Trouble cleanly removing xbatalarm - SOLVED

[mow9902]

I am running tahr 6.0.2 with all current updates.

Many months ago I installed the xbatalarm package from the puppy repository Xbatalarm-2.1_86

It ran fine ever since I installed it. Amongst other things it:
-copies files into /usr/bin
-copies a config file into /etc
-creates a 'xbatalarm-launch' script in the startup folder

All good - and all worked with no problems.

Today I wished to uninstall it and did so using the PPM as usual. The package was successfully uninstalled.

However - now when I reboot my system I receive an error message saying that a 'child process' was not found /usr/bin/xbatalarm.

I cannot find any error messages specifically mentioning /usr/bin/xbatalarm in the system logs in /var or the boot logs in /tmp.

Some process somewhere is still trying to launch the program - but I cannot find what or where it is.

Can somebody give me some pointers please.

[OscarTalks]

You yourself mentioned the starter script in /root/Startup
Have you checked to see if this has definitely been removed?
The PPM uninstall process may not have done this.
If it is still there, just delete it manually.

[mow9902]

I confirm 100% that there is no xbatalam program, script or link remaining in my /root/Startup folder.

A filename search in all system files shows no file remaining anywhere by that name.
A filesystem (text contents) search in all system files showed no file anywhere containing that text.

For the moment I have simply created a blank file called xbatalarm in /usr/bin and this allows the system to boot without error.

How is it even possible that the puppy system remains aware that there ever was a file called xbatalarm in /usr/bin?



A

[mikeslr]

How is it even possible that the puppy system remains aware that there ever was a file called xbatalarm in /usr/bin? A

I'm just guessing. Possibly there's a hidden file somewhere which remains in your SaveFile/Folder. Hidden files are preceded by a "." (dot) for example, .xbatalarm. Neither a file name search nor (I think) a filesystem text search will locate hidden files unless the target of the search includes the dot, e.g. .xbatalarm.

And I'm not sure even doing that is always successful. So a likely location to visually look for them is within the hidden folder /root/.config. Note the dot. Or in /root, itself. For the sake of completeness, I'd also look in /root/Startup and all its subfolders.

To view hidden file with rox as file-manager, Left-Click its EYE. With other file-managers, look on its menu for something under its "View" section.

mikesLr

[bigpup]

Anything in /root/.config/autostart?

[MochiMoppel]

Check /etc/rc.d/rc.local

Previous versions of xbatalarm started before X were running.
Your xbatalarm package *should* contain a pinstall script that *should* remove this entry from /etc/rc.d/rc.local.

[mow9902]

Thanks all for the guidance ....but the mystery continues...

I have visually searched the following folders and do not find any instance of xbatalarm or .xbatalarm

/root
/root/.config
/root/startup

/root/.config/autostart (just desktop entries in there)
/etc/rc.d/rc.local (the only entries in this file are USB power wakeup, brightness control, and firewall start)

[MochiMoppel]

Since you already created a blank /usr/bin/xbatalarm, why not turn it into a script and try to find out who calls it?

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
echo "$0 called by $(ps -o args= $PPID)" > /tmp/mystery

Make it executable and check /tmp/mystery for clues.
May not work, but worth a try.

[bigpup]

/root/.config/autostart (just desktop entries in there)

None of them for Xbatalarm???????

[OscarTalks]

The package Xbatalarm-2.1 seems to be missing from the 32bit Tahr repo
I did find it in the 64bit Tahr repo.
I downloaded the .pet package from ibiblio and extracted it with UExtract

The post install script (pinstall.sh) contains the line:-

Code: Select all

sed -i 's/^exec \/usr\/bin\/xbatalarm &$//' /etc/rc.d/rc.local

There is no post uninstall script to reverse this or execute commands on uninstall

This means that /etc/rc.d/rc.local will have been edited ?
This could be why the system is trying to launch the program (as suggested by MochiMoppel)
Must confess I am still unsure about this though.

A LITTLE LATER:- I just did a test in a fresh frugal Tahr 6.0.5 and this program did install and uninstall cleanly for me. If you uninstall while the process is running it does not kill the process, but the files are deleted and then on reboot it is all gone. I am curious to know what this error message looks like and where it is coming from. Perhaps you could post a screenshot of it?

[mow9902]

Thanks for assistance from you all. I'm sorry for wasting your time.

Yesterday bigpup asked : Anything in /root/.config/autostart?

I stupidly answered:
I have visually searched the following folders and do not find any instance of xbatalarm or .xbatalarm

/root
/root/.config
/root/startup

/root/.config/autostart (just desktop entries in there)

Once again bigpup prompted me: None of them for Xbatalarm???????

So today I looked again and realized how stupid I had been! When I looked again - sure enough - just desktop entries - BUT one of those entries was for xbatalarm-desktop which obviously calls xbatalarm.
I did not see it when I first looked simply because it is the last entry in the list alphabetically, and I did not scroll down just one line further.

It's contents were:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
NoDisplay=true
Name=xbatalarm
Exec=xbatalarm

I have removed the xbatalarm-desktop file from /usr/bin and rebooted, and everything is now as it should be.

Once again - sorry to waste your time - and I really appreciate the willingness of everyone to assist.

[bigpup]

No waste of time.
If nothing else, it gives us some better understanding of what is doing what, when Puppy boots up.

[MochiMoppel]

/root/.config/autostart (just desktop entries in there)

Once again bigpup prompted me: None of them for Xbatalarm???????

So today I looked again and realized how stupid I had been! When I looked again - sure enough - just desktop entries - BUT one of those entries was for xbatalarm-desktop which obviously calls xbatalarm.
I did not see it when I first looked simply because it is the last entry in the list alphabetically, and I did not scroll down just one line further.

It's contents were:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
NoDisplay=true
Name=xbatalarm
Exec=xbatalarm

Good that you solved this but I am as baffled as Oscar is. The mystery continues.
I checked version 2.1 as offered by its developer on http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=85475

This version does not install a desktop file into /root/.config/autostart
It install 5 files:

• /etc/xbatalarm/xbatalarm.conf
  /root/Startup/xbatalarm_launcher
  /usr/bin/xbatalarm
  /usr/bin/xbatalarm-config
  /usr/share/applications/xbatalarm-config.desktop

Who or what put your mystery .desktop file into /root/.config/autostart ? Can't have been the xbatalarm pet as PPM would have uninstalled it.
And why is it different from the .desktop file in /usr/share/applications? The "official" file reads

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Xbatalarm Settings
Icon=mini-hostname.xpm
Comment=battery monitor utility
Exec=xbatalarm-config
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=X-System
GenericName=xbatalarm

Could it be that "someone" manually created this file when /root/.config/autostart became the new method in Puppy to autostart applications, replacing the former method to use /root/Startup? If so other applications could produce the same error when the user tries to uninstall them.