Dconf, can read value but not write it (given address is empty)

n0tis

7/19/24, 9:35 AM

on ubuntu 20.04, this was working well to tweak my setting via cli:

dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/interface/text-scaling-factor 0.9

however on ubuntu 22.04, I can only read the value

$ dconf read /org/gnome/desktop/interface/text-scaling-factor    
0.94999999999999996

$ dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/interface/text-scaling-factor 0.9
error: The given address is empty

Any idea how to solve ? Gnome tweaks can modify it, but I want to do it via cli

1 + 0

gnome

dconf

tweak

22.04

Score:1

Ubuntu

codlord

7/19/24, 10:05 AM

What is the result of echo $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS

If this environment variable is not set then try setting it with:

export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/$UID/bus

Then try your dconf write again.

+ 6

n0tis

7/19/24, 10:14 AM

it works, variable was indeed empty, thank you !!! would it be wise to put this in my `.bashrc` ?

codlord

7/19/24, 10:24 AM

@n0tis I guess that would work, but not sure why it is not already set, on all my PC's/terminals it's set by default. In your case is this just a normal GUI terminal session as a non-root user? Or are you logged in remotely via VNC or SSH or something like that?

n0tis

7/19/24, 10:33 AM

This my my local machine (not connected via ssh/VNC). Very interrestingly, the variable is correctly set by default in virtual terminal, but not in my usual termnial (accessed via gnome + terminator). This bugs appeared after my update from `20.02` to `22.04`

codlord

7/19/24, 10:42 AM

I'm on 22.04.2 LTS. I did see something in another post about certain `dbus` packages which should be installed, when I do `apt list --installed |grep ^dbus` it shows `dbus`, `dbus-x11` and `dbus-user-session`. So maybe check you have same packages installed? But I really don't know what all this stuff means/does, I only answered as I has a similar issue as you when writing a backup script which runs as cron - in that case the environment variable was not set and I had to do it in the script.

n0tis

7/19/24, 10:44 AM

thank you, I do have the same package installed, I'll dig a bit more and maybe open another post about this question

n0tis

7/19/24, 10:52 AM

solved, it was terminator config issue, because I did this trick a few weeks ago : https://askubuntu.com/questions/1189243/why-is-terminator-sending-double-characters-to-terminals-that-arent-selected-in thanks for your help

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Dconf, can read value but not write it (given address is empty)

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.