Excalibur desktop-live: "switch user" action segfaults xfce4-session

steve_v · Today 06:42:12

So I thought it time I gave excalibur a test-run...

This is a completely stock, unadulterated refracta install from devuan_excalibur_6.0.0_amd64_desktop-live.iso, in VirtualBox.

The "switch user" menu entry in the default desktop-live install flat-out does not work. Better still, it crashes your active session. This is the opposite of what one would expect from that function, and not remotely how it is supposed to work or has worked for the last 25 years.

Clicking the "switch user" menu entry does cause the greeter (slim) to appear eventually (~15 seconds), but rather than allowing a concurrent login while keeping the existing session active, the active Xserver is terminated and the XFCE session manager segfaults.

xfce4-session[1972]: segfault at 8 ip 00005558656d87e5 sp 00007ffdc8b628d0 error 4 in xfce4-session[247e5,5558656c7000+1d000] likely on CPU 3 (core 3, socket 0)
[Fri Nov 14 19:15:48 2025] Code: 85 07 fe ff ff 8b 0d 32 ea 01 00 85 c9 0f 85 9c 00 00 00 48 8d 35 82 ce 00 00 4c 89 ef e8 83 06 ff ff 48 89 c3 48 8b 44 24 20 <48> 8b 68 08 41 8b 44 24 2c 83 f8 04 0f 84 b9 00 00 00 83 f8 05 0f

ps and loginctl confirm there is now only one session and one X process (slim's xserver), anything that was open in the users graphical session is now gone.

How is this not in the release notes or on the bugtracker? It's a first-level item in the desktop menu that will immediately crash your session and nuke any unsaved work.

How do I get working graphical multi-user in this multi-user Unix OS? Shouldn't this work out of the box?

---

Aside, on general first-impressions:

I still hate the installer with a passion. I'm sure you all don't want to hear it again, but I'm going to say it again because refracta is still awful.
The register echoes my sentiment on this pretty well:

same glitches that we reported a little over two years ago...
rather clunky Refracta installer...
so we had to restart the installer...
didn't successfully install the GRUB bootloader

Despite over 25 years with GNU/Linux and many different distros and installers, I too fell into the same trap as el-reg - not getting GRUB installed.
The final prompt is horrible. It doesn't bother asking where to install grub, doesn't position the button that will "continue" to a working install where the user has been seeing "continue" buttons up until this point, doesn't give any options to retry if installation fails, and quite frankly, "copy files" has to be the dumbest name I have ever heard for "please give me an install that actually boots".
Please just use calamares. For all its faults, it doesn't look like a refugee from the '90s, it has a real workflow with the ability to go back a step, and it doesn't actively try to confuse the user.

Also, why in the nine hells is ssh not included in the live install? I could understand not enabling the server by default, but not even installing it? Why?

Last edited by steve_v (Today 06:44:28)

stargate-sg1-cheyenne-mtn · Today 08:13:09

after countless installs(across decades and up to and including the day before yesterday), i also still fall prey to the _dammit_forgot_to_select_where_to_install_grub_again_sigh_ahem_SUPERGRUBDISKFORTHEWINAGAIN_

nine hells...

rotflmao

Last edited by stargate-sg1-cheyenne-mtn (Today 08:14:48)

fsmithred · Today 12:25:16

Steve,

Thanks for the report. It took me a little while to find "switch user". It's only in the action button on the right side of the panel. It doesn't appear in the Logout window you get from the Applications menu. I can confirm that switch user doesn't work in the default setup. Also, the who command returns nothing.

I believe you found another bug in the Slim display manager. If you install lightdm, then "Switch user" becomes an additional choice in the logout screen, and it does work. Also, 'who' works then. This problem wasn't in the betas because slim was creating a black window over the desktop with autologin, so I used lightdm in the builds instead.

I was able to reproduce the grub failure in virtualbox, but in qemu it worked normally. I'll stop here on that point - I'm suppressing a rant about grub.

Point taken about the "copy files" button. If you do a uefi install, the button says "Install bootloader". That's an easy fix.

Edit: Forgot to mention ssh. The desktop-live is based on a default task-xfce-desktop install which does not include openssh-server.

steve_v · Today 13:01:57

I believe you found another bug in the Slim display manager.

Colour me not at all surprised. While SLiM is indeed "slim", it's functionality is eclipsed by even the venerable XDM. User switching, bah, who needs that?

Also, the who command returns nothing.

Don't ask me how, but SLiM somehow manages to not register login, session nor seat properly. At least that means it doesn't unexpectedly inhibit logind idle actions, unlike certain other disasters (SDDM).

If lightdm had a greeter (in the repos) that didn't drag in a bunch of gnome/GTK3 dependencies I'd be all for it...

For such a relatively simple function as a display-manager / graphical greeter, there really is a dearth of options that don't suck in some fundamental way.

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#1 Today 06:42:12

Excalibur desktop-live: "switch user" action segfaults xfce4-session

#2 Today 08:13:09

Re: Excalibur desktop-live: "switch user" action segfaults xfce4-session

#3 Today 12:25:16

Re: Excalibur desktop-live: "switch user" action segfaults xfce4-session

#4 Today 13:01:57

Re: Excalibur desktop-live: "switch user" action segfaults xfce4-session

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