Ptyxis not working some time after boot

[anacierdem]

Describe the bug

Default terminal is not opening up some time after boot. Initially sometimes it works but after few minutes (not sure about the trigger) it doesn't start if you close it anymore.
Same true for flatpak version of Ptyxis as well. They break simultaneously.

What did you expect to happen?

It should just work?

Output of bootc status

● Booted image: ghcr.io/ublue-os/bluefin-dx-nvidia-open:gts
        Digest: sha256:3669bcaaf1e9df095df8d5f9bea665ec6f9a7a41f571fef0f3da5b01f4a0874b (amd64)
       Version: gts-42.20260113 (2026-01-13T01:46:51Z)

  Rollback ostree
           Commit: 2f0439cadf8060829a11beec0232965eff3fc4c50c7ae940d946d0355dfcd8d0
           Pinned: yes

 Other ostree
       Commit: ea3eaaf6e629336472bbc4efc96535e8888d90c3e5fc0a5465356e2a05867cb7
       Pinned: yes

   Other image: ghcr.io/ublue-os/bluefin-dx-nvidia-open:gts-20251028
        Digest: sha256:a6672f10e0a4b598529f7fb8be6dffecc17d9c9aa3939b664e884011c38868ac (amd64)
       Version: gts-42.20251028 (2025-10-28T14:25:36Z)
        Pinned: yes

Output of groups

aerdem wheel dialout wireshark docker incus-admin libvirt samba

Extra information or context

Relevant journalctl logs:

journalctl -b -f | grep ptyxis
Jan 25 14:47:44 workstation.local ptyxis[21546]: Failed to spawn ptyxis-agent on the host system. Trying again within Flatpak namespace. Some features may not work correctly!
Jan 25 14:48:34 workstation.local ptyxis[21546]: Failed to spawn ptyxis-agent in sandbox: Timeout was reached
Jan 25 14:48:34 workstation.local audit[21546]: ANOM_ABEND auid=1001 uid=1001 gid=1002 ses=2 subj=unconfined_u:unconfined_r:unconfined_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023 pid=21546 comm="ptyxis" exe="/usr/bin/ptyxis" sig=5 res=1
Jan 25 14:48:34 workstation.local kernel: traps: ptyxis[21546] trap int3 ip:7fd51e01fdd3 sp:7ffff6110390 error:0 in bcc93fe16bf982da059239218c71d61594d4632ff888b20075e62f1e7a8b92.file[4bdd3,7fd51dfd4000+a5000]
Jan 25 14:48:34 workstation.local systemd-coredump[23601]: Process 21546 (ptyxi ) of user 1001 terminated abnormally with signal 5/TRAP, processing...
Jan 25 14:48:34 workstation.local systemd-coredump[23602]: Process 21546 (ptyxi
) of user 1001 dumped core.

A few versions back I'm pretty sure this wasn't a problem. b/c it's not clear how to reproduce, will take some time for me to find the last working commit.

[renner0e]

Do you still run into this?
Would be nice if you used the rebase helper to go back to an older image, perhaps we can narrow down what caused it.
Before you do that though I would advise you to first create a new user account and see if you run into it there.

[anacierdem]

I still have this. I can try with a new user but it will be difficult to reproduce or even know if it's reproducable b/c I was unable to find the trigger. Even if I do nothing after boot it can happen sometimes. But I will try to find a lead.

What user level config are you suspecting?

[renner0e]

What user level config are you suspecting?

Nothing specific, just a good first step for troubleshooting in my opinion

[anacierdem]

Some problems I have got fixed when I test with a different user in the past (I don't open issues for them if I'm sure) but I don't have enough linux experience to identify the cause after that point. If this is one of those problems, I'll be happy to attempt to debug it with some help 🙂

[anacierdem]

Ok, simplest test I did:

• For my user terminal stopped working
• created a new user
• switched to that user
• terminal works fine
• switch back to original user, terminal still not working

I don't know if it will break for the new user after some while...

[repires]

This is possibly just a dotfiles config mismanagement.

If no sensitive data, can you share the output of the following?

(for f in ~/.bashrc ~/.bash_profile ~/.profile ~/.zshrc ~/.zprofile ~/.zshenv ~/.xprofile ~/.xinitrc ~/.pam_environment; do [ -f "$f" ] && echo "=== $f ===" && cat "$f" && echo; done; echo "=== environment.d ===" && cat ~/.config/environment.d/*.conf 2>/dev/null; echo "=== ptyxis config ===" && cat ~/.config/ptyxis/* 2>/dev/null; echo "=== env diff ===" && env | sort) | fpaste

[anacierdem]

I have redacted a few env. variables only:

~/.xprofile ~/.xinitrc ~/.pam_environment; do [ -f "$f" ] && echo "=== $f ===" && cat "$f" && echo; done; echo "=== environment.d ===" && cat ~/.config/environment.d/*.conf 2>/dev/null; echo "=== ptyxis config ===" && cat ~/.config/ptyxis/* 2>/dev/null; echo "=== env diff ===" && env | sort) 
=== /var/home/aerdem/.bashrc ===
# .bashrc

# Source global definitions
if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
    . /etc/bashrc
fi

# User specific environment
if ! [[ "$PATH" =~ "$HOME/.local/bin:$HOME/bin:" ]]; then
    PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi
export PATH

# Uncomment the following line if you don't like systemctl's auto-paging feature:
# export SYSTEMD_PAGER=

# User specific aliases and functions
if [ -d ~/.bashrc.d ]; then
    for rc in ~/.bashrc.d/*; do
        if [ -f "$rc" ]; then
            . "$rc"
        fi
    done
fi
unset rc

=== /var/home/aerdem/.bash_profile ===
# .bash_profile

# Get the aliases and functions
if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
    . ~/.bashrc
fi

# User specific environment and startup programs

# REDACTED a few env vars

# Added by Toolbox App
export PATH="$PATH:/var/home/aerdem/.local/share/JetBrains/Toolbox/scripts"


=== /var/home/aerdem/.profile ===


# Added by Toolbox App
export PATH="$PATH:/var/home/aerdem/.local/share/JetBrains/Toolbox/scripts"


=== /var/home/aerdem/.zshrc ===
#
# .zshrc is sourced in interactive shells.
# It should contain commands to set up aliases,
# functions, options, key bindings, etc.
#

autoload -U compinit
compinit

#allow tab completion in the middle of a word
setopt COMPLETE_IN_WORD

## keep background processes at full speed
#setopt NOBGNICE
## restart running processes on exit
#setopt HUP

## history
#setopt APPEND_HISTORY
## for sharing history between zsh processes
#setopt INC_APPEND_HISTORY
#setopt SHARE_HISTORY

## never ever beep ever
#setopt NO_BEEP

## automatically decide when to page a list of completions
#LISTMAX=0

## disable mail checking
#MAILCHECK=0

# autoload -U colors
#colors

=== /var/home/aerdem/.zprofile ===
# this file is installed as ~/.zprofile for newly created users

# prepend ~/.local/bin and ~/bin to $PATH unless it is already there
if ! [[ "$PATH" =~ "$HOME/bin" ]]
then
    PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi
if ! [[ "$PATH" =~ "$HOME/.local/bin:" ]]
then
    PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
fi
export PATH

=== environment.d ===
=== ptyxis config ===
=== env diff ===
BREW_BASH_COMPLETION=1
COLORTERM=truecolor
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/1001/bus
DEBUGINFOD_IMA_CERT_PATH=/etc/keys/ima:
DEBUGINFOD_URLS=https://debuginfod.fedoraproject.org/ 
DESKTOP_SESSION=gnome
DISPLAY=:0
EDITOR=/usr/bin/nano
FLATPAK_TTY_PROGRESS=1
GDM_LANG=en_US.UTF-8
GDMSESSION=gnome
GNOME_SETUP_DISPLAY=:1
GNOME_SHELL_SLOWDOWN_FACTOR=0.8
GPG_TTY=/dev/pts/0
GUESTFISH_INIT=\e[1;34m
GUESTFISH_OUTPUT=\e[0m
GUESTFISH_PS1=\[\e[1;32m\]><fs>\[\e[0;31m\] 
GUESTFISH_RESTORE=\e[0m
HISTCONTROL=ignoredups
HISTSIZE=1000
HOMEBREW_CELLAR=/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Cellar
HOMEBREW_PREFIX=/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew
HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY=/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew
HOME=/var/home/aerdem
HOSTNAME=workstation.local
INFOPATH=/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/share/info:
INVOCATION_ID=2cd7fc269f1c465fae236cff322f7ab6
JOURNAL_STREAM=9:111177
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LESSOPEN=||/usr/bin/lesspipe.sh %s
LOGNAME=aerdem
LS_COLORS=rs=0:di=01;34:ln=01;36:mh=00:pi=40;33:so=01;35:do=01;35:bd=40;33;01:cd=40;33;01:or=40;31;01:mi=01;37;41:su=37;41:sg=30;43:ca=00:tw=30;42:ow=34;42:st=37;44:ex=01;32:*.7z=01;31:*.ace=01;31:*.alz=01;31:*.apk=01;31:*.arc=01;31:*.arj=01;31:*.bz=01;31:*.bz2=01;31:*.cab=01;31:*.cpio=01;31:*.crate=01;31:*.deb=01;31:*.drpm=01;31:*.dwm=01;31:*.dz=01;31:*.ear=01;31:*.egg=01;31:*.esd=01;31:*.gz=01;31:*.jar=01;31:*.lha=01;31:*.lrz=01;31:*.lz=01;31:*.lz4=01;31:*.lzh=01;31:*.lzma=01;31:*.lzo=01;31:*.pyz=01;31:*.rar=01;31:*.rpm=01;31:*.rz=01;31:*.sar=01;31:*.swm=01;31:*.t7z=01;31:*.tar=01;31:*.taz=01;31:*.tbz=01;31:*.tbz2=01;31:*.tgz=01;31:*.tlz=01;31:*.txz=01;31:*.tz=01;31:*.tzo=01;31:*.tzst=01;31:*.udeb=01;31:*.war=01;31:*.whl=01;31:*.wim=01;31:*.xz=01;31:*.z=01;31:*.zip=01;31:*.zoo=01;31:*.zst=01;31:*.avif=01;35:*.jpg=01;35:*.jpeg=01;35:*.mjpg=01;35:*.mjpeg=01;35:*.gif=01;35:*.bmp=01;35:*.pbm=01;35:*.pgm=01;35:*.ppm=01;35:*.tga=01;35:*.xbm=01;35:*.xpm=01;35:*.tif=01;35:*.tiff=01;35:*.png=01;35:*.svg=01;35:*.svgz=01;35:*.mng=01;35:*.pcx=01;35:*.mov=01;35:*.mpg=01;35:*.mpeg=01;35:*.m2v=01;35:*.mkv=01;35:*.webm=01;35:*.webp=01;35:*.ogm=01;35:*.mp4=01;35:*.m4v=01;35:*.mp4v=01;35:*.vob=01;35:*.qt=01;35:*.nuv=01;35:*.wmv=01;35:*.asf=01;35:*.rm=01;35:*.rmvb=01;35:*.flc=01;35:*.avi=01;35:*.fli=01;35:*.flv=01;35:*.gl=01;35:*.dl=01;35:*.xcf=01;35:*.xwd=01;35:*.yuv=01;35:*.cgm=01;35:*.emf=01;35:*.ogv=01;35:*.ogx=01;35:*.aac=01;36:*.au=01;36:*.flac=01;36:*.m4a=01;36:*.mid=01;36:*.midi=01;36:*.mka=01;36:*.mp3=01;36:*.mpc=01;36:*.ogg=01;36:*.ra=01;36:*.wav=01;36:*.oga=01;36:*.opus=01;36:*.spx=01;36:*.xspf=01;36:*~=00;90:*#=00;90:*.bak=00;90:*.crdownload=00;90:*.dpkg-dist=00;90:*.dpkg-new=00;90:*.dpkg-old=00;90:*.dpkg-tmp=00;90:*.old=00;90:*.orig=00;90:*.part=00;90:*.rej=00;90:*.rpmnew=00;90:*.rpmorig=00;90:*.rpmsave=00;90:*.swp=00;90:*.tmp=00;90:*.ucf-dist=00;90:*.ucf-new=00;90:*.ucf-old=00;90:
MAIL=/var/spool/mail/aerdem
MANAGERPID=2488
MEMORY_PRESSURE_WATCH=/sys/fs/cgroup/user.slice/user-1001.slice/user@1001.service/app.slice/dbus-:1.3-org.gnome.Ptyxis@4.service/memory.pressure
MEMORY_PRESSURE_WRITE=c29tZSAyMDAwMDAgMjAwMDAwMAA=
PATH=/var/home/aerdem/.local/bin:/var/home/aerdem/bin:/usr/lib64/ccache:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/var/home/aerdem/.local/share/JetBrains/Toolbox/scripts:/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin:/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/sbin
PTYXIS_PROFILE=2871e8027773ae74d6c87a5f659bbc74
PTYXIS_VERSION=48.5
PWD=/var/home/aerdem
QT_IM_MODULE=ibus
SESSION_MANAGER=local/unix:@/tmp/.ICE-unix/2690,unix/unix:/tmp/.ICE-unix/2690
SHELL=/bin/bash
SHLVL=1
SSH_ASKPASS=/usr/libexec/openssh/gnome-ssh-askpass
SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/run/user/1001/keyring/ssh
STARSHIP_SESSION_KEY=9774151052928418
STARSHIP_SHELL=bash
SYSTEMD_EXEC_PID=11095
# REDACTED a few env vars
TERM=xterm-256color
USER=aerdem
USERNAME=aerdem
_=/usr/sbin/env
VTE_VERSION=8004
WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-0
XAUTHORITY=/run/user/1001/.mutter-Xwaylandauth.TRD1J3
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
XDG_DATA_DIRS=/var/home/aerdem/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share:/usr/local/share/:/usr/share/
XDG_MENU_PREFIX=gnome-
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1001
XDG_SESSION_CLASS=user
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=gnome
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland
XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus

I'm testing turning off autostart apps (Steam, Podman) and it seem to fix the problem. I'm trying to identify which one now. I highly suspect Podman b/c running containers was a cause of problems for me in the past. To be more specific enabling docker as a service prevents booting into shell based on some unkown user level thing (creating a new user fixes it, that's why I'm using uid 1001 heh)

[repires]

ask.projectbluefin.io

Dosu generated the suggestion:

Based on your dotfiles and environment, there’s nothing obviously misconfigured in your shell setup. However, Podman running in rootless mode can interact with your user session in ways that might break terminal startup—especially if it’s autostarted or if containers/services are running in the background. Podman relies on environment variables like XDG_RUNTIME_DIR and user-level systemd units; if these are altered or locked by Podman or its containers, it can interfere with other user processes, including terminals and Flatpaks. This is consistent with your observation that disabling Podman autostart resolves the issue, and that a new user account works fine (pointing to a user-level config or service) source.

To isolate the culprit, try enabling Podman and Steam autostart one at a time, rebooting after each, and see which triggers the failure. When the issue occurs, check logs with journalctl --user -b, systemctl --user status, and podman ps -a for any errors or stuck services. Also, check for lingering Podman containers or sockets under ~/.config/systemd/user/ and ~/.local/share/containers/.

If Podman is the cause, review your user-level Podman systemd units (systemctl --user list-units | grep podman), and consider disabling or reconfiguring any that auto-start containers. If you have custom containers or volumes that mount into your home or XDG directories, check their permissions and resource usage.

If you want to pinpoint the exact config, you can create a new user and incrementally copy over your dotfiles and systemd units, testing after each change. This should reveal the problematic setting or service.

[anacierdem]

I'm pretty convinced it's docker service or Podman desktop (which in turn triggers starting of docker service). But this can still be an issue with Bluefin b/c I just expect them to work flawlessly considering this is a cloud-native OS, especially the fact that it breaks even when manually started very late.

My findings so far:

• Disabling autostart of Podman desktop seem to mitigate the issue (as mentioned above enabling docker service via systemctl is problematic for other unkown reasons, so I was falling back to autostart)
• Log off & on fixes terminal, it's a viable workaround even though very annoying.
• Starting Podman desktop manually with all my workload breaks terminal after a while.
• Disabling all of my containers seem to mitigate the issue.

It's very difficult to say all above is 100% true as the issue is very intermittent, but I'm continuing to investigate. My next step is attempting to enable workloads one by one in an attempt to find the culprit. Original issue of docker service preventing shell login was independent of workload but this problem might be related.

If I can pinpoint the real cause, I'll update. It is weird that some sandboxed workload is breaking other things to me though. Let's see where this will lead...

[anacierdem]

Ok, Podman Desktop flatpak was the culprit. I'm not using that b/c I like it but rather I had boot issues in the past when I've used the suggested method to enable docker service in the past. So I was using Podman Desktop to trigger comm. on the socket thus starting the service.

Now booting with docker service enabled seems to work fine. I'll open another issue if that breaks again.