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Issues and Troubleshooting
So you're having a problem with Cinnamon, or you've uncovered some nasty bug. What should you do about it?
Have a look at Cinnamon Issues. You can search by keywords, and maybe find someone who has already encountered the same problem as you. If so, there could already be some resolution or answer for it. You can click the "subscribe" button on the issue page to get email notifications if any progress or updates are made to the issue - note, you will need to open a Github account to do this.
If you can't find anything there...
Cinnamon has a very rapid development pace. Many bugs are created, discovered, and fixed before half of us know what happened. It could be the problem you're having has already been resolved in the latest build of Cinnamon. If you're running Mint or Ubuntu and want to try out the latest (updated daily,) check out Daily Builds. Many other distros also have up-to-the-minute builds and packages (Arch users check out the AUR, for instance.) See if your issue still exists after updated to the latest and greatest Cinnamon. If it does, then...
Go back to Cinnamon Issues. Go ahead and create a new issue. Try to be as descriptive as possible, and if possible,
- Tell us what Linux distro you're running (Mint 19, Ubuntu 18.04, etc...)
- Provide the version of Cinnamon you're running (
cinnamon --versionfrom the terminal, or if you followed the previous instructions, say 'running nightlies') - Provide exact steps to reproduce the error
- Tell us what you expected to happen
- Tell us what actually happened
- Attach logging output from ~/.xsession-errors or /var/log/syslog
By opening a new issue, you will be automatically subscribed to that issue, and receive notifications of any updates to it by the development team or other users. Don't hesitate to add more information if you discover something else - every little bit can help towards solving a problem.
- Ensure symbols from Cinnamon are installed from your distribution's repositories. On Mint, this would be the
cinnamon-dbgpackage. - If using Mint, check System Reports (mintreport in bash), and see if a trace is already generated. Select the most recent Cinnamon entry, and click "Pastebin". Attach this URL to the issue. If no trace was generated, download this script and give it executable permissions, and follow the remaining steps.
- First, ensure you have a fallback DE installed such as Mate. Switch to another TTY (CTRL + ALT + F1) and kill the current Cinnamon process. Login, and enter
kill -9 $(pidof cinnamon). Switch back (CTRL + ALT + F7 in Mint and Ubuntu).- This allows us to get the Cinnamon fallback prompt which will help revive Cinnamon correctly after we're done. Once back in the fallback session, move the prompt out of the way, and don't click "No".
- Go to the directory you downloaded cin-debug-run, and in bash enter
cin-debug-run cinnamon --replace. Try to reproduce the issue that occurred when it crashed. If it crashes, you should see a trace, which the developers can use to fix the bug. Copy it to a file and attach it to your Github issue. - If you find yourself stranded with no window borders, go back to the other TTY and run
DISPLAY=:0 cinnamon-launcher.
So you've created a new issue. Hopefully, very shortly, your issue will be confirmed as a bug. Do not open more issues on it! All we can ask is that you remain patient while the issue is sorted out. Some issues may only take a few minutes to fix, while others can vex us for days or even weeks before finding a solution.
By all means, file an issue for it - again, being as descriptive as possible, and if one exists, provide examples of similar functionality. Please understand that not every suggestion will make it into Cinnamon. If you feel like trying your hand at implementing it yourself, by all means, check out the Linux Mint Developer Guide. Also be sure to check out the Cinnamon spices website for applets, themes and extensions that others have made.
Feel free to connect to irc.spotchat.org with your favorite IRC client, and join us on #linuxmint-help if you have other questions for which you might need immediate assistance.
You can also go to the forums and ask questions there.