The `--disable-wm-check` flag not working with `xfconf`

While trying to follow the ArchWiki recommendations to set a new default window manager on an Xfce detup, it resulted into an unexpected outcome.

I have double checked the results on Fedora Xfce with Bspwm, Qtile, and Openbox, but I focused on a default and up-to-date Endeavouros Xfce install and default Bspwm configuration to perform most of the testing below.

The first thing I did was running the following comand:

xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /sessions/Failsafe/Client0_Command -t string -sa bspwm

It worked, but my VM startup time went from 5 to 40 seconds after login authentication. I then found out about the --disable-wm-check flag, and tried to modify the subsequent ClientN_Command properties to include that flag.

xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /sessions/Failsafe/Client0_Command -t string -sa bspwm
xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /sessions/Failsafe/Client1_Command -t string -s xfsettingsd -t string -s --disable-wm-check
xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /sessions/Failsafe/Client2_Command -t string -s xfce4-panel -t string -s --disable-wm-check
xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /sessions/Failsafe/Client4_Command -t string -s xfdesktop -t string -s --disable-wm-check

After checking the settings editor, as well as the underlying xfce4-session.xml file, and taking the Thunar --daemon command as a reference as to how commands passed as arrays should look, I can say with some level of confidence that everything looked right at that point.

However, there was no decrease in startup time, and I was still hovering around 40 seconds start up time. I ran many different tests to make sure I had the commands right, and seeked help on the Xfce forum where I received the advice to open a bug report here. Following ToZ recommendations there, I checked logs generated after adding the XFSM_VERBOSE=1 variable to my environment, and although I could not make much out of it, I got the confirmation that the --disable-wm-check was not ignored, and appeared to be run behind the scenes. I prefer to keep this post short, and leave a link for reference.

Finally, I tried removing all startup commands from the xfce4-session channel, and rely on my window manager 'autostart' script instead. In that case, the bspwmrc configuration file.

From the terminal:

xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /sessions/Failsafe/Client0_Command -t string -sa bspwm
xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /sessions/Failsafe/Client1_Command -t string -sa ""
xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /sessions/Failsafe/Client2_Command -t string -sa ""
xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /sessions/Failsafe/Client3_Command -t string -sa ""
xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /sessions/Failsafe/Client4_Command -t string -sa ""

Bspwmrc file:

xfsettingsd --disable-wm-check &
xfce4-panel --disable-wm-check &
Thunar --daemon &
xfdesktop --disable-wm-check &

This seems to work exactly as expected for the little testing I have done and brought the startup time back to the 5 seconds initial baseline. All of which leads me to believe that the --disable-wm-check flag is not working when set using xfconf directly.

Please, let me know if you need any additional info. Thank you for your time.

added 5. Login / Startup label

The --disable-wm-check flags are correctly passed to the apps, I don't think the problem comes directly from there, i.e. I don't think xfconf is to blame. The time of 40 seconds you give would rather correspond to the fact that the apps set in xfconf fail to register with the session manager, because the delay in this case is 8 seconds per app. But I don't know how to make the connection between bspwm and this, if it's the cause of the problem.

Could you provide the requested logs with XFSM_VERBOSE=1?

added 3. Need Info label

Thank you for the link, that indeed matches the delay I am seeing.

I would like to emphasize that I do not experience this issue only with bspwm, but with all WMs I tried so far (i.e. qtile and openbox as well) just in case it makes any difference to you.

I also noticed that you asked me to provide the "requested" logs. I am sensing from that wording that I might have missed some instruction to share them when opening this issue, in which case, I am sorry about that. To make the matter worse I might have missed some additional recommendation as to how to share them as well, and since there are 400+ lines, I opted for a gist, I hope it is okay for you.

Anyway, I restored to a clean VM, installed bspwm, sxhkd and ran the exact commands from my last post, which resulted in the following log output.

I also noticed that you asked me to provide the "requested" logs. I am sensing from that wording that I might have missed some instruction to share them when opening this issue, in which case, I am sorry about that.

No problem, I meant requested by ToZ on the forum. It's also possible that my wording isn't quite right, as I don't speak English very well :)

Anyway, I restored to a clean VM, installed bspwm, sxhkd and ran the exact commands from my last post, which resulted in the following log output.

There is indeed this line that is weird, and that is repeated for the apps concerned:

TRACE[xfsm-startup.c:725] xfsm_startup_timeout(): Client Id = (null) failed to register in time

But the apps seem to register correctly, and now that I think about it, it's a timeout, so it shouldn't block execution of the rest. We'd have to take a closer look, ideally by being able to reproduce the problem, but I'm not sure I've got the time right now personally.

Let's copy the logs here just in case: xfce4-session.verbose-log

No problem, I meant requested by ToZ on the forum. It's also possible that my wording isn't quite right, as I don't speak English very well

I did not mean to imply anything of the sort, your English is perfectly fine, I was just thinking maybe I overlooked something, you know like sometimes there are those commented guidelines when opening an issue, that indelicate users just delete without taking the time to read them first... Well I was afraid I had just been one of those users ;) that is all.

Anyway, I am glad you were able to spot something right away.

But the apps seem to register correctly, and now that I think about it, it's a timeout, so it shouldn't block execution of the rest.

I can confirm that after the slow startup all components work as I would expect them too, and once they start up individually, they are as snappy as usual. Also the startup happens in a (spaced out) sequence, so yes it does feel like a succession of blocking 'timeouts'.

We'd have to take a closer look, ideally by being able to reproduce the problem,

Let me know if I can help, but reproducing should not be an issue as I got a very consistent behaviour across WMs and distributions with completely default configurations.

but I'm not sure I've got the time right now personally.

Thankfully the workaround I posted works fine and can be easily reverted to a more xfconf way of going about it, so there is no urgency at all. I actually only asked around because I am very new to Xfce, and I wanted to understand what I was doing wrong.

Thanks for your time, and let me know if I can help.

I can reproduce the issue with bspwm but not with openbox, so maybe there's something peculiar to bspwm here. To be investigated further once again...

I am sorry I did not reply earlier, for some reason the email went to spams. If I remember correctly I did try with Qtile and Openbox, but I cannot be certain, I do not have my notes handy. I should be able to test later next week, and I will let you know how it goes.

added 5. X11 label

removed 3. Need Info label