Bug#973474: gnome: Unable to log back in in after screen lock

[Simon McVittie]

Control: tags -1 + moreinfo unreproducible

On Fri, 29 Jan 2021 at 18:22:43 +0100, Marcin Owsiany wrote:
> I installed Debian testing today in a VM and have the same problem in the
> GNOME+X11 session.
> When I type the wrong password in the lock screen, there is a spinner and after
> a few seconds an error message.
> When I type the correct password, it *immediately* goes back to asking for the
> password.

I couldn't reproduce this.

Steps taken to try to reproduce this:

- Install from firmware-bullseye-DI-alpha3-amd64-netinst.iso, in
  virt-manager 1:3.2.0-3 and libvirt0 7.0.0-3 on a Debian unstable host
  system, using unprivileged VM ("QEMU/KVM User session")
- Configure virtual hardware using mostly virt-manager's default settings for
  Debian testing, except with RAM increased from 1024M to 2048M, and using a
  network bridge instead of user-mode networking
  - Q35 chipset
  - BIOS boot
  - 2 vCPUs
  - 2048 MiB RAM
  - 1 virtio disk, 20 GiB
  - SATA CD-ROM
  - QXL video card
- Set English (UK) keyboard, use an apt proxy, and enable SSH server in
  tasksel; otherwise accept default settings
- Reboot from installer to installed system

- Log in to gdm using default GNOME session (Wayland) to get a baseline
- Set idle lock timeout to 1 minute
- Leave VM to become idle
- Enter incorrect password
  - Wait for spinner and error message
- Enter correct password
  - Screen unlocks successfully

- Log out
- Log back in, choosing "GNOME on Xorg" session
  - Click on username
  - Before entering password, click on gear-wheel icon in bottom right
    corner of screen and choose "GNOME on Xorg" from the menu
  - Enter password
- (Idle lock timeout is still 1 minute)
- Leave VM to become idle
- Enter incorrect password
  - Wait for spinner and error message
- Enter correct password
  - Screen unlocks successfully
- Lock screen explicitly (keyboard shortcut: Windows+L / Super+L)
- Enter incorrect password
  - Wait for spinner and error message
- Enter correct password
  - Screen unlocks successfully

- Same again, with "GNOME Classic" session

Versions of some maybe relevant packages:

- gdm3 3.38.2.1-1
- gnome-shell 3.38.3-2
- libglib2.0-0 2.66.7-1
- libmutter-7-0 3.38.3-2
- systemd 247.3-1
- xserver-xorg-core 2:1.20.10-3

Full package list attached.

> I do not see anything related in syslog.

What apparently unrelated things do you see in syslog at around that time?

> I can CTRL+ALT+F2 to log in at a text console to debug this, but I'm not sure
> how to go about this. "DISPLAY=:0 xlsclients" does not show a screensaver
> process running. Is the locking done by gnome-shell itself these days?

Yes, and that has been true ever since GNOME 3.0 around 10 years ago. In
sessions that use gnome-shell, it has always been responsible for doing
the locking itself.

A separate gnome-screensaver process was only used in GNOME 2 (and GNOME
Flashback, which is basically a continuation of GNOME 2).

On Sat, 31 Oct 2020 at 10:47:11 +0100, laurentdebian wrote:
> When the screens lock after idle, I can't log back in.
> I am ask to type my password, which I type correctly, then the screen goes back
> locked (without an error message of any kind)
> When I got lock :
> I used Ctrl Alt Fx then
> Killall gdm3
>  and login again

Does this still happen in current bullseye?

Are you also using "GNOME on Xorg"?

What is logged in the system log when this happens?

    smcv
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