Flatpaks won't start

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Flatpaks won't start

18 March 2025, 09:02:14

Hello. I am having a problem with Flatpak Firefox (well all Flatpaks really). It just will not start. In terminal, it produces the following:

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F: Can't get document portal: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Process org.freedesktop.portal.Documents exited with status 2
[3, Main Thread] WARNING: Failed to read portal settings: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: Object does not exist at path “/org/freedesktop/portal/desktop”: 'glib warning', file /builds/worker/checkouts/gecko/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:201

(org.mozilla.firefox:3): Gdk-WARNING **: 11:18:43.282: Failed to read portal settings: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: Object does not exist at path “/org/freedesktop/portal/desktop”

I do have xdg-document-portal, xdg-document-portal-gtk and xdg-document-portal-gnome installed, but there is not xdg-document-portal service (when I consulted an LLM with this it produced a sample service output to be put into /etc/init.d, rc-update would add it, but rc-service said it didn't exist).

Here is how my .zshrc looks (the modified preferences when trying to solve this issue):

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pid_gnome=$(pgrep gnome-session)
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=$(grep -z DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS /proc/${pid_gnome}/environ|cut -d= -f2-)
export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=${DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS}

#export $(dbus-launch) 
#export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=
export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=gnome
export ENABLE_WAYLAND=1
export XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland
export ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT=auto
#export DISPLAY=:0
export WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-0
#export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=$(dbus-launch --autolaunch=$(printenv XDG_RUNTIME_DIR) --binary-syntax --close-stderr)
#export GTK_USE_PORTAL=1
emulate sh -c 'source /etc/profile'

source /etc/profile
export XDG_DATA_DIRS="$HOME/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share:/usr/share/:/usr/local/share/:/home/f/Downloads:/home/f/Documents:/home/f/.var/app/:$XDG_DATA_DIRS"

XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
#XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
#export XDG_DATA_DIRS="$XDG_DATA_DIRS:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share:/usr/share/:/usr/local/share/:/home/f/Downloads:/home/f/Documents:/home/f/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share:/home/f/.var/app/"

One thing I've noticed is my DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS isn't pretty as it should be '/etc/iser/1000 or so' but it's something like 'unix:path=/tmp/dbus-LDJDHCJDJKEJFKDJJD,guid=pwkcklkdkekcjksk'.

I'm on Artix OpenRC GNOME hardened.

I would greatly appreciate some help, because I have spent a whole day yesterday just trying to get my browser to work.

Re: Flatpaks won't start

Reply #1 – 18 March 2025, 20:35:16

Does this also happen with a non-hardened kernel? How about in other-than-Gnome DE?

Re: Flatpaks won't start

Reply #2 – 18 March 2025, 21:20:59

Quote from: nous – on 18 March 2025, 20:35:16

Does this also happen with a non-hardened kernel? How about in other-than-Gnome DE?

The same happens on hardened/non-hardened, GNOME/Cinnamon, Wayland/X11. (When I tried uninstalling Cinnamon suspecting some incompatibility with xdg-document-portal-xapp, the desktop somehow broke and I couldn't boot after a reboot.)

Re: Flatpaks won't start

Reply #3 – 19 March 2025, 21:44:23

I'm not a flatpak expert, the only thing that comes to mind right now is trying with a completely blank $HOME user account (as in no ~/.config, ~/.local, etc. whatsoever).

Re: Flatpaks won't start

Reply #4 – 20 March 2025, 15:59:49

A-ha! With a new user profile, the flatpaks indeed start just fine. We're on to something.

Re: Flatpaks won't start

Reply #5 – 23 March 2025, 12:49:24

So it is probably something in user config preventing the Flatpaks from starting.

Re: Flatpaks won't start

Reply #6 – 23 March 2025, 22:41:30

I thought I'd give up and start a new user profile and migrate my user config there but no... When I copied my zsh, firefox and thunderbird configs, they all stop working too. Probably some permission issues. This is so frustrating.

Re: Flatpaks won't start

Reply #7 – 24 March 2025, 00:37:33

Quote from: kopecky – on 23 March 2025, 22:41:30

I thought I'd give up and start a new user profile and migrate my user config there but no... When I copied my zsh, firefox and thunderbird configs, they all stop working too. Probably some permission issues. This is so frustrating.

Did you chown the files to the new user ? Otherwise you are bound to have a permissions issue.

Re: Flatpaks won't start

Reply #8 – 24 March 2025, 03:16:41

My no. 1 suspicion is the zsh profile file (especially re-setting DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS - shouldn't the terminal application inherit it from the graphical session in the first place?).

Re: Flatpaks won't start

Reply #9 – 24 March 2025, 09:52:22

OK so I didn't know I had to chown to change the ownership of the copied files. I did that and now it works (thanks gripped). And by 'works' I mean both Flatpak Firefox and Thunderbird will start and run.

There are still few caviats: 1. When running Firefox from terminal it still complains:

Code: [Select]

F: Can't get document portal: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Message recipient disconnected from message bus without replying
[2, Main Thread] WARNING: Settings portal not found: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop: Timeout was reached: 'glib warning', file /builds/worker/checkouts/gecko/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:201

(org.mozilla.firefox:2): Gdk-WARNING **: 09:28:40.135: Settings portal not found: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop: Timeout was reached
[Parent 2, Main Thread] WARNING: Failed to execute child process “update-desktop-database” (No such file or directory): 'glib warning', file /builds/worker/checkouts/gecko/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:201

(org.mozilla.firefox:2): GLib-GIO-WARNING **: 09:28:52.633: Failed to execute child process “update-desktop-database” (No such file or directory)

and Thunderbird:

Code: [Select]

F: Can't get document portal: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Message recipient disconnected from message bus without replying
[2, Main Thread] WARNING: Settings portal not found: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop: Timeout was reached: 'glib warning', file /builds/worker/checkouts/gecko/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:187

(org.mozilla.Thunderbird:2): Gdk-WARNING **: 09:31:01.804: Settings portal not found: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop: Timeout was reached
[Parent 2, Main Thread] WARNING: Running in confined mode, using Portal notifications. Some features and hints won't be supported: 'glib warning', file /builds/worker/checkouts/gecko/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:187

(org.mozilla.Thunderbird:2): libnotify-WARNING **: 09:31:46.885: Running in confined mode, using Portal notifications. Some features and hints won't be supported
[ERROR style::stylesheets::rule_parser] Saw @import rule, but no way to trigger the load

and it takes them time to load (~30 secs).

2. Running Firefox Flatpak via menu opens it in dark mode (expected), but running the same from terminal yields upper menu light (!?).

3. (capezotte) ~ ▓▒░ echo $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS still outputs:

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unix:path=/tmp/dbus-ItHnYOcQzc,guid=54917de0644cbbfc9167c78467e1183f

When i uncomment

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export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=$(dbus-launch --autolaunch=$(printenv XDG_RUNTIME_DIR) --binary-syntax --close-stderr)

new terminal window outputs:

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[WARNING]: Console output during zsh initialization detected.

When using Powerlevel10k with instant prompt, console output during zsh
initialization may indicate issues.

You can:

  - Recommended: Change ~/.zshrc so that it does not perform console I/O
    after the instant prompt preamble. See the link below for details.

    * You will not see this error message again.
    * Zsh will start quickly and prompt will update smoothly.

  - Suppress this warning either by running p10k configure or by manually
    defining the following parameter:

      typeset -g POWERLEVEL9K_INSTANT_PROMPT=quiet

    * You will not see this error message again.
    * Zsh will start quickly but prompt will jump down after initialization.

  - Disable instant prompt either by running p10k configure or by manually
    defining the following parameter:

      typeset -g POWERLEVEL9K_INSTANT_PROMPT=off

    * You will not see this error message again.
    * Zsh will start slowly.

  - Do nothing.

    * You will see this error message every time you start zsh.
    * Zsh will start quickly but prompt will jump down after initialization.

For details, see:
https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k/blob/master/README.md#instant-prompt

-- console output produced during zsh initialization follows --

machine ID '/run/user/1003' looks like it's the wrong length, should be 32 hex digits%

and echo $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS output is empty.

Re: Flatpaks won't start

Reply #10 – 24 March 2025, 11:34:08

Quote from: nous – on 19 March 2025, 21:44:23

I'm not a flatpak expert, ....

Flatpak is Potterware.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatpak
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatpak
https://www.superlectures.com/guadec2013/sandboxed-applications-for-gnome