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I keep having this problem with GNOME Shell. The errors below are logged into the journal (viewed with journalctl -f). The only solution I've found is to log out of the GNOME session and start again.

Searching Google and this site produces lists of reports, but I cannot find any summary of (1) why does this happen? nor (2) What can be done to work-around or prevent the problem?

Also note that when it happens, UI responsiveness drops, often to the point of being barely usable.

JS ERROR: TypeError: windowActor is null _addWindowEffect@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/closeDialog.js:90:28 vfunc_show@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/closeDialog.js:162:14

P.S. Does JS mean Javascript, and if so, why is there Javascript in GNOME Shell?

--- update ---

Here is a pastebin of grep -i gnome-shell /var/log/syslog*: https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/MmNnRVQrzG/

Output of ls -al ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions:

ls: cannot access '<snip>/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions': No such file or directory

Output of ls -al /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/:

total 20
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Apr 23  2020 .
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 Aug 18 06:47 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 15 22:12 desktop-icons@csoriano
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jan 29 11:57 ubuntu-appindicators@ubuntu.com
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jan 29 11:58 ubuntu-dock@ubuntu.com

--- another update --- https://extensions.gnome.org/local/

extensions.gnome.org screen shot

BeastOfCaerbannog
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ash
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  • Do grep -i gnome-shell /var/log/syslog* and paste the output at paste.ubuntu.com and give me the URL, and I'll take a look. Also edit your question and show me ls -al ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions and ls -al /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions. – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 19:33
  • Working on that - I'm checking the grep output for potentially sensitive information... – ash Jan 31 '21 at 19:39
  • There isn't any in the grep. – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 19:39
  • Yeah, I checked the grep output anyway - found it was clean. tr and sort -u FTW. I updated the question with the requested info. Thank you for the help. It would be awesome if I could learn to solve these myself. – ash Jan 31 '21 at 19:49
  • Please redo the first ls command, as you appear to have not put in the leading ~. – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 19:53
  • I did. There is no extensions folder there. – ash Jan 31 '21 at 20:01
  • Only application_state gnome-overrides-migrated in the ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/ folder. – ash Jan 31 '21 at 20:02
  • Are you fairly fluent in the terminal? Do you know how to restart gnome-shell? – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 20:04
  • I am very fluent in Linux, shell and more. What is the best way to restart the shell? kill -1? – ash Jan 31 '21 at 20:05
  • Show me a screenshot of https://extensions.gnome.org/local/ – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 20:06
  • I put the screenshot in the question - I suspect this isn't what you wanted. Shall I install the browser extension? – ash Jan 31 '21 at 20:12
  • Yes, follow the instructions on the screen. You'll end up installing two pieces of software. Then revisit the web page and give me another screenshot. – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 20:14
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    Ahh, I remember how to restart gnome-shell via Alt-F2 as well. – ash Jan 31 '21 at 20:14
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    Yes, that's the way to restart gnome-shell. Alt-F2 (or Alt-FN-F2), then r, then enter. Give me a few minutes to write an answer for you. – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 20:16
  • Screen shot updated. Thank you for the help! – ash Jan 31 '21 at 20:18

2 Answers2

4

Learning stuff

Almost all gnome-shell errors are due to faulty gnome-shell extensions.

Good thing is that you don't have many of these extensions.

If you redo my grep, slightly modified, to:

grep -i gnome-shell /var/log/syslog* | grep -i extensions

You'll come up with a lot of hits that contain similar to this snippet:

/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/desktop-icons@csoriano

Guess which gnome-shell extension is suspect?

Do the work

So we'll move this extension out of the way and replace it with a substitute. I'll abbreviate my instructions, as you're terminal savvy.

cd /usr/share/gnome-shell

sudo mkdir extensions.HOLD

sudo mv extensions/desktop-icons@csoriano extensions.HOLD/desktop-icons@csoriano.OLD

restart gnome-shell

go to https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/2087/desktop-icons-ng-ding/ and install this extension.

restart gnome-shell

right-click on the Desktop and select "Settings" to set prefs.

Monitor system for gnome-shell errors AFTER the current time:

grep -i gnome-shell /var/log/syslog*
heynnema
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  • OK, I followed the instructions and will watch the syslog output. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly what causes the errors to start, so I'll need to see if they come back. – ash Jan 31 '21 at 20:33
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    @ash If you revisit https://extensions.gnome.org/local/ you'll see the new extension. There's another extension that may be also causing problems, but we'll wait and see. Make sure that your system is updated via Software Updater. – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 20:35
  • This was very helpful. I'll be more careful with extensions in the future. – ash Jan 31 '21 at 20:40
  • I did refresh extensions.gnome.org/local and see the desktop-icons extension was removed. Of course, my desktop icons are gone as well ;-). – ash Jan 31 '21 at 20:41
  • @ash Desktop icons should be there. Can you right-click on the Desktop and see the Settings choice? – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 20:43
  • @ash Look at ls -al ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions and ls -al /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions again, and see if you find the new desktop-icons extension listed. – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 20:47
  • @ash You still there? – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 21:18
  • I'm back - stepped away for a little bit – ash Jan 31 '21 at 21:52
  • So this is interesting - I closed a chrome window then re-opened it with CTRL-SHIFT-T, and I started getting more JS ERROR: TypeError: actor.get_meta_window(...) is null – ash Jan 31 '21 at 22:36
  • @ash Next time that you step away, please tell me, as I sat here for quite some time waiting for you to respond. You didn't say what the ls commands show now. Does https://extensions.gnome.org/local/ properly show the new desktop-icons extension? Let's deal with the Chrome thing later. – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 23:20
  • No, the desktop icons extension is not there. I'm not worried about it. I appreciate your responsiveness, but I certainly don't expect it! I'm stepping away again now. – ash Jan 31 '21 at 23:22
  • @ash Go back to https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/2087/desktop-icons-ng-ding/ and reinstall it. – heynnema Jan 31 '21 at 23:23
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – heynnema Feb 01 '21 at 14:45
  • @ash If you have an update that you'd like to share, please don't add that info an existing answer. Either create a new answer, or put it into comments. Thanks! – heynnema Dec 24 '21 at 19:35
  • makes sense - I'll add it as a separate answer. Thank you. – ash Dec 24 '21 at 19:47
1

Follow-Up

Anyone finding this question and prior answer, I have an update that may help.

I later tracked the responsiveness problems down to notification spamming, so probably not related to the windowActor is null error.

Running "back in time" with a large number of file complaints (due to running out of disk space), it was sending a very large number of notifications, but "do-not-disturb" mode was enabled, so I didn't see them. The notification spam overwhelmed the gnome shell.

The solution for the responsiveness problem was to fix the disk-space problem, and thus eliminate the source of notification spamming.

ash
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