MAJOR gnome problems/crashes after FC2->FC3 upgrade :-(

[Neil Bird]

   After upgrading to FC3 last W/E from FC2 (all latest updates 
applied), the back-end OS stuff is all working without a hitch 
(networking/mail/usb/etc.).

   But gnome's borked.  gnome-background-properties crashes during 
thumbnail creation (but not sure that's the issue).  gconf-editor 
crashes at start-up.  The window-list applet only displays it's 
drag-button plus I *think* a 1-pixel-wide display.  The system monitor 
applet either won't start or is displaying nothing (in which case I've 
probably 4-5 of them now).  (Oh, and the main system menu only displays 
text;  the icons have gone.  Is that right?)

   And those are only the ones I've found.  I've tried my guest account; 
  I wiped *every* .[a-z]* file/dir. in there, and then logged in & tried 
to change the background:  same crash.  I've not yet checked the other 
issues.

   I got the debuginfo RPMs for control-center (background props.) and 
gconf-editor.  Although it shows me the source, gdb (ddd) reports 'no 
symbol in current context' (or whatever it says) for any variable I can 
select in the background props. crash.

   With gconf-editor, it crashes after a call to (thinks) 
gconf_client_get (don't recall the key).  It returns NULL (access to 
which causes the actual crash) but leaves the *err pointer ALSO NULL; 
(the code just checks whether there's an 'err' before going ahead and 
de-ref.ing the return result).  I don't think that that [missing check] 
is the bug per se., but a symptom of whatever's wrong.

   I noticed a while back that I'd stopped getting ~/.xsession-errors 
files;  all users were getting them put into in /tmp under their 
name/process-id.  I'm now not getting either (no new logs in /tmp OR 
$HOME), so I can't even see if there are any obvious errors.  I'll run 
up a gnome-session from the command line when I get home & see if 
there's anything there.

   I've had a good google around, but I can't see anyone else having 
this problem.

   I really would rather fix this that have the daunting task of a 
re-install and re-application of all config. settings/user+account 
settings, although I reckon that's on the cards over Summer, maybe with 
FC4 (I've only done upgrades since my first install of RH6.1 back in 2000).

-- 
[neil at fnx ~]# rm -f .signature
[neil at fnx ~]# ls -l .signature
ls: .signature: No such file or directory
[neil at fnx ~]# exit