[e-users] Can't run any WM except e

[Peter F. <pe...@si...>]

Since upgrading my Xubuntu laptop from 14.10 to 15.04, I can no longer
log into an xfce or xubuntu window managers, only into e.

(So what? I hear you say :-)

If I try to start a different session, when I finish the password, the
login window disappears for a second and then reappears. No session.

When I log into e, the login window disappears for a much shorter time,
maybe 1/10 second, and then reappears, and the disappears as the e logo
comes up and the e session starts normally.

I can no longer run update-manager or software-center or
do-release-upgrade: at first they just segfaulted, but now the disk
light flickers and then the prompt returns with no error message
(do-release-upgrade does still segfault though, whereas before it spewed
out Python errors).

If I open a separate shell with Ctl-Alt-F1, I get the immediate message

> Segmentation fault (core dumped)
> run-parts: /etc/update-motd.d/90-updates-available exited with return code 139

And I have noticed that whenever I make an svn commit from the command
line, I get prompted in a pop-up window (!) for my realm password
*twice*. Previously the prompt was at the command line, and only once
ever, and it remembered it afterwards.

All of which makes me wonder if somehow I am running a shell inside a
shell or a WM inside a WM. Something is badly hosed and none of the
suggested remedies for update-manager segfaulting have had any effect.

But e is running happily...

///Peter