#1121237 lightdm: LightDM fails graphical login after removing gnome-keyring

Package:
lightdm
Source:
lightdm
Description:
simple display manager
Submitter:
Tedson
Date:
2025-11-28 15:25:02 UTC
Severity:
normal
Tags:
#1121237#5
Date:
2025-11-23 14:09:12 UTC
From:
To:
Dear Maintainer,

Note: This report was written in English with the help of an automated translation tool.

Subject: LightDM fails to authenticate after removing gnome-keyring (Debian 13 Trixie, Raspberry Pi 4)

After removing the package "gnome-keyring", LightDM stopped accepting the correct user password on the graphical login screen. TTY login still works normally. The issue persists even after reinstalling gnome-keyring or removing and reinstalling LightDM completely. Multiple methods were tried to restore normal login, including guidance from ChatGPT, but none resolved the failure.

Environment:
- Debian 13 Trixie (arm64)
- Raspberry Pi 4
- Fully updated as of 23 Nov 2025
- Display manager: LightDM

Steps to reproduce:
1. System working normally.
2. Run: sudo apt remove gnome-keyring
3. Reboot.
4. On the graphical login screen, type the correct password → instant "authentication failed".

Expected result:
Graphical login should authenticate normally.

Actual result:
Password is rejected immediately.
TTY login works.

Relevant journalctl messages:
lightdm[1213]: PAM _pam_load_conf_file: unable to open config for /etc/pam.d/system-login
lightdm[1213]: PAM _pam_load_conf_file: unable to open config for /etc/pam.d/system-local-login
lightdm[1213]: PAM _pam_load_conf_file: unable to open config for /etc/pam.d/system-password

Other boot messages (possibly unrelated):
- 90-alsa-restore.rules warnings
- motion cannot create /var/log/motion
- apache2.service fails to start

Notes:
Attempts to restore the login functionality via different methods, including reinstalling packages and consulting guides, were unsuccessful. This suggests the issue may be deeper in LightDM’s PAM handling after gnome-keyring removal.

Request:
Please verify if removing gnome-keyring affects LightDM’s PAM configuration or switches it to a non-Debian PAM profile.

Thank you.

#1121237#10
Date:
2025-11-23 16:35:10 UTC
From:
To:
control: tag -1 unreproducible moreinfo

Hi,

thanks for the bug reporting, unfortunately I have no idea what could cause
that. Please provide logs (from /var/log/lightdm and /var/log/auth.log) and
the exact steps you did between the "working" and "non working" situations.

Regards,

#1121237#17
Date:
2025-11-23 16:35:10 UTC
From:
To:
control: tag -1 unreproducible moreinfo

Hi,

thanks for the bug reporting, unfortunately I have no idea what could cause
that. Please provide logs (from /var/log/lightdm and /var/log/auth.log) and
the exact steps you did between the "working" and "non working" situations.

Regards,

#1121237#22
Date:
2025-11-25 17:27:39 UTC
From:
To:
*Note: This message was written in English using an automated translation
tool.*

Good afternoon.

I performed a fresh installation only to reproduce the issue.

Steps:

   -

   Today, 24/11/2025 at 06:00, I flashed the Debian 13 64-bit system onto
   the SD card using rpi-image.
   -

   Updated the system: sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
   -

   Rebooted.
   -

   System working normally with autologin. Ran another update: sudo apt
   update && sudo apt upgrade -y && sudo apt autoremove -y
   -

   Rebooted.
   -

   System still normal with autologin. Then I ran: sudo apt remove
   gnome-keyring
   -

   Rebooted.
   -

   System no longer performed autologin and the correct password failed on
   the graphical login screen.
   -

   Logged in through SSH.
   -

   Installed reportbug: sudo apt update && sudo apt install reportbug and
   configured it.

I collected the requested files and some additional ones.

I also forgot to mention that about 7 days ago this same problem occurred
on two other Raspberry Pi 4 systems. I performed several tests at the time
(for a personal project), and during those tests the same login failure
appeared, but I hadn’t used sudo apt remove gnome-keyring on those systems.
Since I could not understand the cause and could not reproduce the issue, I
reinstalled the system on both.


Em dom., 23 de nov. de 2025 às 13:35, Yves-Alexis Perez <corsac@debian.org>
escreveu:

#1121237#27
Date:
2025-11-26 07:29:17 UTC
From:
To:
Where there other packages removed along gnome-keyring?
#1121237#32
Date:
2025-11-26 09:56:50 UTC
From:
To:
Hi Tedson,

lightdm-gtk-greater recommends polkitd.
is that installed here?

Regards,
Peter

#1121237#37
Date:
2025-11-28 15:09:58 UTC
From:
To:
Hi Peter,

Yes, polkitd is installed. After removing gnome-keyring, all polkit-related
packages remain installed:

- polkitd 126-2
- pkexec 126-2
- libpolkit-agent-1-0
- libpolkit-gobject-1-0
- lxpolkit
- mate-polkit, mate-polkit-bin, mate-polkit-common

I hope the attached items can help.

(automatic translation)

Em qua., 26 de nov. de 2025 às 06:56, Peter B <peter@pblackman.plus.com>
escreveu:

#1121237#42
Date:
2025-11-28 15:15:46 UTC
From:
To:
Hi Yves-Alexis,

Yes. When I removed gnome-keyring, three additional packages were removed
automatically:

- rpd-common (1.13)
- rpd-wayland-core (1.13)
- rpd-x-core (1.13)

This matches both /var/log/apt/history.log and the terminal output from apt
remove gnome-keyring -y.

(automatic translation)


Em qua., 26 de nov. de 2025 às 04:29, Yves-Alexis Perez <corsac@debian.org>
escreveu:

#1121237#47
Date:
2025-11-28 15:17:29 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,

I'm sorry but those packages don't seem to be in Debian. Are you actually
using another distribution?
Regards,

#1121237#52
Date:
2025-11-28 15:23:51 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,

I am using the official Raspberry Pi image, but it identifies itself as
pure Debian 13 (Trixie). Here is the system info:

cat /etc/os-release:
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="13"
VERSION="13 (trixie)"
VERSION_CODENAME=trixie
DEBIAN_VERSION_FULL=13.2
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

It is Debian-based, but it includes Raspberry-Pi-specific packages such as
rpd-common, rpd-wayland-core and rpd-x-core, which explains why those
packages are not present in standard Debian repositories.

(automatic translation)

[image: image.png]



Em sex., 28 de nov. de 2025 às 12:17, Yves-Alexis Perez <corsac@debian.org>
escreveu: