Linux Logins, and the Hate Therein

GIR

GIR

New member
Alrighty, I have an absolute doozy of a question. You'll love this.

I've been using (Linux Mint 13 MATE, v1.4.2) for a while until they updated to (Linux Mint 13 MATE, v1.6). The people behind MATE (the desktop environment) screwed up the update, so I had to do a fresh install. No problem, right?

Here's the situation: The last time I downloaded the full .jar for KoL Mafia was version 16. Now the the new version 16.2 was out. Yay, download, set permissions for execution, choose open with OpenJDK Java 7 Runtime, double click, set up .kolmafia, and then run Updatemafia10_0. Smooth as I've always done it.


The familiar login window came up.
After I hit tab to move from username to password, my username would disappear.
I typed in the password, and it asked for my username.
Retyped in my username, clicked on the password, username disappeared.
Okay.
Typed in password first, then typed in username, clicked login.... Invalid login as my username disappeared again.


I thought that it was something the Mint people did to my system. Okay, reinstall (Linux Mint 13 MATE, v1.6) all over again, same issue. Try another MATE-based linux. I found (Point Linux 2.2, MATE v1.4.2) - a MATE based Linux without any GNOME stuff mixed in, this will be good. Install (Point Linux 2.2, MATE v1.4.2), download 16.2, type in username....wait for it....hit tab.....my name stayed. Whew. Went though the whole downloading, updating, customizing Point Linux, ran UpdateMafia10_0, type in my user name, and it disappears.

I thought, okay, this is my fault for downloading piles of stuff - we're going to try this on the core installation, and do nothing else. I re-install Point Linux, download the new 16.2, and without touching UpdateMafia10_0, my username still disappears from the line.

In frustration, I go downstairs to my media tower, running (Linux Mint 13 MATE, v1.6). I download 16.2 directly from sourceforge, and double-click. Type in user name....and it stays.

My questions are as follows: What have I done wrong, what has changed within Mafia that I'm not aware of, has my Linux-fu gone rustier than the barbed wire of my childhood?

And sitting to my right, just to taunt me, is my Windows 7 laptop, with Mafia running without a hitch.

I think I'm safe in assuming that I was foolish enough to think that the Desktop Environment of any Linux would have anything to do with this. As my Javas are all up to date, I can only assume that something must have been changed inside KoLMafia. I've tried it both with and without the MafiaUpdate10_0 (I know it's old), and the results are still as random as possible.

Please and thank yous for your time, even if it is just to laugh at my situation.


GIR
 
lostcalpolydude

lostcalpolydude

Developer
Staff member
You don't need MafiaUpdate10_0 (whatever that is) to get the latest .jar, you can just download it from http://builds.kolmafia.us/. The file on sourceforge is roughly a month old, so a lot has updated in that time, but I wouldn't expect any of it to have changed anything with the login window. Grabbing a version from there means that you could actually report which version you tried that isn't working.
 
fronobulax

fronobulax

Developer
Staff member
As mentioned elsewhere, KoLmafia isn't designed to be portable in the sense that it can be placed on a thumb drive and then everything is read from and written to there. So KoLmafia will look for, possibly create, and definitely use some directories on your system. As I am reasonably certain that nothing has changed in the last several years in KoLmafia that would give rise to what you are seeing, I have to ask whether permissions are set so that the user who is running KoLmafia can read and write the required directories?

From here:
KoLMafia will store its data in ~/.kolmafia, and any scripts you want to access through the Scripts menu should be installed into ~/.kolmafia/scripts.
Click to expand...
 
GIR

GIR

New member
fronobulax: It does appear to be that the problem was permissions. My home folder's permissions settings for "read and write files" within the home folder was set to "---". I'm going to play with this on a full Linux installation and get back to the thread, but this might be a solved issue.
 
GIR

GIR

New member
Sigh. Not solved.

Okay, fully installed and updated Point Linux 2.2 (debian based, MATE desktop), with full installation of both Java 6 and 7. My name is still disappearing.

My permissions are set for read and write for all files concerned. I went through ~/.kolmafia and checked every single file to make certain that I have read and write privileges.

As much as I could just transfer the .ser files from another computer and cheaply get around this issue, I would like to know what it is I'm doing that is causing such an issue.

lostcalpolydude: Thanks for the link!
 
GIR

GIR

New member
Alrighty, now for the follow up.

I have gotten tired of this issue, and my current run is suffering from all my reinstalling, searching, minor coding, etc. So, here's my solution. I grabbed the entirety of the /.kolmafia that works on my other linux box (one where I had not done a full-reinstall), and then merged it with the backup of my /.kolmafia folder I made quite a while ago. I put the amalgamation in my new /.kolmafia folder and now I have login capabilities. I then backed up my new /.kolmafia folder into my backup HDD.

So for now, I'm fine. Considering I'm running my main, one multi, and babysitting two other characters, it is unlikely I'm going to need the login prompt to work correctly so I can start up another character.

Let this be a lesson to all non-IT people out there: back up your stuff! And if you don't know how: learn! It will save you!

Issue Solved (sorta).

Thank you for your time and effort, lostcalpolydude and fronobulax! Keep up the good work!


GIR



i've got to go... cake and vacuum cleaner are waiting for me
 
GIR

GIR

New member
And now for a further update for everyone interested.

I seem to be in a perpetual state of installing linuxes everywhere. And for this particular installation, just for giggles, I decided to input my user information before I updated KoLMafia. Well, it all worked perfectly. So for this whole thread, the lesson for linux-based installations of Mafia should be, "put in your user information first, then upgrade the installation."




vixen beer hunters
 
dapanda

dapanda

Member
Hi guys,

I just wanted to update as I had the same problem on Linux. I unfortunately was going from a brand new Linux install to a new KoL account so I didn't have any backup to use. My user name kept disappearing after entering it and moving away from the user name box. I had to update my JAVA to get it to work. The version I updated to is below:

java version "1.6.0_31"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea6 1.13.3) (6b31-1.13.3-1~deb7u1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.25-b01, mixed mode)

I am using KoLmafia v16.3 r13945

Hope this helps someone.
 
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