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Changes via “gsettings set” for GNOME animations have to be restored after every boot (and require toggling between values) on Ubuntu 20.04

um flag
caw

I’m turning GNOME animations off via the following command in the terminal:

gsettings set "org.gnome.desktop.interface" "enable-animations" "false"

This works the very first time. After that, after every fresh boot, the effect is gone. I have to repeat changing the setting. And that’s not even enough:

Just repeating the same command is not sufficient. I first have to invert the setting, then put in the setting that I actually want again:

gsettings set "org.gnome.desktop.interface" "enable-animations" "true"
gsettings set "org.gnome.desktop.interface" "enable-animations" "false"

The above is what I need after every boot. Why is that?

How I see the results? In the “gedit” text editor, smooth scrolling depends on animations being enabled.

Edit 1: Where can I see the (lack of) effect from this option after a reboot? In gedit (long text document) and Nautilus (longer list of folders and files in default view), smooth scrolling is disabled immediately after setting the option, but is enabled again after a reboot. On the contrary, in the “Applications” list opened from the dock, the open/close animation for the list remains disabled after a reboot, and smooth scrolling in the list remains disabled as well.

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vanadium avatar
cn flag
vanadium
1) The setting should be remembered. Maybe a permissions problem in your user account? To debug, temporarily create a fresh account and check whether the issue also occurs there. 2) Smooth scrolling should not depend on the setting for animations. It may be useful to include some info on your hardware and graphics card.
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um flag
caw
Thanks, @vanadium! Regarding (1): The first time I had executed `gsettings` on the machine (earlier), I had unintentionally used `sudo`, which caused problems because of the `DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS` env variable and I think the error message was “failed to commit changes to dconf”. I guessed that could have caused permission problems, but I can’t find any problems in my home folder. Apart from that, the temporary second account, which you suggested, has the same problem as my first account: Applying the setting works immediately, but after a reboot, the effect is gone.
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um flag
caw
Regarding (2): Are you sure it shouldn’t? I found it in https://askubuntu.com/questions/903160/turn-off-smooth-scrolling-in-gtk3 and https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gedit/-/issues/42 and apparently it had that effect for years. The first link (question) is from 4 years ago. But I have just found another question here (where you also responded) and one answer describes exactly my problem (i.e. that setting being lost after reboot) – it’s 6.5 years old: https://askubuntu.com/a/562870 It references a bug report for Fedora that is 8 years old: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=971677
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um flag
caw
That workaround for Fedora from 6.5 to 8 years ago didn’t work on my Ubuntu 20.04. I have an AMD graphics card, use X11 and Gnome 3.36.8, and have fractional scaling enabled.
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vanadium avatar
cn flag
vanadium
Regardng 1) you likely found the solution yourself: you used `sudo` one time too much, so likely some xml files have the wrong permissions. You changes cannot be written and thus are not remembered.
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um flag
caw
No, checking the permissions for all the related directories and files was, of course, the very first thing I did back then. I couldn’t find *any* directory or file for gsettings or dconf with wrong permissions. Moreover, I think the `sudo gsettings set` call fails due to the missing `DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS` env variable, so it probably does not even reach a stage where wrong permissions or files would be written. Finally, the value that I set *is* actually preserved, it’s just that its *effect* is gone. So the value is certainly properly stored by gsettings.
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um flag
caw
Finally, other `gsettings` values are properly preserved across reboots.
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vanadium avatar
cn flag
vanadium
Still, gsettings are scattered over individual files, so a permission issue is still not excluded. Next thing to check could be extensions: if you have custom extensions, turn them all off to see whether the issue persists. Can you confirm the issue is not there in a fresh account?
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um flag
caw
Thanks. I thought all settings were stored in a single file, and thus this would exclude one possible cause. As I said earlier, I can *not* confirm that a fresh account solves the problem. Even in a fresh account, the same problem occurs: After a reboot, the effect from the animation setting is gone. Installed extensions are those installed by default: `desktop-icons@csoriano`, `[email protected]`, `[email protected]`.
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um flag
caw
The file `~/.config/dconf/user` is owned by my user and has the permissions `0664`. The directories `~/.config/dconf/` and `~/.config/` are owned by my user and have the permissions `0700`.
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jpbrain avatar
ca flag
jpbrain
hello @caw, Do you have installed the gnome-tweak-tool? I am thinking that the only explanation is that some process is changing it back.
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um flag
caw
@jpbrain Thanks. I have not. The `gnome-tweak-tool` is not installed on my machine. In addition, when I query the value via `gsettings get` after a reboot, it’s still correct. It’s just that the effect is gone. That’s why I have to change it and then revert it back to restore the effect.
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jpbrain avatar
ca flag
jpbrain
@cav Then it is not a gsettings issue any more. Is how we get the effect back if gsettings is ok? right?
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um flag
caw
@jpbrain Getting the effect back involves toggling the value once via `gsettings set`, since simply repeating the value is not enough. Does `gsettings set` have side effects (for specific keys)? Or can applications listen to `gsettings` changing values in the database? One of the two most be true, I guess, otherwise the effect could not immediately be seen in gedit while a later reading of the (correct) value after a reboot is not sufficient for the effect.
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jpbrain avatar
ca flag
jpbrain
@cav Well you could add the two lines to your .bashrc on your account, but does not seem to be a clean solution. It is a work around until we figure out the solution.
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starkus avatar
de flag
starkus
When the system is up and running - does `ALT + F2` and `r` lets the system fall back to the correct set gsettings?
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um flag
caw
@starkus Thanks. That command, while seemingly restarting the Gnome Shell, does not have any effect. But I’ve noticed that the animations do indeed remain disabled in the “All applications” menu that you can open from the dock. The animation during opening/closing that list of applications, and the animation while scrolling through the list, both remain disabled. So is my problem a gedit-specific problem? Since I don’t touch gedit or its configurations directly, the `gsettings set` call must thus either have side effects or active listeners, as I said before. Right?
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um flag
caw
Sorry, in Nautilus (list of folders and files in default view), the setting’s effect is still lost after a reboot. Just as in gedit. Smooth scrolling is enabled again after a reboot, while disabled directly after setting the option. So it’s *not* specific to gedit.
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