[Bug 1717878] Re: gdm3/gdm-session-worker crashed with SIGTRAP logging "GdmSession: no session desktop files installed, aborting..." from get_fallback_session_name from get_default_session_name from get_session_name from get_session_filename from gdm_session_is_wayland_session

[Andi McClure]

I just got trapped by this on Ubunu 23.10. I installed fuse because an
explanation of appimage said it depends on fuse and I thought "oh, fuse
is good, I should make sure I have fuse installed" and I did not fully
read the. An hour later the next time I closed and reopened my laptop
lid, my laptop was bricked except for vterms and reboots left me with "[
OK ] Starting gdm service", no gui, and no clearer warning. I was not
able to understand what happened until the IRC channel walked me through
searching the systemd logs, I got the more full error message and found
this bug. I had an online/televideo appointment I missed because my
computer was dead for an hour and a half.

It seems to me the *biggest* problem here is that "apt install fuse"
should not replace fuse3 with fuse2. I would expect if there's a PACKAGE
and a PACKAGE3, that the one with the number is the outdated special
version and the un-numbered version is the true one. Certainly not the
other way around, that's very, very surprising behavior. I think the
case of needing fuse2 is probably rare and an average user would not
have the background (I did not) to understand that "installing fuse2" is
wrong. Usually when installing a package uninstalls the other package
it's because uninstalling the package is harmless (eg because it's an
eqivalent). Even if downgrading fuse could be done without breaking the
entire GUI, downgrading fuse would probably have undesirable effects and
it is far too easy to do by accident.

However also, installing a common package (fuse, whichever version)
should not fully break your GUI and it is surprising such a serious
gotcha has been present in Ubuntu for six years.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1717878

Title:
  gdm3/gdm-session-worker crashed with SIGTRAP logging "GdmSession: no
  session desktop files installed, aborting..." from
  get_fallback_session_name from get_default_session_name from
  get_session_name from get_session_filename from
  gdm_session_is_wayland_session

Status in fuse package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in gdm3 package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  https://errors.ubuntu.com/problem/b8e7721d0034b2c4a5ddafcac2e1cc55703f9dbd
  https://errors.ubuntu.com/problem/55afdb022e0f09e32692656f5ec80985acf385cc
  https://errors.ubuntu.com/problem/f4fce39ac75fb4f87b243f14cb5f8e72f90c2c0f

  ---

  This crash occurs when you uninstall all session files (by accident)
  from the system. One common way this can happen is by trying to
  install 'fuse'.

  To fix it just run:

    sudo apt install --reinstall ubuntu-session

  or whatever-session for your preferred Ubuntu flavor.

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