Debian Bug report logs - #879906
gnome-session: freezes after start when network is up but under captive portal

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Cyrille Chépélov <cyrille@chepelov.org>

To: submit@bugs.debian.org

Subject: gnome-session: freezes after start when network is up but under captive portal

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2017 08:32:57 +0200

Package: gnome-session
Version: 3.24.1-2
Severity: important

Dear Maintainer,

When starting a session with (wifi) network up **but** locked out of 
actual connectivity (a situation which happens in many "free" wifi spaces),
gnome-session will accept the logon, show a grey background with a mouse 
(but not the specified screen background) and sit idle.

Steps to reproduce:
  - purchase a return SNCF high-speed train ticket from Paris to Lyon
  - take the Paris→Lyon train
  - connect to their wifi ("_SNCF_WIFI_INOUI")
  - go to the captive portal page, and authenticate using your train 
ticket reference & name
  - when in Lyon, shut the laptop down entirely

  - sit down on the return train Lyon→Paris
  - start the laptop
  - attempt to log in.
     ** in background, Network-Manager will immediately reconnect to 
_SNCF_WIFI_INOUI, which will deny service (and lie over DNS) until the 
user has
        visited the captive portal and entered the train ticket 
reference & name
     ** user cannot visit as gnome-session will freeze (with mouse 
active) and not leave a chance to start a browser
     ** user cannot use links or another text-mode browser as the 
captive portal will reject it.

This situation can be reproduced in many similar settings, including 
cybercafes, airports, co-working spaces.

(annoying) Workaround:
   * start the laptop
   * switch to the text-mode console
   * "rfkill block" out the wifi interface
   * log into gnome-session
   * unblock the wifi, start firefox, log into the captive portal

Thanks in advance


-- System Information:
Debian Release: buster/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (800, 'testing'), (600, 'unstable'), (400, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 4.13.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_FR.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), 
LANGUAGE=fr_FR.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages gnome-session depends on:
ii  gnome-session-bin      3.24.1-2
ii  gnome-session-common   3.24.1-2
ii  gnome-settings-daemon  3.24.3-1
ii  gnome-shell            3.22.3-3

gnome-session recommends no packages.

Versions of packages gnome-session suggests:
ii  desktop-base      9.0.5
ii  gnome-keyring     3.20.1-1
ii  gnome-user-guide  3.26.1.1-1

-- no debconf information
(END)

Message #10 received at 879906@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Cyrille Chépélov <cyrille@chepelov.org>

To: 879906@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: gnome-session: freezes after start when network is up but under captive portal

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2017 07:12:30 +0100

Followup-For: Bug #879906
Package: gnome-session
Version: 3.26.1-1

Dear Maintainer,

The bug is still reproducible under GNOME 3.26.1, under the exact same 
conditions (including the Paris→Lyon TGV route), and so is the 
(inconvenient) workaround.

Cheers,

    -- Cyrille


-- System Information:
Debian Release: buster/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (800, 'testing'), (600, 'unstable'), (400, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 4.13.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_FR.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), 
LANGUAGE=fr_FR.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages gnome-session depends on:
ii  gnome-session-bin      3.26.1-1
ii  gnome-session-common   3.26.1-1
ii  gnome-settings-daemon  3.26.1-2
ii  gnome-shell            3.26.1-3

gnome-session recommends no packages.

Versions of packages gnome-session suggests:
ii  desktop-base      9.0.5
ii  gnome-keyring     3.20.1-1
ii  gnome-user-guide  3.26.1.1-1

Message #15 received at 879906@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Jeremy Bicha <jbicha@ubuntu.com>

To: Cyrille Chépélov <cyrille@chepelov.org>, 879906@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#879906: gnome-session: freezes after start when network is up but under captive portal

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2017 07:55:27 -0400

On Thu, Nov 2, 2017 at 2:12 AM, Cyrille Chépélov <cyrille@chepelov.org> wrote:
> The bug is still reproducible under GNOME 3.26.1, under the exact same
> conditions (including the Paris→Lyon TGV route), and so is the
> (inconvenient) workaround.

Do you have network-manager-config-connectivity-debian installed?

Thanks,
Jeremy Bicha

Message #20 received at 879906@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Cyrille Chépélov <cyrille@chepelov.org>

To: Jeremy Bicha <jbicha@ubuntu.com>, 879906@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#879906: gnome-session: freezes after start when network is up but under captive portal

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2017 13:11:48 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Le 02/11/2017 à 12:55, Jeremy Bicha a écrit :
> On Thu, Nov 2, 2017 at 2:12 AM, Cyrille Chépélov <cyrille@chepelov.org> wrote:
>> The bug is still reproducible under GNOME 3.26.1, under the exact same
>> conditions (including the Paris→Lyon TGV route), and so is the
>> (inconvenient) workaround.
> Do you have network-manager-config-connectivity-debian installed?
>
it wasn't (indeed), and is installed now. My return trip is tomorrow 
night (now+36 hours); furthermore I'll test in a different environment 
tonight where this was reliably reproduced, and will report.

If confirmed, this could be downgraded into a UI rather than important 
bug. /Possibly/ one would need to take into account a user's lack of 
willingness to hit a Debian server at each unsuspend to still avoid 
freezing, but as far as I'm concerned this is promising.

Thanks for the trick!

    -- Cyrille

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #25 received at 879906-done@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Jeremy Bícha <jbicha@debian.org>

To: 948356-done@bugs.debian.org, 901429-done@bugs.debian.org, 882662-done@bugs.debian.org, 879906-done@bugs.debian.org, 861356-done@bugs.debian.org, 819898-done@bugs.debian.org, 810211-done@bugs.debian.org, 791389-done@bugs.debian.org, 787218-done@bugs.debian.org, 787087-done@bugs.debian.org, 781922-done@bugs.debian.org, 781049-done@bugs.debian.org, 758933-done@bugs.debian.org, 750058-done@bugs.debian.org, 748307-done@bugs.debian.org

Subject: closing old gnome-session bugs

Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2025 17:53:09 -0500

There have been many changes to Debian since this bug was originally
reported. If you are still experiencing this issue with Debian 13 (or
with Debian 12 or Testing or Unstable), please report a new bug.

Thank you,
Jeremy Bícha

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