Menu Edits are lost (as are Pinned items)

Distribution

Mint 22.1

Package version

Cinnamon v: 6.4.8

Graphics hardware in use

NVIDIA GP108 [GeForce GT 1030] driver: nvidia v: 570.133.07

Frequency

Always

Bug description

I can add items to my Cinnamon menu. And after a reboot they are gone.

Likewise I can pin items to the taskbar and after a reboot they are gone.

This commenced at a very particular point in time. An upheaval in homedirs,

To clarify, I keep my home dirs on a separate device. In /etc/fstab:

 LABEL=Home      /home   	btrfs   defaults,x-gvfs-show 0 2

Have done this for years and years and years, it empowers me to blow away the system disk with a reinstall and my personal data is untouched.

Alas, the device the homedirs was one crashed. The gravity of this crash was that it would not mount on boot and so on a reboot I logged in and I had a default setup in a homedir that is on the root drive, So I did forensics on the crashed drive, recovered what I could, which was not 100% but close, and I played that over the top of a backup that was dated, perhaps 6 -12 months (so that whatever files may have been missing I had in an older version) and mounted as /home and rebooted.

All was good again. Almost. Most of my cinnamon configs blown away. I was runnning on Mint-X theme and am now on mint-Y (and getting used to it so haven't bothered any change there, but my spices/applets were some there some gone, I reinstalled them and reconfigured them and all so my sys tray looks like it used to and my taskbar almost like it did.

The main residual symptom is that whenever I reboot I have lost the menu items I added (I right-click the LM start button then click Edit menu and add items. Mostly appimages on a data drive. They are then available and I can right click them on the menu and Pin them to the taskbar and position them and all is pretty good. But then I reboot and it's all gone.

I can repeat this, have done a few times and have given up adding them. It's fair job and they keep diappearing.

The system summary:

$ inxi -Fz
System:
  Kernel: 6.8.0-59-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: Cinnamon v: 6.4.8 Distro: Linux Mint 22.1 Xia
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: All Series v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: MAXIMUS VII FORMULA v: Rev 1.xx
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 3503
    date: 04/18/2018
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-4790 bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache:
    L2: 1024 KiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 837 min/max: 800/4000 cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800
    5: 800 6: 800 7: 1100 8: 800
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP108 [GeForce GT 1030] driver: nvidia v: 570.133.07
  Device-2: Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
    type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
    loaded: nvidia unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa
    gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch resolution: 3840x2160~60Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: nvidia,swrast
    platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 570.133.07
    renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030/PCIe/SSE2
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 9 Series Family HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP108 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-3: Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
    type: USB
  API: ALSA v: k6.8.0-59-generic status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I218-V driver: e1000e
  IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: NetGear Managed Switch M4100 series M5300 M7100 series
    driver: cp210x type: USB
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 9.43 TiB used: 5.58 TiB (59.2%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Kingston model: SV300S37A240G size: 223.57 GiB
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Samsung model: SSD 830 Series size: 119.24 GiB
  ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EACS-00D6B1
    size: 931.51 GiB
  ID-4: /dev/sdd vendor: Western Digital model: WD40PURX-64AKYY0
    size: 3.64 TiB
  ID-5: /dev/sde vendor: Western Digital model: WD20EARX-00PASB0
    size: 1.82 TiB
  ID-6: /dev/sdf vendor: Western Digital model: WD33PURZ-85BWPY0
    size: 2.73 TiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 218.51 GiB used: 132.49 GiB (60.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 512 MiB used: 16.8 MiB (3.3%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-3: /home size: 119.24 GiB used: 51.76 GiB (43.4%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/sdb1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 1.79 GiB (89.3%) file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 46 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.29 GiB used: 17.51 GiB (56.0%)
  Processes: 530 Uptime: 3d 8h 46m Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.34

My best guess is there's a silent failure in writing something to persistent store. Which is why I think of this as a bug. Because whatever is happening I should have some feedback as to a problem, not silent failure. My best guess is that something somewhere is read-only but heck as part of the restore very clearly I did:

chown -R bernd:bernd /home/bernd
chmod -R o+r /home/bernd

but the homedir is old and I cleaned it some in this process, dropping all caches and tmps and such, but still it's large and so I'd really appreciate some guidance on debugging this, some insight into where the persistent store for these cinnamon settings is that I can check and test.

Steps to reproduce

Hard to say. I reproduce this by rebooting ;-). As in, lost my settings. But the event that triggered it was complex and best described as homedir upsets of unknown nature, but pretty recovered as best possible.

Expected behavior

That when I add menu items and pin them to the task bar they persist across reboots (as they always have).

Additional information

In case it helps a dump of setting (which I'm guessing is teh persistent store, but I'd love to be able to test retention if it is):

$ gsettings list-recursively org.cinnamon
org.cinnamon allow-other-notification-handlers false
org.cinnamon alttab-minimized-aware true
org.cinnamon alttab-switcher-delay 100
org.cinnamon alttab-switcher-enforce-primary-monitor false
org.cinnamon alttab-switcher-show-all-workspaces false
org.cinnamon alttab-switcher-style 'icons+thumbnails'$ gsettings list-recursively org.cinnamon
org.cinnamon allow-other-notification-handlers false
org.cinnamon alttab-minimized-aware true
org.cinnamon alttab-switcher-delay 100
org.cinnamon alttab-switcher-enforce-primary-monitor false
org.cinnamon alttab-switcher-show-all-workspaces false
org.cinnamon alttab-switcher-style 'icons+thumbnails'
org.cinnamon alttab-switcher-warp-mouse-pointer false
org.cinnamon app-menu-icon-name 'linuxmint-logo-ring-symbolic'
org.cinnamon app-menu-label ''
org.cinnamon applet-cache-updated 0
org.cinnamon bring-windows-to-current-workspace false
org.cinnamon center-warped-pointer true
org.cinnamon cinnamon-settings-advanced false
org.cinnamon command-history ['r']
org.cinnamon date-format 'YYYY-MM-DD'
org.cinnamon demands-attention-ignored-wm-classes @as []
org.cinnamon demands-attention-passthru-wm-classes ['gnome-screenshot', 'lxterminal', 'xfce4-terminal', 'firefox', 'libreoffice', 'soffice']
org.cinnamon desklet-cache-updated 0
org.cinnamon desklet-decorations 1
org.cinnamon desklet-snap true
org.cinnamon desklet-snap-interval 25
org.cinnamon desktop-effects true
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-change-size true
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-close 'traditional'
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-map 'traditional'
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-minimize 'traditional'
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-on-dialogs true
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-on-menus true
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-sizechange-effect 'scale'
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-sizechange-time 100
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-sizechange-transition 'easeInQuad'
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-workspace true
org.cinnamon desktop-layout ''
org.cinnamon development-tools true
org.cinnamon device-aliases @as []
org.cinnamon disabled-open-search-providers @as []
org.cinnamon edge-flip-delay 1000
org.cinnamon enable-app-monitoring true
org.cinnamon enable-edge-flip false
org.cinnamon enable-indicators false
org.cinnamon enable-nm-agent true
org.cinnamon enable-polkit-agent true
org.cinnamon enable-ssh-agent true
org.cinnamon enable-vfade true
org.cinnamon enabled-applets ['panel1:left:0:menu@cinnamon.org:0', 'panel1:left:1:separator@cinnamon.org:1', 'panel1:right:8:systray@cinnamon.org:3', 'panel1:right:9:xapp-status@cinnamon.org:4', 'panel1:right:10:notifications@cinnamon.org:5', 'panel1:right:11:printers@cinnamon.org:6', 'panel1:right:12:removable-drives@cinnamon.org:7', 'panel1:right:13:keyboard@cinnamon.org:8', 'panel1:right:14:favorites@cinnamon.org:9', 'panel1:right:15:network@cinnamon.org:10', 'panel1:right:16:sound@cinnamon.org:11', 'panel1:right:17:power@cinnamon.org:12', 'panel1:right:18:calendar@cinnamon.org:13', 'panel1:right:19:cornerbar@cinnamon.org:14', 'panel1:right:3:restart-cinnamon@kolle:15', 'panel1:right:6:sound-with-apps-volume@koutch:16', 'panel1:right:1:workspace-switcher@cinnamon.org:18', 'panel1:right:7:xrandr@cinnamon.org:23', 'panel1:left:2:grouped-window-list@cinnamon.org:29', 'panel1:right:2:force-quit@cinnamon.org:30', 'panel1:right:4:multicore-sys-monitor@ccadeptic23:33']
org.cinnamon enabled-desklets @as []
org.cinnamon enabled-extensions @as []
org.cinnamon enabled-search-providers @as []
org.cinnamon extension-cache-updated 0
org.cinnamon favorite-apps ['firefox.desktop', 'mintinstall.desktop', 'cinnamon-settings.desktop', 'xchat.desktop', 'org.gnome.Terminal.desktop', 'nemo.desktop']
org.cinnamon hotcorner-layout ['expo:false:0', 'scale:false:0', 'scale:false:0', 'desktop:false:0']
org.cinnamon hoverclick-action 'single'
org.cinnamon hoverclick-layout 'vertical::both'
org.cinnamon hoverclick-position ''
org.cinnamon lock-desklets false
org.cinnamon looking-glass-history @as []
org.cinnamon next-applet-id 35
org.cinnamon next-desklet-id 0
org.cinnamon no-adjacent-panel-barriers false
org.cinnamon number-workspaces 0
org.cinnamon overview-corner ['DEPRECATED']
org.cinnamon panel-edit-mode false
org.cinnamon panel-launchers ['DEPRECATED']
org.cinnamon panel-launchers-draggable true
org.cinnamon panel-scale-text-icons true
org.cinnamon panel-zone-icon-sizes '[{"panelId": 1, "left": 0, "center": 0, "right": 32}]'
org.cinnamon panel-zone-symbolic-icon-sizes '[{"panelId": 1, "left": 28, "center": 28, "right": 22}]'
org.cinnamon panel-zone-text-sizes '[{"panelId": 1, "left": 0.0, "center": 0.0, "right": 16.0}]'
org.cinnamon panels-autohide ['1:false']
org.cinnamon panels-enabled ['1:0:bottom']
org.cinnamon panels-height ['1:52']
org.cinnamon panels-hide-delay ['1:0']
org.cinnamon panels-show-delay ['1:0']
org.cinnamon prevent-focus-stealing false
org.cinnamon run-dialog-aliases @as []
org.cinnamon run-dialog-show-completions true
org.cinnamon saved-im-presence 1
org.cinnamon saved-session-presence 0
org.cinnamon show-media-keys-osd false
org.cinnamon show-snap-osd true
org.cinnamon show-tile-hud true
org.cinnamon startup-animation true
org.cinnamon startup-icon-name ''
org.cinnamon system-icon 'linuxmint-logo-ring-symbolic'
org.cinnamon window-effect-speed 1
org.cinnamon workspace-expo-view-as-grid false
org.cinnamon workspace-name-overrides ['DEPRECATED']
org.cinnamon workspace-osd-visible true
org.cinnamon.desklets.launcher launcher-list @as []
org.cinnamon.keyboard activation-mode 'on-demand'
org.cinnamon.keyboard keyboard-position 'top'
org.cinnamon.keyboard keyboard-size 3
org.cinnamon.keyboard keyboard-type 'tablet'
org.cinnamon.launcher check-frequency 300
org.cinnamon.launcher memory-limit 2048
org.cinnamon.launcher memory-limit-enabled true
org.cinnamon.recorder file-extension 'webm'
org.cinnamon.recorder framerate 15
org.cinnamon.recorder pipeline ''
org.cinnamon.sounds close-enabled false
org.cinnamon.sounds close-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/close.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds login-enabled true
org.cinnamon.sounds login-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/login.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds logout-enabled true
org.cinnamon.sounds logout-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/logout.ogg'
org.cinnamon.sounds map-enabled false
org.cinnamon.sounds map-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/map.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds maximize-enabled false
org.cinnamon.sounds maximize-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/maximize.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds minimize-enabled false
org.cinnamon.sounds minimize-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/minimize.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds notification-enabled false
org.cinnamon.sounds notification-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/notification.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds plug-enabled true
org.cinnamon.sounds plug-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/plug.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds switch-enabled true
org.cinnamon.sounds switch-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/switch.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds tile-enabled true
org.cinnamon.sounds tile-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/tile.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds unmaximize-enabled false
org.cinnamon.sounds unmaximize-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/unmaximize.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds unplug-enabled true
org.cinnamon.sounds unplug-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/unplug.oga'
org.cinnamon.theme gtk-version-scrollbar-multiplier 1.5
org.cinnamon.theme name 'Mint-Y-Dark-Sand'
org.cinnamon.theme symbolic-relative-size 0.67000000000000004
org.cinnamon.theme theme-cache-updated 0

org.cinnamon alttab-switcher-warp-mouse-pointer false
org.cinnamon app-menu-icon-name 'linuxmint-logo-ring-symbolic'
org.cinnamon app-menu-label ''
org.cinnamon applet-cache-updated 0
org.cinnamon bring-windows-to-current-workspace false
org.cinnamon center-warped-pointer true
org.cinnamon cinnamon-settings-advanced false
org.cinnamon command-history ['r']
org.cinnamon date-format 'YYYY-MM-DD'
org.cinnamon demands-attention-ignored-wm-classes @as []
org.cinnamon demands-attention-passthru-wm-classes ['gnome-screenshot', 'lxterminal', 'xfce4-terminal', 'firefox', 'libreoffice', 'soffice']
org.cinnamon desklet-cache-updated 0
org.cinnamon desklet-decorations 1
org.cinnamon desklet-snap true
org.cinnamon desklet-snap-interval 25
org.cinnamon desktop-effects true
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-change-size true
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-close 'traditional'
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-map 'traditional'
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-minimize 'traditional'
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-on-dialogs true
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-on-menus true
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-sizechange-effect 'scale'
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-sizechange-time 100
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-sizechange-transition 'easeInQuad'
org.cinnamon desktop-effects-workspace true
org.cinnamon desktop-layout ''
org.cinnamon development-tools true
org.cinnamon device-aliases @as []
org.cinnamon disabled-open-search-providers @as []
org.cinnamon edge-flip-delay 1000
org.cinnamon enable-app-monitoring true
org.cinnamon enable-edge-flip false
org.cinnamon enable-indicators false
org.cinnamon enable-nm-agent true
org.cinnamon enable-polkit-agent true
org.cinnamon enable-ssh-agent true
org.cinnamon enable-vfade true
org.cinnamon enabled-applets ['panel1:left:0:menu@cinnamon.org:0', 'panel1:left:1:separator@cinnamon.org:1', 'panel1:right:8:systray@cinnamon.org:3', 'panel1:right:9:xapp-status@cinnamon.org:4', 'panel1:right:10:notifications@cinnamon.org:5', 'panel1:right:11:printers@cinnamon.org:6', 'panel1:right:12:removable-drives@cinnamon.org:7', 'panel1:right:13:keyboard@cinnamon.org:8', 'panel1:right:14:favorites@cinnamon.org:9', 'panel1:right:15:network@cinnamon.org:10', 'panel1:right:16:sound@cinnamon.org:11', 'panel1:right:17:power@cinnamon.org:12', 'panel1:right:18:calendar@cinnamon.org:13', 'panel1:right:19:cornerbar@cinnamon.org:14', 'panel1:right:3:restart-cinnamon@kolle:15', 'panel1:right:6:sound-with-apps-volume@koutch:16', 'panel1:right:1:workspace-switcher@cinnamon.org:18', 'panel1:right:7:xrandr@cinnamon.org:23', 'panel1:left:2:grouped-window-list@cinnamon.org:29', 'panel1:right:2:force-quit@cinnamon.org:30', 'panel1:right:4:multicore-sys-monitor@ccadeptic23:33']
org.cinnamon enabled-desklets @as []
org.cinnamon enabled-extensions @as []
org.cinnamon enabled-search-providers @as []
org.cinnamon extension-cache-updated 0
org.cinnamon favorite-apps ['firefox.desktop', 'mintinstall.desktop', 'cinnamon-settings.desktop', 'xchat.desktop', 'org.gnome.Terminal.desktop', 'nemo.desktop']
org.cinnamon hotcorner-layout ['expo:false:0', 'scale:false:0', 'scale:false:0', 'desktop:false:0']
org.cinnamon hoverclick-action 'single'
org.cinnamon hoverclick-layout 'vertical::both'
org.cinnamon hoverclick-position ''
org.cinnamon lock-desklets false
org.cinnamon looking-glass-history @as []
org.cinnamon next-applet-id 35
org.cinnamon next-desklet-id 0
org.cinnamon no-adjacent-panel-barriers false
org.cinnamon number-workspaces 0
org.cinnamon overview-corner ['DEPRECATED']
org.cinnamon panel-edit-mode false
org.cinnamon panel-launchers ['DEPRECATED']
org.cinnamon panel-launchers-draggable true
org.cinnamon panel-scale-text-icons true
org.cinnamon panel-zone-icon-sizes '[{"panelId": 1, "left": 0, "center": 0, "right": 32}]'
org.cinnamon panel-zone-symbolic-icon-sizes '[{"panelId": 1, "left": 28, "center": 28, "right": 22}]'
org.cinnamon panel-zone-text-sizes '[{"panelId": 1, "left": 0.0, "center": 0.0, "right": 16.0}]'
org.cinnamon panels-autohide ['1:false']
org.cinnamon panels-enabled ['1:0:bottom']
org.cinnamon panels-height ['1:52']
org.cinnamon panels-hide-delay ['1:0']
org.cinnamon panels-show-delay ['1:0']
org.cinnamon prevent-focus-stealing false
org.cinnamon run-dialog-aliases @as []
org.cinnamon run-dialog-show-completions true
org.cinnamon saved-im-presence 1
org.cinnamon saved-session-presence 0
org.cinnamon show-media-keys-osd false
org.cinnamon show-snap-osd true
org.cinnamon show-tile-hud true
org.cinnamon startup-animation true
org.cinnamon startup-icon-name ''
org.cinnamon system-icon 'linuxmint-logo-ring-symbolic'
org.cinnamon window-effect-speed 1
org.cinnamon workspace-expo-view-as-grid false
org.cinnamon workspace-name-overrides ['DEPRECATED']
org.cinnamon workspace-osd-visible true
org.cinnamon.desklets.launcher launcher-list @as []
org.cinnamon.keyboard activation-mode 'on-demand'
org.cinnamon.keyboard keyboard-position 'top'
org.cinnamon.keyboard keyboard-size 3
org.cinnamon.keyboard keyboard-type 'tablet'
org.cinnamon.launcher check-frequency 300
org.cinnamon.launcher memory-limit 2048
org.cinnamon.launcher memory-limit-enabled true
org.cinnamon.recorder file-extension 'webm'
org.cinnamon.recorder framerate 15
org.cinnamon.recorder pipeline ''
org.cinnamon.sounds close-enabled false
org.cinnamon.sounds close-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/close.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds login-enabled true
org.cinnamon.sounds login-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/login.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds logout-enabled true
org.cinnamon.sounds logout-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/logout.ogg'
org.cinnamon.sounds map-enabled false
org.cinnamon.sounds map-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/map.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds maximize-enabled false
org.cinnamon.sounds maximize-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/maximize.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds minimize-enabled false
org.cinnamon.sounds minimize-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/minimize.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds notification-enabled false
org.cinnamon.sounds notification-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/notification.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds plug-enabled true
org.cinnamon.sounds plug-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/plug.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds switch-enabled true
org.cinnamon.sounds switch-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/switch.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds tile-enabled true
org.cinnamon.sounds tile-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/tile.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds unmaximize-enabled false
org.cinnamon.sounds unmaximize-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/unmaximize.oga'
org.cinnamon.sounds unplug-enabled true
org.cinnamon.sounds unplug-file '/usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds/unplug.oga'
org.cinnamon.theme gtk-version-scrollbar-multiplier 1.5
org.cinnamon.theme name 'Mint-Y-Dark-Sand'
org.cinnamon.theme symbolic-relative-size 0.67000000000000004
org.cinnamon.theme theme-cache-updated 0

Start by checking the Cinnamon settings exposed through gsettings and the /etc/fstab /home mount described in the report. Reproduce the menu and taskbar changes, reboot, and determine whether the restored home directory or Cinnamon settings fail to retain them; done means identifying the persistence failure and providing an actionable error or fix location.