Arch Linux

Asinine17

Member

Registered: 2020-05-30

Posts: 5

At some point, desktop.gtk stopped working properly - SOLVED

Hi, please let me know what I need to post to better explain, but here's my start. I can easily trigger it by trying to save items in Firefox, but I've noticed it a few other times. Unfortunately, I do not recall what they are at the moment, but I suspect this should address the root cause.

Jun 07 16:35:40 archlinux xdg-desktop-portal-gtk[762755]: cannot open display:
Jun 07 16:35:40 archlinux systemd[3678]: xdg-desktop-portal-gtk.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jun 07 16:35:40 archlinux systemd[3678]: xdg-desktop-portal-gtk.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jun 07 16:35:40 archlinux systemd[3678]: Failed to start Portal service (GTK/GNOME implementation).
Jun 07 16:35:40 archlinux /usr/lib/xdg-desktop-portal[3787]: Backend call failed: Could not activate remote peer 'org.freedesktop.impl.portal.desktop.gtk': startup job failed

I last did a clean install July '25. I'm currently up to date with everything but also, I've had a blessed while since I had to troubleshoot anything and honestly, I can't remember what type of data would be helpful for the post.

Last edited by Asinine17 (Yesterday 20:33:04)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,211

Re: At some point, desktop.gtk stopped working properly - SOLVED

How are you starting your GUI session (and which)? If with startx make sure you've noted the second note in https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xinit#xinitrc and made sure that those scripts are getting sourced. In doubt post your .xinitrc/your session startup files.

Asinine17

Member

Registered: 2020-05-30

Posts: 5

Re: At some point, desktop.gtk stopped working properly - SOLVED

I log in manually and start the GUI (i3) with "startx".
My .xinitrc is as follows:

exec i3

exec_always --no-startup-id nitrogen --restore &> /dev/null
exec_always setxkbmap us,de option "lv3:ralt_alt,grp:alt_shift_toggle"

xset -dpms
xset s 900 900

xinitdir="/etc/X11/xinit"

if [ -d "$xinitdir"/xinitrc.d ] ; then
        for f in "$xinitdir/xinitrc.d"/?*.sh ; do
                [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
        done
        unset f
fi

Edit: The .xinitrc has basically remained the same with small additions (and deletions when said additions do not work) since I started running Arch a number of years ago. As it's something I haven't really messed with except for getting my background to load on start, swapping keyboard inputs, and setting my screen timeout. The lack of saving files in Firefox (the most notable issue) has only started maybe in the last month or two? I don't download that much stuff via that method, so I can't really be sure.

Last edited by Asinine17 (2026-06-08 20:40:34)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,838

Re: At some point, desktop.gtk stopped working properly - SOLVED

https://man.archlinux.org/man/exec.1p
Nothing after the first line will be executed and you'll end up w/ a degenerated session for not sourcing the logind integration.
"exec_always" is syntax for the i3 config, it makes no sense in this context whatsowever and if you're gonna keep it, it needs to be "nitrogen --restore > /dev/null &"

Edit

The lack of saving files in Firefox (the most notable issue) has only started maybe in the last month or two?

recent reliance on xdg-desktop-portal which requires integration w/ the session bus.

Last edited by seth (2026-06-08 20:58:41)

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Asinine17

Member

Registered: 2020-05-30

Posts: 5

Re: At some point, desktop.gtk stopped working properly - SOLVED

recent reliance on xdg-desktop-portal which requires integration w/ the session bus.

I guess that explains the problem, but I'm not sure what needs to be done to remedy it. But it also explains why it suddenly just quit working.

https://man.archlinux.org/man/exec.1p
Nothing after the first line will be executed and you'll end up w/ a degenerated session for not sourcing the logind integration.

Thank you. I had recently added (then removed) a few items as they did nothing, though this was originally created by pasting someone else's file, but this was years ago.

I presume putting the "exec i3" at the end and redo the syntax for commands I want run are my next steps. Just still not sure about the xdg-desktop-portal bit.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,211

Re: At some point, desktop.gtk stopped working properly - SOLVED

The

xinitdir="/etc/X11/xinit"
if [ -d "$xinitdir"/xinitrc.d ] ; then
        for f in "$xinitdir/xinitrc.d"/?*.sh ; do
                [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
        done
        unset f
fi

block would fix the xdg-desktop-portal bit if it were to execute, which it doesn't right now.

Last edited by V1del (Yesterday 01:06:00)

Asinine17

Member

Registered: 2020-05-30

Posts: 5

Re: At some point, desktop.gtk stopped working properly - SOLVED

I changed the file last night before heading out, and just booted up to a proper option for right-click/save in Firefox.

Thank you!