Re: startkde: Could not start kdeinit5. Check your installation.

Marc Chamberlin composed on 2022-06-20 14:38 (UTC-0700):

> Felix Miata wrote:
...
>> 	update-alternatives --config default-displaymanager
 
> Unfortunately the update-alternatives command does not offer me 
> the choice of using IceWM as my default windows manager.

# update-alternatives --config default-xsession.desktop

>>> i+ | python2-iniconfig              | package | 1.1.1-lp152.2.3
>> Some of these I would have expected to be upgraded by a zypper dup,
>> but the rest are from your optional repos.
 
> I am not sure if you are asking me to do a zypper dup on this system or 
> not. The last time I just ran zypper up thinking that was probably 
> safer. Still stuck but feeling more hopeful now that I see IceWM is 
> working OK. I wonder if there is some kind of configuration error for 
> SDDM but I haven't messed with it (don't know how) AFAIK.
 
For a 15.3 installation to be complete, it might be necessary to run zypper dup at
least once. My confusion may be from spending time on 15.3 so long ago, and mostly
working with 15.4 since before its beta release. I don't remember seeing you
report whether this was a fresh installation, or an upgrade. If upgrade, once
since its release announcement is required, I think. The idea is to ensure nothing
from 15.2 is leftover, and everything you need has been installed without error.

Anyway, from a working freshly updated 15.3 with AMD graphics, running a Plasma
session, I did what follows:

# ps -A | egrep 'dm|start|kde|plasma'
   34 ?        00:00:00 kdevtmpfs
  400 ?        00:00:00 dmeventd
  696 ?        00:00:00 sdma0
  697 ?        00:00:00 sdma1
 1420 ?        00:00:00 tdm
 1985 ?        00:00:00 tdm
 2008 ?        00:00:00 startplasma-x11
 2087 ?        00:00:00 start_kdeinit
 2088 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit5
 2104 ?        00:00:00 kded5
 2146 ?        00:00:00 plasma_session
 2158 ?        00:00:00 polkit-kde-auth
 2160 ?        00:00:06 plasmashell
 2187 ?        00:00:00 org_kde_powerde
# which org_kde_powerdevil
which: no org_kde_powerdevil in (/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:/root/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin)
# which org_kde_powerde
which: no org_kde_powerde in (/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:/root/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin)
# which plasmashell
/usr/bin/plasmashell
# which polkit-kde-auth
which: no polkit-kde-auth in (/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:/root/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin)
# which plasma-session
which: no plasma-session in (/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:/root/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin)
# which kded5
/usr/bin/kded5
# which kdeinit5
/usr/bin/kdeinit5
# which start_kdeinit
which: no start_kdeinit in (/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:/root/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin)
# which startplasma-x11
/usr/bin/startplasma-x11
# which kcminit_startup
/usr/bin/kcminit_startup
# ls -Gg /usr/lib64/libexec/org_kde_powerdevil
-rwxr-xr-x 1 120008 Apr 23  2021 /usr/lib64/libexec/org_kde_powerdevil
# ls -Gg /usr/lib64/libexec/polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1
-rwxr-xr-x 1 90208 Aug 26  2021 /usr/lib64/libexec/polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1
# ls -Gg /usr/share/xsessions/plasma5.desktop	# just guessing here that it actually matters
-rw-r--r-- 1 2529 Aug 27  2021 /usr/share/xsessions/plasma5.desktop
# ls -Gg /usr/lib64/libexec/kf5/start_kdeinit*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 10616 Aug 26  2021 /usr/lib64/libexec/kf5/start_kdeinit
-rwxr-xr-x 1  6376 Aug 26  2021 /usr/lib64/libexec/kf5/start_kdeinit_wrapper
# rpm -qf /usr/lib64/libexec/org_kde_powerdevil
powerdevil5-5.18.5-bp153.1.36.x86_64
# rpm -qf /usr/bin/plasmashell 
plasma5-workspace-5.18.6-bp153.4.2.3.x86_64
# rpm -qf /usr/lib64/libexec/polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1
polkit-kde-agent-5-5.18.5-bp153.2.2.1.x86_64
# rpm -qf /usr/share/xsessions/plasma5.desktop
plasma5-session-5.18.6-bp153.4.2.3.noarch
# rpm -qf /usr/bin/kded5 
kded-5.76.0-bp153.2.2.1.x86_64
# rpm -qf /usr/bin/kdeinit5 
kinit-5.76.0-bp153.2.2.1.x86_64
# rpm -qf /usr/lib64/libexec/kf5/start_kdeinit
kinit-5.76.0-bp153.2.2.1.x86_64
# rpm -qf /usr/lib64/libexec/kf5/start_kdeinit_wrapper 
kinit-5.76.0-bp153.2.2.1.x86_64
# rpm -qf /usr/bin/startplasma-x11 
plasma5-workspace-5.18.6-bp153.4.2.3.x86_64
# rpm -qf /usr/bin/kcminit_startup
plasma5-workspace-5.18.6-bp153.4.2.3.x86_64
#

One thing that might help is to force reinstallation of the above listed rpms,
since it is obvious they are necessary parts of achieving a running Plasma
session. It could be that there is some corruption involved somewhere to
cause that not found error 127 that prevents startplasma-x11 from running.

Before getting back to package management, try from an IceWM session, or a
vtty login, removing the content from ~/.cache. It's a longshot here, but
it sometimes cleans up Plasma's act. Do you have an alternate user configured?
Does Plasma fail to start for it too? If yes, not likely this has anything to
do with user settings.

If force reinstalling the above packages is unhelpful, you could try removing
the entirety of KDE/Plasma with zypper or yast, rebooting, then installing it.
To do this in zypper, use the --clean-deps option, and choose several obvious
basic packages to remove, such as plasma5-workspace-libs, plasma5-workspace,
plasma5-session, libKF5Plasma5, plasma5-desktop, plasma-framework, kded,
kde-user-manager.

Plasma on 15.3 can work:
# inxi -GSaz --vs
System:
  Kernel: 5.3.18-150300.59.71-default arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 7.5.0 parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz root=LABEL=<filter>
    noresume ipv6.disable=1 net.ifnames=0 mitigations=auto consoleblank=0
    radeon.cik_support=0 amdgpu.cik_support=1
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.18.6 tk: Qt v: 5.12.7 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 7 dm: TDM
    Distro: openSUSE Leap 15.3
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Kaveri [Radeon R7 Graphics] vendor: ASRock driver: amdgpu
    v: kernel alternate: radeon arch: GCN 2 process: GF/TSMC 16-28nm
    built: 2013-17 ports: active: DP-1,DVI-D-1,HDMI-A-1 empty: VGA-1
    bus-ID: 00:01.0 chip-ID: 1002:1313 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.20.3 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X:
    loaded: amdgpu unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :0
    screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x3540 s-dpi: 120 s-size: 541x749mm (21.30x29.49")
    s-diag: 924mm (36.38")
  Monitor-1: DVI-D-1 mapped: DVI-D-0 pos: middle model: Dell P2012H
    serial: <filter> built: 2012 res: 1600x900 hz: 60 dpi: 92 gamma: 1.2
    size: 443x249mm (17.44x9.8") diag: 508mm (20") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 1600x900 min: 720x400
  Monitor-2: DP-1 mapped: DisplayPort-0 pos: primary,bottom
    model: Acer K272HUL serial: <filter> built: 2018 res: 2560x1440 hz: 60
    dpi: 109 gamma: 1.2 size: 598x336mm (23.54x13.23") diag: 686mm (27")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 2560x1440 min: 720x400
  Monitor-3: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-A-0 pos: primary,top model: NEC EA243WM
    serial: <filter> built: 2011 res: 1920x1200 hz: 60 dpi: 94 gamma: 1.2
    size: 519x324mm (20.43x12.76") diag: 612mm (24.1") ratio: 16:10 modes:
    max: 1920x1200 min: 640x480
  OpenGL:
    renderer: AMD KAVERI (DRM 3.39.0 5.3.18-150300.59.71-default LLVM 11.0.1)
    v: 4.6 Mesa 20.2.4 direct render: Yes
#
Pay no attention to the radeon.cik_support=0 amdgpu.cik_support=1 command line
options. They're only for the particular (older) AMD generation I have.
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion,
	based on faith, not based on science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata