Can't get past login screen in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.

[donaloflynn]

the xsession code told me "Can't open /home/donal/.profile

[beckols]

At the command line:

ls -l /home

You will get something like this:
drwxr-xr-x 34 beckols beckols 4096 2010-06-11 13:29 beckols

What exactly does yours say where mine says: drwxr-xr-x

Explanation (if you don't know):
This is the permissions, the d means that it is a directory. The first 'rwx' is th permissions for the owner of the file (read, write, execute respectively). The middle 'r-x' is group permissions, and the last 'r-x' is everyone permissions. Also the first two names after the permissions are the file owner followed by the group owner. For your home folder, both of these should be set to your username. If they aren't, then you have a permissions problem. You should also go into your home folder and see if any files are like that:

ls -la /home/[username]

[beckols]

OK, I think I might have just hit the answer. Apparently uninstalling Evolution can uninstall gnome-session. So before any of that other gobbledegook, go ahead and do this:

sudo apt-get install gnome-session

Then try logging in again.

[donaloflynn]

Mine says: drwxr-xr-x 47 donal donal 4096 2010-06-11 19:35 donal

the majority of files in /home/donal are drwxr-xr-x

some others are -rw-------.

Every file has my username as twice (file owner and group owner).

[beckols]

OK, that's good then. Try doing the gnome-session install and see if that does it.

[donaloflynn]

only saw your gnome-session post now. Gnome appears to be installing.

[donaloflynn]

the last line I can see is

ldconfig deferred processing now taking place

Nothing else has happened in about 2 mins. Does that mean it's finished and I can try to log in again?

[beckols]

Yep, now try logging in. And at the login screen, make sure 'Sessions' (at the bottom of the screen) is set to 'Gnome'

[donaloflynn]

It works!

Thank you ever so much for all your help, I wish I could do something for you!

I think I uninstalled too many files with Evolution in the title as Ubuntu is now working, but there's no sign of Evolution Mail!

I thought I'd end up having to do a clean install, you have restored my faith in the Linux community!

Thanks again,
Dónal

[beckols]

No problem, it was fruitful for both of us: nothing like a little knowledge in the afternoon. Make sure to mark the thread as [Solved]. Good luck!