Re: MATE desktop malfunction (SOLVED)

["Robert G (Doc) Savage" <dsavage@peaknet.net>]

On Thu, 2020-05-14 at 01:07 -0500, Robert G (Doc) Savage wrote:
> Not sure exactly when or why this began, but whenever I log onto the
> MATE v1.22 desktop on my CentOS 8.1 storage server, the background is
> totally black and of course the black mouse cursor vanishes -- except
> for a ghostly "shimmer" as it passes over icons in the top toolbar.
> When over the Firefox icon, I can hit Enter and the app will open
> with
> a working mouse. However, I cannot resize the Firefox window, or even
> close it.
> 
> I've tried creating another user account and logging into the MATE
> desktop with it. I get the exact same behavior, so I strongly suspect
> the problem is a corruption somewhere in the MATE installation itself
> and not in any user configuration file(s).
> 
> I have attached an output listing of the command "dnf erase *mate*".
> I'm not sure I understand the three sections of the listing --
> especially the one labelled "Removing unused dependencies:"  Unused
> dependencies???
> 
> I suspect I could manually remove each of the packages in the first
> two
> sections using the GNOME3 desktop without breaking CentOS 8.1. All of
> those packages are from the COPR repo. But the third section, the one
> listing unused dependencies, worries me.
> 
> My objective, of course, is to R&R the MATE packages from the COPR
> repo
> and hopefully correct whatever corruption there may be.
> 
> Any ideas or warnings???
> 
> --Doc

Here's the final solution I posted yesterday to the CentOS mail list:

On Thu, 2020-05-14 at 16:12 -0400, Jon LaBadie wrote:
> On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 05:24:13AM -0500, Robert G (Doc) Savage via
> CentOS wrote:
> > > > If you look at the listing attached to my last message, you'll
> > > > see
> > > > three different groups of packages:
> > > > 
> > > > Removing:
> > > >   xxx
> > > > Removing dependent packages:
> > > >   xxx
> > > > Removing unused dependencies:
> > > >   xxx
> > > > 
> > > > I don't understand the meaning of the last group of "unused
> > > > dependencies".
> > > > 
> As I understand them, dependent packages are dependent on MATE.
> If MATE goes away they are useless.
> 
> Dependencies are packages MATE is dependent upon.  Other things
> may also be dependent on those packages.
> 
> Unused dependencies are things that if MATE were removed have
> no other packages dependent on them.  So MAYBE they are no longer
> needed and can be removed.
> 
> But be careful with these.  Nothing may depend upon them, but you
> may use them.  First in your list is ImageMagick.  You may use this
> whether MATE is there or not.
> 
> The "--noautoremove option prevents removal of "unused dependencies".
> You can then take your list and see which you really don't need and
> remove them separately.
> 
> Jon

Jon,

You have nailed the obscure but critical element for removing a damaged
MATE installation. The --noautoremove option made everything else
possible:

# dnf erase *mate* --noautoremove --skip-broken

This removes all of the front line MATE packages and their direct
dependencies. All are in the COPR repository.

I just ran that command followed by a fresh re-install of MATE 1.22
using the instructions at 
https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/stenstorp/MATE/.

When I logged out of GNOME3 and logged back in using the re-installed
MATE, all is well again.

I think I owe you a beer or two Jon. Thanks very much.

--Doc Savage
  Fairview Heights, IL


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