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1
votes
1
answers
435
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Initramfs can't find root partition UUID after update
I am running Parabola Linux (libre fork of Arch) on a laptop with an nvme SSD. I ran a full system update yesterday and since then I have been getting the following error on boot: [![Image of initramfs error.][1]][1] It appears to be an initramfs issue: it seems to not be able to find the root parti...
I am running Parabola Linux (libre fork of Arch) on a laptop with an nvme SSD. I ran a full system update yesterday and since then I have been getting the following error on boot:
It appears to be an initramfs issue: it seems to not be able to find the root partition by UUID. I have checked
It seems fairly conclusive from this that udev is not doing it's job and is not loading any kernel modules during the initcpio phase. The modules loaded in the initramfs are the correct version for the kernel, as evidenced by the fact that a couple have been loaded (which I explicitly requested in

lsblk
and verified that the UUID is correct. I have also tried going in with an arch-chroot
and re-running mkinitcpio
, but still get the same error. I have also checked the initram image with lsinitcpio
, to verify that it includes the nvme modules (it does). The fallback initramfs image seems to give the same error. The keyboard also doesn't work in the rootfs prompt, which suggests the issue is due to modules not being loaded correctly.
Does anyone have any idea what the issue might be here and how to resolve it?
Neither grub.cfg
nor /etc/fstab
were touched during the system update, so I am at a complete loss as to what may have happened here.
---------------------------------------
**Update:**
I made a custom initcpio hook to try to debug the issue, as suggested by frostschutz in the comments. This shows the output of several other commands during boot:

mkinitcpio.conf
).
Does anyone have any idea why udev is now suddenly not working, following the system update? I believe some changes were made to udev during the update (I think it changed to a different udev package?).
Time4Tea
(2628 rep)
Feb 15, 2025, 11:58 AM
• Last activity: Feb 16, 2025, 12:35 AM
0
votes
1
answers
37
views
Installing nonfree packages on Parabola
I've got an install of parabola running on a virtual machine, and I'd like to install the [`virtualbox-guest-utils` package](https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/virtualbox-guest-utils/). Unfortunately it's in the Arch `[extra]` repo, and Parabola already has an `[extra]` repo. Is there any w...
I've got an install of parabola running on a virtual machine, and I'd like to install the [
virtualbox-guest-utils
package](https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/virtualbox-guest-utils/) .
Unfortunately it's in the Arch [extra]
repo, and Parabola already has an [extra]
repo. Is there any way to rig up pacman
so that it will search the Arch repos after failing to find a package in the parabola repos? I was thinking that maybe I could maintain my local cache AND db
file under a different name like [arch-extra]
, but I can't find any information on doing that.
FIREBAAT
(1 rep)
Dec 13, 2024, 01:10 PM
• Last activity: Dec 13, 2024, 02:35 PM
3
votes
1
answers
1757
views
Polkit/Consolekit is not working in openRC
some time ago I moved from Systemd to OpenRC. It was very different, to be able to use audio and webcam I had to add my user to the audio, optical and video group. As some software uses pkexec to be run as superuser, when I opened them (Because I use XFCE) nothing happened. When I used Systemd this...
some time ago I moved from Systemd to OpenRC. It was very different, to be able to use audio and
webcam I had to add my user to the audio, optical and video group. As some software uses pkexec to be run as
superuser, when I opened them (Because I use XFCE) nothing happened. When I used Systemd this didn´t
happened, and it´s configured to use /usr/lib/polkit-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 (which I have
it installed). When I write pkexec in a terminal this is the output
$ pkexec
==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.policykit.exec ===
Authentication is required to modify fingerprint authentication data
Authenticating as: (MY USERNAME)
Password:
polkit-agent-helper-1: error response to PolicyKit daemon: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Error.Failed: No session for cookie
==== AUTHENTICATION FAILED ===
Error executing command as another user: Not authorized
This incident has been reported.
I don´t know how to enable the polkit daemon/service in OpenRC, in Systemd the service it´s named "polkit". But there is ConsoleKit (what´s the difference?) which is seems to fail
$ service consolekit status
* status: stopped
# service consolekit restart
* starting consolekit . .
$ service consolekit status
* status: crashed
My distro is Parabola (Arch Based, with the difference that is removes all the nonfree packages from the repo & Arch itself, as Arch uses Systemd, Parabola too) and I changed to OpenRC in a virtual machine, and I am testing it.
Thanks in advance
Other outputs
$ groups
wheel network video audio storage polkitd $USERNAME
Megver83
(311 rep)
Sep 24, 2016, 08:55 PM
• Last activity: Feb 5, 2022, 12:01 AM
0
votes
0
answers
555
views
Swap space not being used effectively
I am using Parabola Linux (variant of Arch) on a Macbook Pro laptop. I have 8 GB of RAM and 8 GB of swap space set up. As far as I can see, the swap space is enabled and working; however, it seems it is barely being used, even when the physical RAM is heavily loaded. This can be seen in the followin...
I am using Parabola Linux (variant of Arch) on a Macbook Pro laptop. I have 8 GB of RAM and 8 GB of swap space set up. As far as I can see, the swap space is enabled and working; however, it seems it is barely being used, even when the physical RAM is heavily loaded. This can be seen in the following screenshot of the gnome system monitor:
The swap seems to be enabled; however only ~3 MB is being used, despite 5.6 GB of RAM being used. I forked this Linux system from one that I have set up on a desktop PC. There, the swap seems to get used much more effectively - it is not uncommon to see 2+ GB in use. I tend to run similar applications on both.
I am concerned that the swap not working effectively may be contributing to the system freezing up occasionally, when I have many programs running at once. I am also concerned that it may be contributing to other issues the system seems to have, such as not being able to hibernate properly (which I understand is supposed to use the swap space on disk).
Does anyone know of any reasons why the swap space might not be being effectively used? Is there anything I can try, to diagnose it? I have seen some older questions with similar issues, but didn't see any concrete answer that seems to help in my situation.
**Edit:** In response to a request in the comments, here is the output of

free -h
:
$ free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7.5Gi 5.4Gi 184Mi 64Mi 1.9Gi 1.8Gi
Swap: 8.0Gi 3.0Mi 8.0Gi
it seems to show similar information to the system monitor. I.e. 72% of RAM is in use, but practically no swap is being used.
I have also checked the 'swappiness' parameter, which gives the following (seems fairly standard):
$ cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
60
Time4Tea
(2628 rep)
Nov 19, 2021, 09:47 PM
• Last activity: Nov 22, 2021, 09:30 PM
1
votes
1
answers
1273
views
Show description on packages when using `pacman` on `Arch Linux`
I want to get additional descriptive (free-text) information on the packages I'm querying when using `pacman` on my `Arch Linux` machine (actually `Parabola GNU/Linux-Libre`). While both `pacman -Qi ` and `pacman -Si ` provide me with a field called `Description`, this only contains a one-line summa...
I want to get additional descriptive (free-text) information on the packages I'm querying when using
pacman
on my Arch Linux
machine (actually Parabola GNU/Linux-Libre
).
While both pacman -Qi
and pacman -Si
provide me with a field called Description
, this only contains a one-line summary of the package.
Example:
$ pacman -Qi gimp
...
Description: GNU Image Manipulation Programm
...
When comparing this to apt
(or aptitude
) on my Debian Stable
machine (actually PureOS 9.0 Amber
), I can use apt show
or aptitude show
to not just get this one-line summary, but one or several additional paragraphs with free-text information.
Example:
$ apt show gimp
...
Description: GNU Image Manipulation Program
GIMP is an advanced picture editor. You can use it to edit, enhance, and
retouch photos and scans, create drawings, and make your own images.
It has a large collection of professional-level editing tools and
filters, similar to the ones you might find in Photoshop. Numerous
fine-control settings and features like layers, paths, masks, and
scripting give you total control over your images.
.
Many image file formats are supported, including JPEG, Photoshop (.psd),
and Paint Shop Pro (.psp) files. It can also be used to scan and print
photos.
.
To open files remotely (like over HTTP), install the gvfs-backends
package.
.
To use a MIDI device (like a musical keyboard) as an input controller in GIMP,
install libasound2 and read the how-to at /usr/share/doc/gimp/README.MIDI
The [Rosetta for pacman
](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman/Rosetta) sais that pacman -Si
or pacman -Qi
is the quivalent to apt show
or zypper info
, but I'm missing the additional free-text description (which is obviously very useful if I don't already know the program).
Is there a pacman
-option to enable that?
Or is this information just missing from the Arch Linux
- or the Parabola
-repositories?
n0542344
(416 rep)
Jun 22, 2021, 02:59 PM
• Last activity: Jun 22, 2021, 08:40 PM
1
votes
0
answers
475
views
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre installation: problem with key
I'm trying to install Parabola GNU/Linux-libre (OpenRC) and I repeatedly get this error during `pacstrap /mnt base elogind udev-init-scripts`. ``` error: some-package: signature from "A Packager " is unknown trust :: File some-package.pkg.tar.xz is corrupted (invalid or corrupted package (PGP signat...
I'm trying to install Parabola GNU/Linux-libre (OpenRC) and I repeatedly get this error during
pacstrap /mnt base elogind udev-init-scripts
.
error: some-package: signature from "A Packager " is unknown trust
:: File some-package.pkg.tar.xz is corrupted (invalid or corrupted package (PGP signature)).
Do you want to delete it? [Y/n]
error: failed to commit transaction (invalid or corrupted package (PGP signature))
*Note: I cannot copy and paste the actual error because I'm installing it on another machine, but the error is the one show above*.
I tried to fix it by trying to use the [commands listed on the parabola wiki](https://wiki.parabola.nu/Installation_Guide#Verification_of_package_signatures) , but with no luck and then I realized something. I looked the key that repeatedly fails on [keys.gnupg.net](keys.gnupg.net) and I found out this line (I prefer to censor some part of the key to make it anonymous):
Type bits/keyID cr. time exp time key expir
uid XXX YYY
sig sig3 ZZZ 2017-01-24 __________ 2018-01-24 [selfsig]
sig sig3 ZZZ 2018-01-21 __________ 2018-07-20 [selfsig]
sig sig3 ZZZ 2018-07-17 __________ 2019-07-17 [selfsig]
sig sig3 ZZZ 2019-07-17 __________ 2020-01-13 [selfsig]
sig sig3 ZZZ 2019-07-17 __________ 2020-01-13 [selfsig]
sig sig3 ZZZ 2019-10-26 __________ 2020-01-13 [selfsig]
sig sig3 ZZZ 2020-01-13 __________ 2020-07-11 [selfsig]
sig sig3 ZZZ 2020-07-11 __________ 2021-01-07 [selfsig]
As far as I can tell, this key expires *today* and it has not been updated, hence the failure.
It's possible **and advisable** to bypass the problem by somehow (how?) tell parabola that the key is fine?
Thanks
LuxGiammi
(377 rep)
Jan 7, 2021, 02:40 PM
• Last activity: Jan 7, 2021, 03:08 PM
0
votes
2
answers
960
views
Copied root filesystem, now user/root logins not working
I copied my root filesystem to another partition today, using `cp -r --preserve=all`, as I want to have a backup in case I have an issue with my main system. I am using Parabola, which is a libre variant of Arch Linux. I have only one `/home` partition, which both systems will share. After copying t...
I copied my root filesystem to another partition today, using
cp -r --preserve=all
, as I want to have a backup in case I have an issue with my main system. I am using Parabola, which is a libre variant of Arch Linux. I have only one /home
partition, which both systems will share. After copying the system (using a live USB), I did a full system upgrade using pacman (it was quite out-of-date). When I try to log in to the new system, everything seems to work and it boots to the DM login screen; however, my user password isn't working. So, I switch to a virtual terminal and try to log in as root, but that isn't working either.
So, I go back into the live USB; chroot
in to the new cloned root partition and refresh all of the passwords (with passwd
), including root. I then reboot, but the exact same thing happens - I still can't log in to either my user account or as root.
Have I missed something here?
**Edit:**
To clarify, I have not 'cloned' the partition, I have copied a root filesystem (using cp
) to a new partition, which I created with gparted (I will change the question title to clarify). So, the new partition has a different UUID to the parent. I had to do some manual tweaks in grub.cfg
and /etc/fstab
because of that, to get the duplicated system to boot. Is the password system linked to the partition UUID? Could that be the reason for the issues?
Also, I would like to add that, when I ran passwd
in the chroot, it gave me a message saying the passwords had been updated successfully (although still no password worked afterwards).
Time4Tea
(2628 rep)
Oct 3, 2020, 12:51 AM
• Last activity: Oct 4, 2020, 12:59 AM
1
votes
1
answers
299
views
How can I diagnose my broken X server (Parabola/Arch)?
I am using Parabola GNU/Linux (based on Arch) on an x86 desktop with an nVidia GTX 1050 GPU. I ran `pacman -Su` yesterday to perform a full system upgrade and it seems to have completely broken my X server. Now, on boot, the display manager (sddm) won't load and it drops into the CLI. I have searche...
I am using Parabola GNU/Linux (based on Arch) on an x86 desktop with an nVidia GTX 1050 GPU. I ran
pacman -Su
yesterday to perform a full system upgrade and it seems to have completely broken my X server. Now, on boot, the display manager (sddm) won't load and it drops into the CLI. I have searched through all the log files I can find (dmesg
, Xorg.0.log
, rc.log
etc.) and I can't find any clues as to what the problem is. I should also mention that I am using OpenRC, rather than systemd.
Interestingly, if I try to load the DE from the terminal with startx
, I get different issues with Mate and LXDE. With Mate, I get a black screen with a mouse cursor that responds to the mouse. With LXDE, the desktop, panel and background all load up, but I can't see the mouse cursor (although right clicking brings up the context menu).
Any ideas what I can try to diagnose the issue and fix this?
**Update:**
I found the ~/.cache/lxsession/LXDE/run.log
file, which indicated that lxpanel was having an issue with libxml2. I downgraded that library and now LXDE seems to work ok when started with startx
. However, it doesn't seem to have fixed the issue with Mate.
I have now realized that Mate is actually working, but is experiencing a different issue. When I log in with startx
, I initially get the black screen w. mouse cursor; however, if I switch to a different virtual terminal (e.g. with CTL-ALT-F2
) and then switch back again, the whole Mate desktop is there and working.
I believe Mate session errors should be getting posted in ~/.xsession-errors
; however, that file isn't being touched. Does anyone know what might be causing this issue?
XDM/SDDM seem to still be crashing on boot as well, so I need to figure out what is going wrong there.
Time4Tea
(2628 rep)
May 9, 2020, 12:58 PM
• Last activity: May 9, 2020, 02:38 PM
0
votes
1
answers
2927
views
Can't start polkit-mate-authentication-agent
I'm using Mate on Parabola GNU/Linux (based on Arch). I have the polkit-mate-authentication-agent installed and it is supposed to be autostarting on login to the desktop; however, it doesn't seem to be starting, either automatically or manually. In my `~/.xsession-errors` file, I see the following e...
I'm using Mate on Parabola GNU/Linux (based on Arch). I have the polkit-mate-authentication-agent installed and it is supposed to be autostarting on login to the desktop; however, it doesn't seem to be starting, either automatically or manually. In my
~/.xsession-errors
file, I see the following error:
(polkit-mate-authentication-agent-1:24207): dbind-WARNING **: 07:13:53.904: Couldn't register with
accessibility bus: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did
not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or
the network connection was broken.
Cannot register authentication agent: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Error.Failed: Cannot
determine user of subject
I see a very similar error if I try to start it from the terminal, either as a regular user or as root. The errors file also shows dbind warnings for a lot of other packages - I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I am using openrc, not systemd.
The problem seems similar to this existing question; however, starting manually seems to work there, so the underlying problem may not be the same:
https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/303530/257802
Any ideas or suggestions?
**Edit:**
The output of ps -Af | grep dbus
seems to show dbus is running and a daemon is owned by the logged-in user:
$ ps -Af | grep dbus
dbus 1332 1 0 Mar21 ? 00:00:14 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --system
john 15835 26842 0 10:18 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --color=auto dbus
lightdm 24087 1 0 07:13 ? 00:00:00 dbus-launch --autolaunch 91d1384971b9deaa251b73355e5436ad --binary-syntax --close-stderr
lightdm 24088 1 0 07:13 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --syslog-only --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session
lightdm 24096 24090 0 07:13 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --config-file=/usr/share/defaults/at-spi2/accessibility.conf --nofork --print-address 3
john 24117 1 0 07:13 ? 00:00:00 dbus-launch --exit-with-session mate-session
john 24118 1 0 07:13 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --syslog --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session
dbus also seems to be running and working, according to the output of busctl
.
I also tried installing the Gnome authentication agent (polkit-gnome
) and I get the exact same error when I try to run it from the terminal.
Time4Tea
(2628 rep)
Mar 23, 2020, 03:46 PM
• Last activity: Apr 12, 2020, 03:17 AM
0
votes
1
answers
343
views
GDBus/PolicyKit error in LXDE
I am using LXDE with Parabola (a libre derivative of Arch Linux). When I log in to the desktop environment, a window pops up with the following error: `GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Error.Failed: Cannot determine user of subject` What does this error mean and is it anything serious? What ca...
I am using LXDE with Parabola (a libre derivative of Arch Linux). When I log in to the desktop environment, a window pops up with the following error:
GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Error.Failed: Cannot determine user of subject
What does this error mean and is it anything serious? What can I do to fix the problem?
Time4Tea
(2628 rep)
Mar 16, 2020, 03:31 PM
• Last activity: Apr 6, 2020, 03:03 PM
Showing page 1 of 10 total questions