Ubuntu 24.10: simplebuttons and root menu starts inconsistent

General
1

Following update to Ubuntu 24.10 lts (fvwm 2.7.0), starting software from SimpleButtons and Root Menu is erratic.

If there is an instance already running, start up is immediate. If this is the first start, it can easily take 30 seconds.

Where should I start looking?

2

You’ll need to find out of this happens on fvwm3 as well, before I consider it a bug. If it’s just fvwm2-specific, I’m not interested in fixing it, as that version is no longer supported.

3

Since fvwm2 hasn’t changed in years, I suspect the issue more to be with ubuntu than fvwm. Also the behavior you are stating makes it sound like maybe a slow drive, or file system caching. If an app is running and is in memory it will be instantaneous to start a new instance, but an application that isn’t running will be need to be loaded from the hard drive first. Either way, the issue doesn’t sound like something with fvwm but with how your system is setup.

4

Thank you both for your rapid response. fvwm3 acts in the same manner.
When I start firefox from gnome-terminal under fvwm3 it comes up in two stages:

1, In a couple of seconds an almost empty window border appears, and the following text is output:

Gtk-Message: 10:44:33.641: Not loading module “atk-bridge”: The functionality is provided by GTK natively. Please try to not load it.

2 After a prolonged wait (I guess it’s 120 seconds)

[Parent 7990, Main Thread] WARNING: Failed to create proxy: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop: Failed to activate service ‘org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop’: timed out (service_start_timeout=120000ms)
: ‘glib warning’, file /build/firefox/parts/firefox/build/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:201

** (firefox:7990): WARNING **: 10:44:47.632: Failed to create proxy: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop: Failed to activate service ‘org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop’: timed out (service_start_timeout=120000ms)

[Parent 7990, Main Thread] WARNING: Failed to create proxy: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop: Timeout was reached
: ‘glib warning’, file /build/firefox/parts/firefox/build/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:201

** (firefox:7990): WARNING **: 10:45:12.662: Failed to create proxy: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop: Timeout was reached

libEGL warning: failed to get driver name for fd -1

libEGL warning: MESA-LOADER: failed to retrieve device information

libEGL warning: failed to get driver name for fd -1

When I start firefox from gnome-terminal under Gnome desktop only the first message appears, and the app is complete and ready to go.

So yes, the delay is triggered when using fvwm, but I guess the real problem is elsewhere, partly in that I don’t understand what freedesktop.portal is and does.

5

As I said this is not an issue with fvwm, so this is not the place to be getting support.

6

I have no problem loading Firefox from gnome-terminal. It sounds like an old ~home/<user> problem. Make a test. Create a new user and directory, and check how things run.

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