Joseph,
 
Thanks for the suggestions. When I reinstalled libxml2 there were no errors. When I installed the librsvg2 apps, librsvg2-2 and librsvg2-common were already the latest versions and librsvg2-bin was installed. After a reboot, I still had the libxml2 errors in .xsession-errors.
 
I searched for libxml2.so, and the 2.6 version was still present. After some googling on this error, It seems that vmware installed it (from tar.gz and not apt), so it was not being maintained by apt. I removed vmware completely but /usr/lib/libxml2.so.2.6.30 was still present. So, I renamed it xml2lib.so.2.6.30 and reinstalled libxm2. After a reboot, my desktop icons came back. Can I safely remove this file? How would I find out if another program that I have not started still needs it? 99.99% of all my programs are installed with apt; the vmware install was unusual.
 
I still have these errors in .xsession-errors:
/etc/gdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup...
SESSION_MANAGER=local/narwhale:@/tmp/.ICE-unix/4441,unix/narwhale:/tmp/.ICE-unix/4441
Window manager warning: Failed to read saved session file /home/mark/.config/metacity/sessions/default0.ms: Failed to open file '/home/mark/.config/metacity/sessions/default0.ms': No such file or directory
GNOME_KEYRING_SOCKET=/tmp/keyring-nSmW8a/socket
SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/keyring-nSmW8a/socket.ssh
21/06/2009 08:22:45 AM Autoprobing TCP port 
21/06/2009 08:22:45 AM Autoprobing selected port 5900
21/06/2009 08:22:45 AM Advertising security type: 'TLS' (18)
21/06/2009 08:22:45 AM Advertising authentication type: 'No Authentication' (1)
21/06/2009 08:22:45 AM Advertising security type: 'No Authentication' (1)

** (nautilus:4681): WARNING **: Unable to add monitor: Not supported
Unable to open desktop file /usr/share/applications/openoffice.org2.4-writer.desktop for panel launcher: No such file or directory
Unable to open desktop file /usr/share/applications/openoffice.org2.4-calc.desktop for panel launcher: No such file or directory
Unable to open desktop file /usr/share/applications/openoffice.org2.4-base.desktop for panel launcher: No such file or directory
ESC[31;01merror: No system tray detected on this system. Unable to start, exiting. ESC[0m
Window manager warning: Invalid WM_TRANSIENT_FOR window 0x220000e specified for 0x220000c (HPLIP Stat).

ESC[01mHP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 1.7.4a)ESC[0m
ESC[01mSystem Tray Status Service ver. 2.0ESC[0m

Copyright (c) 2001-9 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.
 
Should I be concerned about the warnings and missing authentication? How do I fix them?
 
Thanks for all your help!!!!
 
Mark

On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 11:40 PM, Joseph Sinclair <plug-discussion@stcaz.net> wrote:
You have a couple problems that I can see from this:
1) libxml is horked.  This is pretty bad (because of all the xml in the Gnome configs), but can be fixed
2) Nautilus is failing to start due to missing core library dependencies, this is what's causing your no-desktop issues.

try the following:
sudo apt-get install --reinstall libxml2
sudo apt-get install librsvg2-2 librsvg2-common librsvg2-bin

that may get you to a more stable state.

It's possible that you're just a bit too far out in front of the devs with Squeeze, so you may have to wait a bit for them to get librsvg-2 properly packaged for you before Gnome will work again...

Mark Phillips wrote:
> Joseph,
>
> This is in .xsession-errors:
> /etc/gdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup...
> SESSION_MANAGER=local/narwhale:@
> /tmp/.ICE-unix/4168,unix/narwhale:/tmp/.ICE-unix/4168
> 1245556817.745420 Session manager: disconnected...
> Warning: program compiled against libxml 207 using older 206
> Warning: program compiled against libxml 207 using older 206
> Warning: program compiled against libxml 207 using older 206
> Window manager warning: Failed to read saved session file
> /home/mark/.config/metacity/sessions/default0.ms: Failed to open file
> '/home/mark/.config/metacity/sessions/default0.ms': No such file or
> directory
> Warning: program compiled against libxml 207 using older 206
> Warning: program compiled against libxml 207 using older 206
> Warning: program compiled against libxml 207 using older 206
> Warning: program compiled against libxml 207 using older 206
> GNOME_KEYRING_SOCKET=/tmp/keyring-u7nyMw/socket
> SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/keyring-u7nyMw/socket.ssh
> Warning: program compiled against libxml 207 using older 206
> 20/06/2009 09:00:31 PM Autoprobing TCP port
> 20/06/2009 09:00:31 PM Autoprobing selected port 5900
> 20/06/2009 09:00:31 PM Advertising security type: 'TLS' (18)
> 20/06/2009 09:00:31 PM Advertising authentication type: 'No Authentication'
> (1)
> 20/06/2009 09:00:31 PM Advertising security type: 'No Authentication' (1)
>
> ** (nautilus:4409): WARNING **: Unable to add monitor: Not supported
> nautilus: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/librsvg-2.so.2: undefined symbol:
> xmlNewEntity
>
> (nautilus:4417): Unique-DBus-WARNING **: Error while sending message:
> Message did not receive a reply (timeout by message bus)
> Unable to open desktop file
> /usr/share/applications/openoffice.org2.4-writer.desktop for panel launcher:
> No such file or directory
> Unable to open desktop file
> /usr/share/applications/openoffice.org2.4-calc.desktop for panel launcher:
> No such file or directory
> Unable to open desktop file
> /usr/share/applications/openoffice.org2.4-base.desktop for panel launcher:
> No such file or directory
> Warning: program compiled against libxml 207 using older 206
> epiphany-browser: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/librsvg-2.so.2: undefined
> symbol: xmlNewEntity
> Warning: program compiled against libxml 207 using older 206
> epiphany-browser: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/librsvg-2.so.2: undefined
> symbol: xmlNewEntity
> Warning: program compiled against libxml 207 using older 206
> Warning: program compiled against libxml 207 using older 206
> epiphany-browser: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/librsvg-2.so.2: undefined
> symbol: xmlNewEntity
> nsHeaderInfo: registerSelf called!
> nsHeaderInfo: registerSelf called!
>
> compiz was not installed for some reason, so I tried installing it, but no
> change.
> It appears that I have two versions of libxml2 installed -
> /usr/lib/libxml2.so.2.7.3
> /usr/local/lib/libxml2.so.2.6.30
> but dpkg says I only have one:
> narwhale:/home/mark# dpkg -l libxml2*
> Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
> |
> Status=Not/Inst/Cfg-files/Unpacked/Failed-cfg/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
> |/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err:
> uppercase=bad)
> ||/ Name Version Description
> +++-=========================-=========================-==================================================================
> ii libxml2 2.7.3.dfsg-1 GNOME XML library
> un libxml2-dev <none> (no description available)
> un libxml2-doc <none> (no description available)
> un libxml2-headers <none> (no description available)
> un libxml2-python2.3 <none> (no description available)
> ii libxml2-utils 2.7.3.dfsg-1 XML utilities
> narwhale:/home/mark#
>
> I remember several of those warning about libxml during apt-get upgrade. I
> don't know if this is the problem, but one of the errors in .xsession-errors
> mentions an unknown xml entry.
> I don't know how to "blow away" my gconf or gnome configuration as suggested
> by James, nor do I understand if that will help.
>
> Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
>
> Mark
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 7:21 PM, Joseph Sinclair
> <plug-discussion@stcaz.net>wrote:
>
>> From the sound of it Nautilus is not starting or failing on startup.
>> Have you looked at .xsession-errors?  There may be something there about a
>> dbus failure.
>> Try (from a command-line if you can get a terminal started) running
>> nautilus directly, if that "fixes" the problem, then you know for certain
>> what's failing (you might also get debug output that can help tell you why).
>> If you can't start Nautilus, try disabling compiz, sometimes that causes
>> problems during upgrades.
>> I had a similar problem in a stable release, and I had some luck with (via
>> command-line) disabling compiz and dropping back to a simpler graphics
>> driver (kernel drivers first, VESA if those fail).  You might have some luck
>> trying that.
>> If all else fails, you might need to blow away your gnome configuration
>> files (back them up first!) as suggested by James.
>>
>>
>> Mark Phillips wrote:
>>> I am running Debian testing on my laptop. Just completed a routine
>> apt-get
>>> update apt-get upgrade, and now all my desktop icons are gone and every
>> time
>>> I access the menus (Applications, Places, System) the upper and lower
>> menu
>>> bars disappear and then come back. I am writing this email in a browser
>>> window, so once an application is launched it seems to work OK.
>>>
>>> I have no idea where to start debugging this problem. Any suggestions are
>>> welcome!
>>>
>>> Mark
>>>
>>> P.S. I am running gnome, not KDE. Also, I cannot right click on the
>> desktop
>>> - nothing happens.
>>>
>>>
>>>
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