1.10
setuptools              57.0.0
simplejson              3.16.0
sip                     4.19.21
six                     1.14.0
sortedcontainers        2.4.0
soupsieve               1.9.5
systemd-python          234
tesserocr               2.5.1
tifffile                2021.4.8
tinycss2                1.0.2
tldextract              2.2.1
tqdm                    4.61.0
ubuntu-advantage-tools  27.2
ubuntu-drivers-common   0.0.0
ufw                     0.36
Unidecode               1.1.1
urllib3                 1.25.8
wadllib                 1.3.3
webencodings            0.5.1
WebOb                   1.8.5
wheel                   0.34.2
xkit                    0.0.0
youtube-dl              2021.4.26
zeroconf                0.24.4
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ python3 -c "import sys; print(sys.path)"
['', '/usr/lib/python38.zip', '/usr/lib/python3.8', '/usr/lib/python3.8/lib-dynload', '/home/roger/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages', '/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages', '/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages', '/usr/lib/python3.8/dist-packages']
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ python3 --version
Python 3.8.10
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ 

[rchas1023]

I'm sorry. I don't understand the strikeouts.

[rchas1023]

My humble apologies for missing the grep continuation:-

Pillow 8.2.0

[mtwebster]

Please run:

ls -la /usr/bin/python3*

and

> python3
Python 3.8.10 (default, Jun  2 2021, 10:49:15) 
[GCC 9.4.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

>>> import PIL
>>> PIL.__version__
>>> PIL.__file__

[rchas1023]

Hi

Do you want me to update cinnamon desktop before I do this, or not?

• Roger -

On Mon, 18 Oct 2021 at 13:35, Michael Webster @.***> wrote:

Please run:

ls -la /usr/bin/python3*

and

python3 Python 3.8.10 (default, Jun 2 2021, 10:49:15) [GCC 9.4.0] on linux Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

import PIL PIL.version PIL.file

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/issues/10397#issuecomment-945719235, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AGEEXQKEATMAFVHMFLDFPA3UHQH7VANCNFSM5GE6YI2Q . Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675 or Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub.

[mtwebster]

You can do it without updating, sorry I should have specified.

[rchas1023]

No problem, thanks!

On Mon, 18 Oct 2021 at 14:00, Michael Webster @.***> wrote:

You can do it without updating, sorry I should have specified.

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/issues/10397#issuecomment-945741137, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AGEEXQMA25WHQISMPO4FZDDUHQK6VANCNFSM5GE6YI2Q . Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675 or Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub.

[rchas1023]

roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ ls -la /usr/bin/python3*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root       9 May 27 11:33 /usr/bin/python3 -> python3.8
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5490488 Sep 28 17:10 /usr/bin/python3.8
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      33 Sep 28 17:10 /usr/bin/python3.8-config -> x86_64-linux-gnu-python3.8-config
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      16 Mar 13  2020 /usr/bin/python3-config -> python3.8-config
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ python3
Python 3.8.10 (default, Sep 28 2021, 16:10:42) 
[GCC 9.3.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import PIL
>>> PIL.__version__
'8.2.0'
>>> PIL.__file__
'/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/PIL/__init__.py'
>>> 

[rchas1023]

Done that. I hope it is clear.

On Mon, 18 Oct 2021 at 14:09, Roger Haslock @.***> wrote:

No problem, thanks!

On Mon, 18 Oct 2021 at 14:00, Michael Webster @.***> wrote:

You can do it without updating, sorry I should have specified.

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/issues/10397#issuecomment-945741137, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AGEEXQMA25WHQISMPO4FZDDUHQK6VANCNFSM5GE6YI2Q . Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675 or Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub.

[rchas1023]

roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ ls -la /usr/bin/python3*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root       9 May 27 11:33 /usr/bin/python3 -> python3.8
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5490488 Sep 28 17:10 /usr/bin/python3.8
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      33 Sep 28 17:10 /usr/bin/python3.8-config -> x86_64-linux-gnu-python3.8-config
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      16 Mar 13  2020 /usr/bin/python3-config -> python3.8-config
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ python3
Python 3.8.10 (default, Sep 28 2021, 16:10:42) 
[GCC 9.3.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import PIL
>>> PIL.__version__
'8.2.0'
>>> PIL.__file__
'/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/PIL/__init__.py'
>>> 

[afownx]

Just want to let you know that I have the same problem as you after updating to cinnamon 5.0.6. I can neither open Change Desktop Background, System Settings, nor System Info. Running Linux Mint 20.2

What the terminal says after typing cinnamon-settings is:

No Module Named 'PIL'

So i guess mine is a reproduce of your problem.

[rchas1023]

Exactly the same as me. I used Timeshift to get back to the state before the last update, and then applied the update selectively - skipping anything 'cinnamon'.

On Tue, 19 Oct 2021 at 04:01, afownx @.***> wrote:

Just want to let you know that I have the same problem as you after updating to cinnamon 5.0.6. I can neither open Change Desktop Background, System Settings, nor System Info. Running Linux Mint 20.2

What the terminal says after typing cinnamon-settings is:

No Module Named 'PIL'

— You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/issues/10397#issuecomment-946325287, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AGEEXQIFXJU5HDS4YOZY5DDUHTNPZANCNFSM5GE6YI2Q . Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675 or Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub.

[rchas1023]

My apologies for messing it up. I'm getting too old for this, and I hit the wrong button. Thank you for correcting my error.

[mtwebster]

Can you guys try:

apt install --reinstall python3-pil

dpkg-divert --list

sudo mv /usr/local/lib/python3.8 /usr/local/lib/python3.8.bak

then run cinnamon-settings.

Afterwards, you can run:

sudo mv /usr/local/lib/python3.8.bak /usr/local/lib/python3.8

To restore your system.

This can be done either in the upgraded or pre-upgrade state.

P.S. If you surround what you paste by 3 backticks (shift-~ usually):

' ' ' (these should be ` not ' - this is so I can explain it) pasted stuff ' ' '

It should preserve any formatting (and keep you from having crossed-out text).

[rchas1023]

roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ apt install --reinstall python3-pil
[sudo] password for roger:          
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-5.11.0-36-generic linux-hwe-5.11-headers-5.11.0-25
  linux-hwe-5.11-headers-5.11.0-27 linux-hwe-5.11-headers-5.11.0-34
  linux-hwe-5.11-headers-5.11.0-36 linux-image-5.11.0-36-generic
  linux-modules-5.11.0-36-generic linux-modules-extra-5.11.0-36-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 18 not upgraded.
Need to get 363 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntumirror.dei.uc.pt/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 python3-pil amd64 7.0.0-4ubuntu0.4 [363 kB]
Fetched 363 kB in 1s (524 kB/s) 
(Reading database ... 466455 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../python3-pil_7.0.0-4ubuntu0.4_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking python3-pil:amd64 (7.0.0-4ubuntu0.4) over (7.0.0-4ubuntu0.4) ...
Setting up python3-pil:amd64 (7.0.0-4ubuntu0.4) ...
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ sudo mv /usr/local/lib/python3.8 /usr/local/lib/python3.8.bak
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ cinnamon-settings
Using PAM module (python3-pam)
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ sudo mv /usr/local/lib/python3.8.bak /usr/local/lib/python3.8
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ 

The above is before upgrade, and cinnamon-settings presented the settings window as expected.

[rchas1023]

Oh, dear. I dutifully used the three back ticks as requested, but they seem to have been corrupted, and everything now suffers from strikethrough. My keyboard, Portuguese, will not give me backticks, so I copied them from your email of instructions.

Thus `

[PolarNelvana]

Can you guys try:

apt install --reinstall python3-pil

dpkg-divert --list

sudo mv /usr/local/lib/python3.8 /usr/local/lib/python3.8.bak

then run cinnamon-settings.

Afterwards, you can run:

sudo mv /usr/local/lib/python3.8.bak /usr/local/lib/python3.8

To restore your system.

This can be done either in the upgraded or pre-upgrade state.

P.S. If you surround what you paste by 3 backticks (shift-~ usually):

' ' ' (these should be ` not ' - this is so I can explain it) pasted stuff ' ' '

It should preserve any formatting (and keep you from having crossed-out text).

This fixed my issue. Previous I got the error "No module named 'PIL'" but now it works. Thanks!

[rchas1023]

Running in pre-upgraded state:-

roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ apt install --reinstall python3-pil
[sudo] password for roger:          
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-5.11.0-36-generic linux-hwe-5.11-headers-5.11.0-25
  linux-hwe-5.11-headers-5.11.0-27 linux-hwe-5.11-headers-5.11.0-34
  linux-hwe-5.11-headers-5.11.0-36 linux-image-5.11.0-36-generic
  linux-modules-5.11.0-36-generic linux-modules-extra-5.11.0-36-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 18 not upgraded.
Need to get 363 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntumirror.dei.uc.pt/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 python3-pil amd64 7.0.0-4ubuntu0.4 [363 kB]
Fetched 363 kB in 1s (280 kB/s)                                    
(Reading database ... 466455 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../python3-pil_7.0.0-4ubuntu0.4_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking python3-pil:amd64 (7.0.0-4ubuntu0.4) over (7.0.0-4ubuntu0.4) ...
Setting up python3-pil:amd64 (7.0.0-4ubuntu0.4) ...
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ dpkg-divert --list
diversion of /usr/share/dict/words to /usr/share/dict/words.pre-dictionaries-common by dictionaries-common
diversion of /usr/share/man/man1/sh.1.gz to /usr/share/man/man1/sh.distrib.1.gz by dash
diversion of /usr/bin/perldoc to /usr/bin/perldoc.stub by perl-doc
diversion of /bin/sh to /bin/sh.distrib by dash
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ sudo mv /usr/local/lib/python3.8 /usr/local/lib/python3.8.bak
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ cinnamon-settings
Using PAM module (python3-pam)
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ sudo mv /usr/local/lib/python3.8.bak /usr/local/lib/python3.8
roger@MSI-Desktop:~/Desktop$ 

The System Settings window appeared as expected after calling cinnamon-settings.

[rchas1023]

After upgrading, the system now appears to work correctly. I believe the issue may now be closed.

[mtwebster]

Summary: 1d623cf359abeefd9e6d0d82c5afe3ca8cc58224 started preventing cinnamon-settings from attempting to load non-system python modules, which could potentially be incompatible. Doing so revealed that some system python modules may need to be re-installed.

If cinnamon-settings fails to load, run it from a terminal and note any missing module names.

for example..

Reinstall PIL using system package manager (like apt):

apt install --reinstall python3-pil

If other packages are missing, do the same - In Mint/Debian/Ubuntu, all python packages should start with python3-<module-name>.

[rchas1023]

Thank you for all your help.

• Roger -

On Fri, 22 Oct 2021 at 14:43, Michael Webster @.***> wrote:

Closed #10397 https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/issues/10397.

— You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/issues/10397#event-5504987585, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AGEEXQNZH5FOQLHLMB3GYLTUIFS7HANCNFSM5GE6YI2Q . Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675 or Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub.

[afownx]

I

Can you guys try:

apt install --reinstall python3-pil

dpkg-divert --list

sudo mv /usr/local/lib/python3.8 /usr/local/lib/python3.8.bak

then run cinnamon-settings.

Afterwards, you can run:

sudo mv /usr/local/lib/python3.8.bak /usr/local/lib/python3.8

To restore your system.

This can be done either in the upgraded or pre-upgrade state.

P.S. If you surround what you paste by 3 backticks (shift-~ usually):

' ' ' (these should be ` not ' - this is so I can explain it) pasted stuff ' ' '

It should preserve any formatting (and keep you from having crossed-out text).

I just want to let you know that this worked! Thanks a lot!

[vishwin]

I commented directly in the commit 8d53792ad463361f6c365ebce40ff58dbfda4d58, but repeating here: this setup breaks any system that installs system packages in /usr/local.

[CyberDomovoy]

I agree with @vishwin here. I'd also add that this prevent a "normal" usage of python/pip.

There's currently a broken version available thru the python package manager (pip3), or at least, incompatible with cinnamon-settings

Then cinnamon-setting should test for this specific version, and try to find a compatible one in the python path, or even just warn the user about that and leave it at that.

It should not decide what to do made on the assumption that every system is probably set up the same. It should especially not modify the whole python path, since this won't only affect the loading of PIL, but of every python module.

The user should always have the choice, even if it's the bad one. The way the python path is used/modified by python/pip is well documented and often used by python users, cinnamon should not change that, even for it's personal case.