Bug 1497897 - VPN entry text missing in GNOME Shell menu when laptop is plugged in to mains power
Summary: VPN entry text missing in GNOME Shell menu when laptop is plugged in to mains...
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED ERRATA
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: gnome-shell
Version: 27
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Linux
unspecified
high
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Owen Taylor
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard: RejectedBlocker https://fedoraproject...
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2017-10-03 05:33 UTC by Saurav Sengupta
Modified: 2018-12-15 01:47 UTC (History)
15 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2018-11-27 16:23:19 UTC
Type: Bug
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
VPN menu entry text missing in GNOME Shell on Fedora 27 (647.30 KB, image/png)
2017-10-03 05:33 UTC, Saurav Sengupta
no flags Details
journalctl messages (6.34 KB, text/plain)
2018-02-06 21:45 UTC, Isaque Galdino
no flags Details

Description Saurav Sengupta 2017-10-03 05:33:02 UTC
Created attachment 1333484 [details]
VPN menu entry text missing in GNOME Shell on Fedora 27

Description of problem:
On Fedora 27 with GNOME 3.26, the text of the VPN entry in the system status menu is sometimes missing, especially on a laptop when it is connected to mains power. This looks extremely weird. Screenshot attached.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
gnome-shell-3.26.0-1.fc27.x86_64

How reproducible:
Mostly

Steps to Reproduce:
N.B.: This also happens in a live session.
1. Install Fedora 27 Workstation on a laptop.
2. Plug in the laptop to mains power and start the installed Fedora 27 OS.
3. Open the GNOME Shell system status menu (top-right corner), either from a logged in user's desktop, or from the GDM login screen.

Actual results:
The VPN entry text is missing. The sub-menu is OK, though.

Expected results:
The text for all menu items should be visible.

Comment 1 Saurav Sengupta 2017-11-07 07:11:45 UTC
If the VPN entry is not missing on first login, please log out and log back in (and disconnect and reconnect mains power if required) until it does.

Proposing as final blocker because it violates Final Release Criteria/Post-install requirements/Default panel functionality (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_27_Final_Release_Criteria#Default_panel_functionality).

Comment 2 Matthew Miller 2017-11-07 14:05:38 UTC
That is weird, but I don't think it's a release-blocker. (-1 to that)

I see that you are on an older version of gnome-shell -- can you recreate with the latest update?

Comment 3 Saurav Sengupta 2017-11-07 15:45:45 UTC
(In reply to Matthew Miller from comment #2)
> I see that you are on an older version of gnome-shell -- can you recreate
> with the latest update?

Still happens with gnome-shell 3.26.1-1.

Comment 4 Dusty Mabe 2017-11-08 13:44:16 UTC
-1 blocker

Comment 5 Petr Schindler 2017-11-08 14:09:48 UTC
I've seen this on desktop too. But even though the text is missing the "button" still works correctly. After I clicked on the empty space the vpn menu appeared normally.

I'm -1 blocker. This doesn't brake functionality. But if there would be fix I'd be +1 FE.

Comment 6 Kamil Páral 2017-11-09 12:27:33 UTC
It's true we have seen this once (see comment 5), on a desktop, with no VPN configured (right after default install). However, we've seen this only once and can't reproduce it in any way. I use F27 every day, I use VPN several times per week, and this never occurred to me. My colleagues do the same. So this is likely some race condition and seems to be quite rare (some hardware or software combinations might trigger it more often than other).

-1 blocker from me

Comment 7 Adam Williamson 2017-11-09 21:10:08 UTC
Discussed at 2017-11-09 Final Go/No-Go meeting, acting as a blocker review meeting: https://meetbot-raw.fedoraproject.org/fedora-meeting-1/2017-11-09/f27-final-and-server-beta-go-no-go-meeting.2017-11-09-18.02.html . Rejected as a blocker as it clearly only affects a minority of users, only happens intermittently, and doesn't have severe functional consequences (the menu entry still works, if you know what it is). However, we will document this in commonbugs.

Comment 8 Saurav Sengupta 2017-11-10 06:34:40 UTC
Can someone provide any information on when this will be fixed?

Comment 9 Saurav Sengupta 2017-11-10 06:36:26 UTC
It may be that this only happens when no VPN is configured (see comment 6).

Comment 10 Oliver Ilian 2017-11-22 09:50:27 UTC
A colleague of mine thinks that the logic might be that the whole entry should be hidden if no VPN connection is configured. However so far only the label is hidden.

Comment 11 Mislav Stublic 2018-01-19 16:54:07 UTC
Hi, I can confirm this and agree it might be related to not having VPN configured at all as I have no VPN and I practically always see the bug. It rarely happens that the icon and text appear but, as I understand, the whole menu item shouldn't appear at all as there is no VPN configured.

If you need more info to debug I can help as I see it every time I log in. Currently running Fedora 27, GNOME 3.26.2 regularly updated.

Comment 12 Saurav Sengupta 2018-01-20 03:34:37 UTC
If no VPN is configured, the current correct functionality seems to be that the menu item is present but correctly shows that there is no VPN. For an example of this, please see any current version of Ubuntu (GNOME) - 17.10/18.04.

Comment 13 Paul Finnigan 2018-02-06 00:46:25 UTC
Just a note on this bug. I have three VPNs configured. No interface is configured to automatically connect to a VPN.

When I first login the state of the VPNs is shown correctly as off. If I do nothing else then the first VPN I use correctly appears to turn on. 

After this you cannot rely on the switches or the displayed state in the system status menu. 

You can always select settings and go to the network settings. The VPN state here is always shown correctly and the switches function as expected.

This is an annoyance as currently I have to turn VPNs on and off on a regular basis due to DNS problems between the networks.

Comment 14 Isaque Galdino 2018-02-06 21:45:17 UTC
Created attachment 1392373 [details]
journalctl messages

I noticed the error only happens when I'm using Wayland.
When running Xorg, it shows the correct message, but sound icons are messed up, so definitely something is not right here.

Comment 15 Jesse Scott 2018-02-17 15:17:17 UTC
I see this regularly on both laptops and desktops at home and at work when no VPN connection is configured. Sometimes the VPN menu entry text doesn't show and sometimes it does show. Usually, for me, the VPN menu entry text is missing.

If I run nmcli networking off in a terminal, wait a few seconds , and then run nmcli networking on, the VPN menu entry returns.

This isn't a real fix and may not be a good workaround for users who need networking right away at login, but I am using a simple script at login to use nmcli to toggle networking off and then back on. This only delays the network connection for a second or two when I login, and I no longer see the VPN menu entry bug. This seems to be an okay workaround for my use.

Comment 16 Saurav Sengupta 2018-02-22 06:40:30 UTC
Here is a possible workaround:-

Add an SSH VPN connection. Use 127.0.0.1 as the gateway. You can also add a connection other than SSH if you have the necessary information; for me SSH was the simplest. There is no need to activate the connection; just the existence of the connection makes the VPN menu entry appear consistently.

Comment 17 Jesse Scott 2018-02-22 23:49:15 UTC
(In reply to Saurav Sengupta from comment #16)
> Here is a possible workaround:

Saurav, I just tested the pseudo VPN connection workaround that you suggest, and that works great. Much simpler than the login script that I was using.

Comment 18 Dimitris 2018-06-17 19:45:30 UTC
I didn't see this under F27, but after dnf system-upgrading to F28 I see the same (I think) issue.

Steps to reproduce:
- WLAN *not* set to "available to all users" but set to auto-connect.  Also set to automatically use specified OpenVPN connection.
- Upon initial login after boot, WLAN icon shows connected, no VPN icon in title bar.  VPN *is* active.
- No VPN entry at all in status menu (not just missing text - have to go to settings to access).

I can work around both the title bar and status menu issues in a couple of ways, both of which suggest some kind of race:

- Log out then back in; or,
- Before initial login, ctrl-alt-Fn to text console, log in; WLAN and VPN is auto-started here; then log out.  Upon GNOME login, icons and status menu is again working.

Comment 19 Dimitris 2018-06-27 05:42:03 UTC
For the past couple of initial logins after booting up I haven't seen this problem.  Anyone else noticed the same? (F28 BTW)

Looking at the dnf history I don't see any obvious update that would justify the change.

Comment 20 Dimitris 2018-07-01 18:54:33 UTC
OK, following a `dnf upgrade` this seems to be back.

Updates since the last time I recall this not happening per comment #18:

Packages Altered:
    Upgraded bind-export-libs-32:9.11.3-6.fc28.x86_64  @fedora
    Upgrade                   32:9.11.3-12.fc28.x86_64 @updates
    Upgraded bind-libs-32:9.11.3-6.fc28.x86_64         @fedora
    Upgrade            32:9.11.3-12.fc28.x86_64        @updates
    Upgraded bind-libs-lite-32:9.11.3-6.fc28.x86_64    @fedora
    Upgrade                 32:9.11.3-12.fc28.x86_64   @updates
    Upgraded bind-license-32:9.11.3-6.fc28.noarch      @fedora
    Upgrade               32:9.11.3-12.fc28.noarch     @updates
    Upgraded bind-utils-32:9.11.3-6.fc28.x86_64        @fedora
    Upgrade             32:9.11.3-12.fc28.x86_64       @updates
    Upgraded efibootmgr-15-6.fc28.x86_64               @fedora
    Upgrade             16-2.fc28.x86_64               @updates
    Upgraded efivar-34-1.fc28.x86_64                   @fedora
    Upgrade         35-1.fc28.x86_64                   @updates
    Upgraded efivar-libs-34-1.fc28.x86_64              @fedora
    Upgrade              35-1.fc28.x86_64              @updates
    Upgraded emacs-1:26.1-1.fc28.x86_64                @updates
    Upgrade        1:26.1-3.fc28.x86_64                @updates
    Upgraded emacs-common-1:26.1-1.fc28.x86_64         @updates
    Upgrade               1:26.1-3.fc28.x86_64         @updates
    Upgraded emacs-filesystem-1:26.1-1.fc28.noarch     @updates
    Upgrade                   1:26.1-3.fc28.noarch     @updates
    Upgraded flatpak-0.11.8.3-1.fc28.x86_64            @updates
    Upgrade          0.99.2-1.fc28.x86_64              @updates
    Upgraded flatpak-libs-0.11.8.3-1.fc28.x86_64       @updates
    Upgrade               0.99.2-1.fc28.x86_64         @updates
    Upgraded fwupdate-efi-10-6.fc28.x86_64             @fedora
    Upgrade               11-2.fc28.x86_64             @updates
    Upgraded fwupdate-libs-10-6.fc28.x86_64            @fedora
    Upgrade                11-2.fc28.x86_64            @updates
    Upgraded geocode-glib-3.25.4.1-3.fc28.x86_64       @fedora
    Upgrade               3.26.0-1.fc28.x86_64         @updates
    Upgraded gnome-calculator-3.28.1-1.fc28.x86_64     @fedora
    Upgrade                   3.28.2-1.fc28.x86_64     @updates
    Upgraded gspell-1.8.0-1.fc28.x86_64                @fedora
    Upgrade         1.8.1-1.fc28.x86_64                @updates
    Upgraded gtksourceview3-3.24.7-1.fc28.x86_64       @fedora
    Upgrade                 3.24.8-1.fc28.x86_64       @updates
    Upgraded inkscape-0.92.3-1.fc28.x86_64             @updates
    Upgrade           0.92.3-2.fc28.x86_64             @updates
    Upgraded libodfgen-0.1.6-11.fc28.x86_64            @fedora
    Upgrade            0.1.7-1.fc28.x86_64             @updates
    Upgraded libsemanage-2.8-1.fc28.x86_64             @updates
    Upgrade              2.8-2.fc28.x86_64             @updates
    Upgraded memtest86+-5.01-19.fc28.x86_64            @fedora
    Upgrade             5.01-20.fc28.x86_64            @updates-testing
    Upgraded mesa-dri-drivers-18.0.5-1.fc28.x86_64     @updates
    Upgrade                   18.0.5-2.fc28.x86_64     @updates-testing
    Upgraded mesa-filesystem-18.0.5-1.fc28.x86_64      @updates
    Upgrade                  18.0.5-2.fc28.x86_64      @updates-testing
    Upgraded mesa-libEGL-18.0.5-1.fc28.x86_64          @updates
    Upgrade              18.0.5-2.fc28.x86_64          @updates-testing
    Upgraded mesa-libGL-18.0.5-1.fc28.x86_64           @updates
    Upgrade             18.0.5-2.fc28.x86_64           @updates-testing
    Upgraded mesa-libGLES-18.0.5-1.fc28.x86_64         @updates
    Upgrade               18.0.5-2.fc28.x86_64         @updates-testing
    Upgraded mesa-libOpenCL-18.0.5-1.fc28.x86_64       @updates
    Upgrade                 18.0.5-2.fc28.x86_64       @updates-testing
    Upgraded mesa-libgbm-18.0.5-1.fc28.x86_64          @updates
    Upgrade              18.0.5-2.fc28.x86_64          @updates-testing
    Upgraded mesa-libglapi-18.0.5-1.fc28.x86_64        @updates
    Upgrade                18.0.5-2.fc28.x86_64        @updates-testing
    Upgraded mesa-libxatracker-18.0.5-1.fc28.x86_64    @updates
    Upgrade                    18.0.5-2.fc28.x86_64    @updates-testing
    Upgraded ostree-2018.5-1.fc28.x86_64               @updates
    Upgrade         2018.6-3.fc28.x86_64               @updates
    Upgraded ostree-libs-2018.5-1.fc28.x86_64          @updates
    Upgrade              2018.6-3.fc28.x86_64          @updates
    Upgraded perl-Time-Local-1:1.250-395.fc28.noarch   @fedora
    Upgrade                  1:1.280-1.fc28.noarch     @updates
    Upgraded python2-libsemanage-2.8-1.fc28.x86_64     @updates
    Upgrade                      2.8-2.fc28.x86_64     @updates
    Upgraded python3-bind-32:9.11.3-6.fc28.noarch      @fedora
    Upgrade               32:9.11.3-12.fc28.noarch     @updates
    Upgraded python3-libsemanage-2.8-1.fc28.x86_64     @updates
    Upgrade                      2.8-2.fc28.x86_64     @updates
    Upgraded shared-mime-info-1.9-3.fc28.x86_64        @fedora
    Upgrade                   1.10-1.fc28.x86_64       @updates
    Upgraded shim-x64-13-4.x86_64                      @fedora
    Upgrade           15-2.x86_64                      @updates
    Upgraded totem-pl-parser-3.26.0-3.fc28.x86_64      @fedora
    Upgrade                  3.26.1-1.fc28.x86_64      @updates
    Upgraded vim-X11-2:8.1.095-1.fc28.x86_64           @updates
    Upgrade          2:8.1.119-1.fc28.x86_64           @updates
    Upgraded vim-common-2:8.1.095-1.fc28.x86_64        @updates
    Upgrade             2:8.1.119-1.fc28.x86_64        @updates
    Upgraded vim-filesystem-2:8.1.095-1.fc28.noarch    @updates
    Upgrade                 2:8.1.119-1.fc28.noarch    @updates
    Upgraded vim-minimal-2:8.1.095-1.fc28.x86_64       @updates
    Upgrade              2:8.1.119-1.fc28.x86_64       @updates
    Upgraded xen-libs-4.10.1-3.fc28.x86_64             @updates
    Upgrade           4.10.1-4.fc28.x86_64             @updates
    Upgraded xen-licenses-4.10.1-3.fc28.x86_64         @updates
    Upgrade               4.10.1-4.fc28.x86_64         @updates

Comment 21 Dimitris 2018-08-06 06:19:54 UTC
After the latest updates to F28 the "log out from initial login, then log back in" workaround is no longer working.  My VPN section is gone from the status menu.

Comment 22 Ben Cotton 2018-11-27 13:36:51 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 27 is nearing its end of life.
On 2018-Nov-30  Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for
Fedora 27. It is Fedora's policy to close all bug reports from releases
that are no longer maintained. At that time this bug will be closed as
EOL if it remains open with a Fedora  'version' of '27'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version' 
to a later Fedora version.

Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we were not 
able to fix it before Fedora 27 is end of life. If you would still like 
to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version 
of Fedora, you are encouraged  change the 'version' to a later Fedora 
version prior this bug is closed as described in the policy above.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's 
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events. Often a 
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes 
bugs or makes them obsolete.

Comment 23 Adam Williamson 2018-11-27 16:18:23 UTC
Dimitris, can you file your bug separately, if you're still encountering it? It doesn't seem to be the same issue, per your description (in this issue the label and icon for the menu entry were missing, in your issue the entire entry itself is missing). Thanks!

Comment 24 Adam Williamson 2018-11-27 16:23:19 UTC
BTW, I suspect https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=787845 was the initial bug here - it sounds like it would have behaved as Oliver Haessler suggested in #c10 - and f91fbd7728061d0f66777c91c0a981792e0fada7 was the fix. That fix was pulled into the 3.26 tree, but there was no 3.26 release after it was merged...but I seem to have sent out an update in April:

https://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=1069092

which bumped the package to the current HEAD of the 3-26 tree at that time, so the fix should've been pulled in then. Accordingly, let's close this as ERRATA. If anyone has seen the bug - the *original* bug - with F28, F29 or gnome-shell-3.26.2-5.fc27 , please say so.

Comment 25 Dimitris 2018-12-15 01:47:00 UTC
opened bug 1659673 to track my symptoms (continuing with F29 btw)


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