[SOLVED] Bodhi in VM: 2 desktop environments installed - problems with copy-and-paste (spice)

Rosika · 05-25-2020, 08:15 AM

Hi altogether,

I´ve encountered a peculiar problem lately which puzzles me quite a bit.

Here´s what I´ve done:

I´ve been running BodhiLinux (32 bit, latest version, up-to-date) in a virtual machine (qemu/kvm) for quite a while now. My host is Linux/Lubuntu 18.04.4 LTS, 64 bit (also up-to-date).

In order to make copy-and-paste from clipboard work I installed spice-client on my host:

Code:

sudo apt-get install spice-client-gtk
sudo apt-get install python-spice-client-gtk

and spice-vdagent on my guest (Bodhi):

Code:

sudo apt-get install spice-vdagent

.

This works very well. The only thing I´ve got to do is start it on Bodhi with

Code:

spice-vdagent

. Then clipboard exchange works for the duration of the session (both directions).

Out of curiosity I installed a 2nd desktop-environment on Bodhi (still my VM) with

Code:

sudo apt-get install lubuntu-core

.
That works fine as well and it´s easy to select the respective desktop-environment at start.

The only thing which gives me problems is spice.

Starting spice with "spice-vdagent" in Bodhi seems to fail now.
"systemctl status spice-vdagent" produces a red line which says:

Code:

multiple agents in one session, disabling agent to avoid potential information leak
[and]
closed vdagent virtio channel

.

On another occasion I got this:

Code:

spice-vdagent.service: Can´t open PID file /var/run/spice-vdagentd/spice-vdagentd.pid (yet?) after start: No such file or directory

.
This was connected to time-mark 13:53:26.

BUT: "ll /var/run/spice-vdagent" gave me two entries:

"spice-vdagentd.pid" and "spice-vdagent-stock=" both with a time-mark of 13:53 !

So "spice-vdagentd.pid" was created and available after all.

I have no idea why I keep running into that kind of problem. The only explanation I´ve got is that it must have something to do with the fact that I have two desktop environments installed (moksha and LXDE) although only one of them is running at any given time of course.

Bodhi-VM running with moksha alone DOESN´T produce any problems with spice.

Does anybody know a solution to that?

Thanks a lot in advance.
Greetings.
Rosika

ondoho · 05-26-2020, 02:23 PM

Apparently only one instance of spice-vdagent can run on a system.
If it's started via systemd you don't need to start it manually.
So reboot your vm, do NOT start spice-vdagent manually, and show us:

Code:

systemctl status spice-vdagent
systemctl is-enabled spice-vdagent

Rosika · 05-27-2020, 06:18 AM

@ondoho:

Hello and thank you so much for your reply.

Quote:

Apparently only one instance of spice-vdagent can run on a system.
If it's started via systemd you don't need to start it manually.

Well, I´ll be blessed. It seems you´re perfectly right in your assumption that spice-vdagent has already started.

Here´s the output of Bodhi VM, the version with 2 desktop environments installed (moksha and LXDE):

Code:

systemctl status spice-vdagent
● spice-vdagentd.service - Agent daemon for Spice guests
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/spice-vdagentd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-05-27 12:41:18 CEST; 2min 15s ago
  Process: 451 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/spice-vdagentd $SPICE_VDAGENTD_EXTRA_ARGS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 448 ExecStartPre=/bin/rm -f /var/run/spice-vdagentd/spice-vdagent-sock (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 452 (spice-vdagentd)
    Tasks: 1 (limit: 2306)
   CGroup: /system.slice/spice-vdagentd.service
           └─452 /usr/sbin/spice-vdagentd

Mai 27 12:41:18 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 systemd[1]: Starting Agent daemon for Spice guests...
Mai 27 12:41:18 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 systemd[1]: spice-vdagentd.service: Can't open PID file /var/ru
Mai 27 12:41:18 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 systemd[1]: Started Agent daemon for Spice guests.
Mai 27 12:42:35 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 spice-vdagentd[452]: opening vdagent virtio channel
Mai 27 12:42:35 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 spice-vdagentd[452]: Set max clipboard: 104857600
lines 1-15/15 (END)


systemctl is-enabled spice-vdagent
enabled

And indeed, clipboard exchange worked immediately after booting Bodhi.

As a a second step I performed the same procedure with my other Bodhi VM.
Here´s the output of Bodhi VM, the version with just one desktop environment installed (moksha):

Code:

systemctl status spice-vdagent
● spice-vdagentd.service - Agent daemon for Spice guests
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/spice-vdagentd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-05-27 12:47:24 CEST; 3min 11s ago
  Process: 457 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/spice-vdagentd $SPICE_VDAGENTD_EXTRA_ARGS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 404 ExecStartPre=/bin/rm -f /var/run/spice-vdagentd/spice-vdagent-sock (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 460 (spice-vdagentd)
    Tasks: 1 (limit: 2306)
   CGroup: /system.slice/spice-vdagentd.service
           └─460 /usr/sbin/spice-vdagentd

May 27 12:47:19 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 systemd[1]: Starting Agent daemon for Spice guests...
May 27 12:47:24 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 systemd[1]: spice-vdagentd.service: Can't open PID file /var/run/spice-vda
May 27 12:47:24 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 systemd[1]: Started Agent daemon for Spice guests.


systemctl is-enabled spice-vdagent
enabled

Here clearly these entries are missing:

Code:

opening vdagent virtio channel
 Set max clipboard: 104857600

HOWEVER: After starting spice with "spice-vdagent" those lines were added:

Code:

systemctl status spice-vdagent
● spice-vdagentd.service - Agent daemon for Spice guests
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/spice-vdagentd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-05-27 12:47:24 CEST; 4min 32s ago
  Process: 457 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/spice-vdagentd $SPICE_VDAGENTD_EXTRA_ARGS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 404 ExecStartPre=/bin/rm -f /var/run/spice-vdagentd/spice-vdagent-sock (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 460 (spice-vdagentd)
    Tasks: 1 (limit: 2306)
   CGroup: /system.slice/spice-vdagentd.service
           └─460 /usr/sbin/spice-vdagentd

May 27 12:47:19 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 systemd[1]: Starting Agent daemon for Spice guests...
May 27 12:47:24 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 systemd[1]: spice-vdagentd.service: Can't open PID file /var/run/spice-vdagentd/spice-vdagentd.pid (y
May 27 12:47:24 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 systemd[1]: Started Agent daemon for Spice guests.
May 27 12:51:21 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 spice-vdagentd[460]: opening vdagent virtio channel
May 27 12:51:21 rosika2-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 spice-vdagentd[460]: Set max clipboard: 104857600

and clipboard exchange works.

So, to sum up:

There´s definitively a difference in spice-vdagent behaviour as far as the two Bodhi installations are concerned.

By installing LXDE as a second desktop-environment spice-bahaviour has changend in such a way that it now starts automatically after login.
That´s not the case with Bodhi (moksha as single desktop).

As I didn´t know that I tried to start it anyway which resulted in the described problem.

So thanks a lot again for helping to clarify this phenomenon.
I surely couldn´t have done it on my own.

Many greetings and good health.
Rosika

ondoho · 05-28-2020, 02:17 AM

Is it clear now, SOLVED?
Looking at your output, there seems to be 2 different binaries: spice-vdagentd and spice-vdagent.
To make matters more confusing, the systemd spice-vdagent.service actually starts the spice-vdagentd binary. This is definitely bad style, the service should be called spice-vdagentd.service.
Since I know nothing about this software and how these two binaries interact, I can only point this out, and not suggest a solution.
Are you saying the clipboard thingimajick works without explicitely starting spice-vdagent on one system, but not the other?
Is that SOLVED now?

Rosika · 05-28-2020, 06:44 AM

Hi ondoho and thanks for your reply,

Quote:

Is that SOLVED now?

Yes, thanks. I already marked this thread as "solved".

Quote:

Are you saying the clipboard thingimajick works without explicitely starting spice-vdagent on one system, but not the other?

Yes, that´s exactly it.

spice-vdagent is needed to get clipboard exchange working when using qemu as qemu doesn´t provide such a facility per default (https://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/QEMU/#QEMU-per-VNC [in German]).
All that is needed to achieve this is spice-client-gtk in the host and spice-vdagent in the guest.

When using Bodhi as a "normal" installation with just moksha as the single desktop-environment spice-vdagent has to be started manually with the command spice-vdagent.

Apparently the other Bodhi installation with moksha AND LXDE does that automatically.

I installed LXDE desktop with the command

Code:

sudo apt-get install lubuntu-core

.

As described at https://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/LXDE_Ins...ufendes-System besides installing LXDE additional programmes would be installed by that command as well.
I think that´s probably why the 2nd Bodhi installation handles things differently.
One of those additionally installed programmes surely takes care of that.

Greetings.
Rosika

cordx · 05-28-2020, 07:04 PM

thanks for a bit of a description about what spice does. i had run across a page a while back that suggested installing it, but not really what it would do

Rosika · 05-30-2020, 06:51 AM

Hi cordx,

you´re welcome.

I had to look around a bit as well for finding a solution for clipboard exchange in quemu.
Spice works well and the respective packages are quickly installed (host and guest).

Have a nice weekend.
Greetings.
Rosika

Rosika · 05-31-2020, 10:44 AM

additional info:

Hi,

I just got myself up to look up autostart-entries in Bodhi (with LXDE installed).

LXSession Configuration is the place to go.
Command:

Code:

lxsession-default-apps

And indeed I found the entry "Spice vdagent", and it was checked.
So basically that´s solved then. And it´s a confirmation that LXDE installation (sudo apt-get install lubuntu-core) has taken care of that.

If I want to have that convenience in moksha I´d have to put "spice-vdagent" in autostart as well.
I´ll have to look up how that´s done.

Greetings.
Rosika

enigma9o7 · 05-31-2020, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosika

If I want to have that convenience in moksha I´d have to put "spice-vdagent" in autostart as well.
I´ll have to look up how that´s done.

~/.e/e/applications/startup/startupcommands

cordx · 05-31-2020, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enigma9o7

~/.e/e/applications/startup/startupcommands

thanks for the info. i had been wondering about that location as well

Rosika · 06-01-2020, 06:54 AM

Hi enigma9o7,

thanks for the info of how it´s done. Much appreciated.

Following your hint regarding the startupcommands-file I´m not quite sure as far as syntax is concerned.
My current single entry in that file is:

Code:

xrandr --output Virtual-3 --off --output Virtual-2 --off --output Virtual-1 --off --output Virtual-0 --primary --mode 1440x900 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal

Basically I´d have to add "spice-vdagent" as a second command.

It says on https://www.bodhilinux.com/w/configu...a_Command_Line :

Quote:

[...] adding commands to be executed when Moksha starts is using editing the file below file; both lines were added with a text editor:

.e/e/applications/startup/startupcommands
Below are two examples:

conky -p 1 -d | \
compton -b
Brief explanation of commands:

-p (seconds) makes conky pause before it starts

-d makes conky work as a daemon

| (the pipe symbol) is needed between two different commands in this file

\ (backslash) causes the next character to be interpreted differently, in this case needed to have the enter key function as “New Line”

-b makes compton run in the background

If I understand correctly I´d have to use whitespace, the pipe symbol followed by whitespace again and then backslash after the 1st command and then enter the 2nd command in a new line.

So in my case it would have to look like this:

Code:

xrandr --output Virtual-3 --off --output Virtual-2 --off --output Virtual-1 --off --output Virtual-0 --primary --mode 1440x900 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal | \
spice-vdagent

Hopefully this syntax is correct. Would you be so kind as to confirm that, if possible?

Thank you so much for your help.

Greetings.
Rosika

enigma9o7 · 06-01-2020, 10:42 AM

No pipes or backslash. The commands are executed in sequence. Conky or compton are unique cases, cuz when you run them, they don't return the command prompt. So unless they're the lass command in your startupcommands, they need something (I usually used &) at the end to make the next line run.

But xrandr is not like that. It sets your display then exits. So you can put your command on the next line no problem.

Rosika · 06-02-2020, 06:57 AM

Hi enigma9o7,

thank you very much for clarifying the matter.

Thanks to your explanation I´ve learnt something new again.

Quote:

No pipes or backslash. The commands are executed in sequence.

I see. So that´s one command per (new) line

And it works!
I´ve just edited ~/.e/e/applications/startup/startupcommands with nano that way:

Code:

xrandr --output Virtual-3 --off --output Virtual-2 --off --output Virtual-1 --off --output Virtual-0 --primary --mode 1440x900 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal
spice-vdagent

After that I started Bodhi anew (even a cold start for that matter).
And without further ado spice-vdagent did indeed start all by itself.

So that´s what I call comfort. I´m really pleased.
Just another point in favour of BodhiLinux.

On a sidenote:

I recently installed Bodhi 64 bit for a friend of mine whose recently acquired laptop (HP 15-db0400ng) almost came to a grinding halt when even trying to struggle with WIN10 (preinstalled).
Now with Bodhi running on that laptop it can be considered as the sheer definition of smoothness and elegance.
It works perfectly now.

So thanks a lot again for your kind help.

Greetings.
Rosika

the_waiter · 06-02-2020, 07:17 AM

enigma9o7: enable your reputation on the forum. It is our only salary

the_waiter · 06-02-2020, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosika

Now with Bodhi running on that laptop it can be considered as the sheer definition of smoothness and elegance.
It works perfectly now.

Nice words

thx