Menu plugin crashes lxpanel, weird problem

[Gourmet]

System: Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic armel with lxpanel 0.5.3 on Chinese handheld

all worked well until I installed some software which replaced some system libraries (but may be this was not even the reason of faults)

by default lxpanel starts with panel config stored in /home/user/.config/lxpanel/LXDE/panels - and it starts as

@lxpanel --profile LXDE

in /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart

now lxpanel crashes and then LXDE tries start it again and again and again...

first I commented first plugin call in panel settings file - this is menu plugin call, it looks rather standard - fortunately this allowed lxpanel run but without menu of course, it appeared on screen with all my plugins except menu

then I killed lxpanel process manually, changed panel config back to normal (uncommented menu plugin start) and started lxpanel manually as user like this:

$lxpanel --log 5

I've got just only "Segmentation fault" message and nothing else

then I started lxpanel from xterm being logged as root (not just by sudo, but as root exactly) and without any options - lxpanel appeared on screen with some sort of default plugins - there were no my plugins (battery meter, keyboard control so on) but menu appeared (with default icon, not mine) and worked well (that means menu files are good)

but I didn't find any panel file in /root/.config/lxpanel/default directory... manufacturer removed all rarely used files to free up more space on internal flash memory - but where from lxpanel took config for "root" user? or that was just a sorta of "build-in default config"? how can I save this default config to be changed later?

finally I started lxpanel from xterm being logged as user but with

sudo lxpanel --profile LXDE

suddenly it started with my menu! even my redefined menu icon appeared - but some settings looked like as root settings and unfortunately some my plugins didn't start - in xterm I see error messages about plugins: battery meter, keyboard indicator

ANYBODY HELP unravel this weird situation...

- as user lxpanel crashes on menu plugin
- as root lxpanel works well but with unfounded config
- as user with sudo lxpanel works with tuned menu but without some added plugins

[Gourmet]

Now fixed part of problem - plugins recovered. I can get entire panel working if start it as

@sudo lxpanel --profile LXDE

from /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart

and menu appears and works well - except I'm always root...

but if I start it without sudo, as user - than it crashes on menu

What have I change in user's settings to allow panel work always?

[maces]

Hi,

if it's working as root, it's mostly a permission problem.

A rather rapid way:
Have you tried to delete all user config files of LXPanel and reinstall it?

maces

[Marty Jack]

It's quite possible that the configuration for the failing user is corrupted, and the configuration for root is not, and that's why it is working, rather than a permissions issue.
rm -rf .config/lxpanel of the failing user should get you back to where you can recreate.

[Gourmet]

unfortunately I can't reinstall lxpanel - it is on chinese MID and manufacturer uses redesigned plugins for battery, keyboard so on

but they didn't put lxpanel*armel.deb package with it or on any repo... I can only reflash /root part or both /root and /home, but I've already tuned a LOT OFF things to not reflash it

for while I have work as root cause I do many settings and tunes, but next I'll try recover lxpanel settings from root copy

thanx for ideas

[rami]

I had a similar problem running Lubuntu 11.04. Several times. "Marty Jack"s solution worked brilliantly, at least for me:

It's quite possible that the configuration for the failing user is corrupted, and the configuration for root is not, and that's why it is working, rather than a permissions issue.
rm -rf .config/lxpanel of the failing user should get you back to where you can recreate.

hopefully this helps.