F20 Desktop Background changes not persistent.

[slwelch33]

After an install of Fedora 20 (final release) and making my customization changes, ANY change to the desktop background is not persistent, i.e. it does not survive a reboot.
The background changes when set but after a re-boot, the desktop presents a plain, white background.
Inspection with gnome-tweak-tool and dconf-editor shows that the change is listed in:
org.gnome.desktop.background but does not show anything but plain, white background after re-boot.
I suspect there is a code issue for the desktop background that is looking for the background to be a .xml file in /usr/share/backgrounds/heisenbug/default/heisenbug.xml and NOT looking up properly /usr/share/backgrounds/gnome/Waves.jpg
Here is the default background:
picture-uri='file:///usr/share/backgrounds/heisenbug/default/heisenbug.xml'
and the changed background:
picture-uri='file:///usr/share/backgrounds/gnome/Waves.jpg'

Anybody else seeing this problem? (BTW, changing the Lock Screen does not seem to cause problems)

[vallimar]

Are you using a non-default theme?

[slwelch33]

I am not changing the theme, simply using the plain old generic installed with gnome, which appears to be 'Adwaita (default) In fact, without installing and using gnome-tweak-took, I wouldn't have the ability nor know how to change the theme in gnome.
Only changing the background image which is NOT in the same path that the default background is in as shown above. ALL of the other available backgrounds are in this 'gnome' path and NONE of them work beyond a reboot.
Apparently the Gnome project people are of the opinion that NOTHING should be changed or customized (at least easily) in their precious 'gnome'.
Looks like it might be time to re-explore kde!

[Ahmad Samir]

I've tested setting the background to file:///usr/share/backgrounds/gnome/Waves.jpg then rebooted, seems to work as expected.

Do you find anything about this issue in the system logs? gdm logs to system journal by default, so check the output of 'journalctl /usr/bin/gnome-session -b' .

[slwelch33]

I've given it one more try with the same results, after re-boot, the desktop reverts to a "plain, white background", not the .jpg that it is supposed to.
I tried pulling the recommended logs and can't make heads or tails of them, one thing I do see is a lack of mention of the desktop background as well as the fact that both log snippets appear identical.
Also note that I have done multiple installations of Fedora 20 using both simple, manual cdrom install and using a kickstart file and in each and every installation, this same issue shows up.

Any Ideas anybody??

[Ahmad Samir]

A shot in the dark, you did multiple installations with new user accounts or are you using the same user account?

[slwelch33]

Same user account in all installs - I will try a:
1. new user account in existing install
2. new user account in fresh, plain install
And post the results

[slwelch33]

FOUND IT!!
It appears that the culprit is the "AutoLogin" feature.
To make a long story short, when the normal user (only or one of sever) has the AutoLogin feature enabled, on the next reboot, the user is logged in at boot time, BUT the desktop background is missing (set to plain, white background).
When the AutoLogin feature is disabled (or you log out & back in), the background shows correctly!
If any administrators see this, would you (or would you like me to) open a bugzilla on this behavior?
Since I do have total control over my hardware, I do prefer to use the AutoLogin feature when I boot up a Fedora Disk - BTW, this works properly in F19!!

[Ahmad Samir]

Your issue looks like this bug: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=709313

[slwelch33]

I opened a bugzilla report on this:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1045567
Looks like we might have some duplicates.
BTW, that bug you pointed me to shows as Resolved/Fixed.
Also, from the dates, it was well before Fedora 20 was released.

[Ahmad Samir]

It's been fixed in the gnome-shell-3.11 branch, not yet in the gnome-shell-3.10 branch which is what F20 shipped with.

[slwelch33]

3.11 is not in the updates-testing repo yet, I'll keep my eyes open & as soon as it's available, install it.
If that fixes the issue, I'll close that ticket that I opened.
Thanks,

[Ahmad Samir]

The Fedora devs don't usually introduced major version upgrades in gnome-shell, so F20 will most likely stay with 3.10.x. However the fix can probably be backported to the 3.10 branch.

[slwelch33]

Found a solution!
Gnome Desktop has for quite some time 'insisted' on making things behave as the "gnome team" wants them to behave, regardless of what the end users desire!
I have now ditched the Gnome Desktop completely and installed Cinnamon Desktop, one time a clean cdrom install and then inspected the anaconda-ks.cfg file and made adjustments in mine to eliminate anything relating to the Gnome Desktop environment.
Cinnamon Desktop is similar enough to the older gnome that it is still (relatively) easy to adjust to, but it keeps the ability to configure the intividual utilities either in the utility (i.e. gedit) or via dconf-editor. Also, once you have all of your utilities configured and the desktop settings the way you (the "end-user") wants, it is a simple matter to 'dconf dump / > ~/Documents/custSettings.txt. Now you have a copy of your environment that you can edit/cleanup and apply to any new installation.
BTW, the autologin also works fine now (/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf - line 'autologin-user=<userID>) even if you don't stick to that drab, ugly desktop background provided on initial install!

[leigh123linux]

Found a solution!
Gnome Desktop has for quite some time 'insisted' on making things behave as the "gnome team" wants them to behave, regardless of what the end users desire!
I have now ditched the Gnome Desktop completely and installed Cinnamon Desktop, one time a clean cdrom install and then inspected the anaconda-ks.cfg file and made adjustments in mine to eliminate anything relating to the Gnome Desktop environment.
Cinnamon Desktop is similar enough to the older gnome that it is still (relatively) easy to adjust to, but it keeps the ability to configure the intividual utilities either in the utility (i.e. gedit) or via dconf-editor. Also, once you have all of your utilities configured and the desktop settings the way you (the "end-user") wants, it is a simple matter to 'dconf dump / > ~/Documents/custSettings.txt. Now you have a copy of your environment that you can edit/cleanup and apply to any new installation.
BTW, the autologin also works fine now (/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf - line 'autologin-user=<userID>) even if you don't stick to that drab, ugly desktop background provided on initial install!

That's good to know autologin is working now
There are upstream (should be in the next release) changes which will allow the changing of the lightdm background.

https://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamo...99a933e79925b3

https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamo...13c44622838aa3

.