Home Directory KDE config files

[Bogus Zaba]

On 10/26/2011 07:11 PM, Duncan wrote:
> Bogus Zaba posted on Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:02:56 +0100 as excerpted:
>
>> On 10/26/2011 11:38 AM, Bogus Zaba wrote:
>>> Slackware 13.37, KDE4.5.5.
>>>
>>> Is there another location (other than the .kde folder) where kde config
>>> files are kept?
>>>
>>> My standard way of recovering from "kde won't start" has failed me
>>> since this is based on restoring a previously good .kde folder in place
>>> of the existing one that is causing problems. Now I have a failure of
>>> startup of KDE (but other users and other window managers for the same
>>> user start up fine).
>>>
>>> Symptoms are: Spalsh screen shows, but no progress with the icons which
>>> should slowly appear. Dumped back to console where I see:
>>> "
>>> startkde: Starting up...
>>> Connecting to deprecated signal
>>> QBusConnectionInterface::serviceOwnerChanged(QString,QString,QString)
>>> kded(3521): Communication problem with "kded" , it probably crashed.
>>> Error message was  "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown" : "The
>>> name org.kde.kded was not provided by any .service files" "
>>> "
>>>
>>> This all started when KDE crashed when I foolishly tried to add a
>>> "Launcelot" application launcher widget to my desktop. I already had a
>>> "Quicklauncher" widget, but on trying to configure the new widget,
>>> screen went black and I had to ctrl-alt-BS to close X and get back to a
>>> console.
>>>
>>> Thanks
>> Possible further clue as top what has gone wrong: When I try to run a
>> KDE app (dolphin, knoqueror etc) from within xfce, I get :
>> Code:
>>
>> QGtkStyle was unable to detect the current GTK+ theme Bus error
>>
>> I think it is the Bus Error that is significant because if I do the same
>> thing for as another user who has not got the broken kde, you still see
>> the QGtkStyle error (and a whole lot more messages too) but then the
>> dolphin window opens OK.
> You got the hang of kde's "errors" and how to debug them -- STDOUT/STDERR
> is so noisy the only effective way to get any reasonable debugging info
> out of it is to diff it against the output from a working setup.  (I
> guess they don't expect actual users to run the app with STDERR/STDOUT
> open, only devs, for whom the info is probably useful.)
>
> FWIW, bus error would refer to dbus...
>
> Try the XDG_CONFIG_HOME and XDG_DATA_HOME dirs.  If these vars aren't
> exported, the defaults are (IIRC) generally ~/.config and ~/.local .
> These are the standard freedesktop.org vars/locations (X Desktop Guide,
> maybe?), and as such, will likely get more use over time, as current apps
> are redone to comply with this fairly new standard.  (I expect for kde,
> many things will stay where they are for kde4, but may well move for
> kde5.)
>
> For now, most kde stuff uses KDEHOME (with a default to ~/.kde upstream
> tho some distros make that ~/.kde4), so that's still the first/best
> assumption, but there's enough stuff starting to use the new locations
> that they're the #2 place to look, if KDEHOME doesn't do it.
>
> If it is dbus related, that's a freedesktop.org tech, so it'd make sense
> that the XDG_* locations would be used.
>
> Do note that especially the data dir often contains user data, mail, etc,
> as well, so don't just go blowing it away.  Move it out of the way for
> testing, and selectively move stuff back (bisecting the problem) if that
> dir is found to be the problem.  Again, this is very likely to become
> even more the case over time...
>
Duncan

Thanks for this. I think it may well be connected with XDG_CONFIG_HOME 
etc variables, but
can you tell me where these are normally set up?

Thanks

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