Gedit opens only when opened twice after every fresh login

Question

I am having a weird kind of problem after having tried gnome desktop and switching back to unity in Ubuntu 14.04. I have tried to uninstall all the unnecessary gnome packages.

Now after this, I have been observing that after the first login, gedit opens only after opening it twice. But once it is opened and closed in that login, it behaves normally. I wonder what is tweaked here ?

Edit #1:

Error message when executing gedit in terminal

** (gedit:3422): CRITICAL **: file log.c: line 980: unexpected error: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.gnome.zeitgeist.Engine: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ExecFailed: Failed to execute program /usr/bin/zeitgeist-daemon: Success (g-dbus-error-quark, 23)

Edit #2:

Output of apt-cache policy libzeitgeist0.8-cil zeitgeist-datahub libzeitgeist-1.0-1 gir1.2-zeitgeist-2.0 zeitgeist-core python-zeitgeist zeitgeist-explorer zeitgeist zeitgeist-extension-fts libzeitgeist-2.0-0 libqzeitgeist0

harish@harish-desktop:~$ apt-cache policy libzeitgeist0.8-cil zeitgeist-datahub libzeitgeist-1.0-1 gir1.2-zeitgeist-2.0 zeitgeist-core python-zeitgeist zeitgeist-explorer zeitgeist zeitgeist-extension-fts libzeitgeist-2.0-0 libqzeitgeist0
libzeitgeist0.8-cil:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 0.8.0.0-5
  Version table:
     0.8.0.0-5 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe amd64 Packages
zeitgeist-datahub:
  Installed: 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1
  Candidate: 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1
  Version table:
 *** 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.9.14-0ubuntu4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
libzeitgeist-1.0-1:
  Installed: 0.3.18-1ubuntu2
  Candidate: 0.3.18-1ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 0.3.18-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
gir1.2-zeitgeist-2.0:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1
  Version table:
     0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
     0.9.14-0ubuntu4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
zeitgeist-core:
  Installed: 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1
  Candidate: 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1
  Version table:
 *** 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.9.14-0ubuntu4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
python-zeitgeist:
  Installed: 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1
  Candidate: 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1
  Version table:
 *** 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.9.14-0ubuntu4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
zeitgeist-explorer:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 0.2-1
  Version table:
     0.2-1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe amd64 Packages
zeitgeist:
  Installed: 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1
  Candidate: 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1
  Version table:
 *** 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.9.14-0ubuntu4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
zeitgeist-extension-fts:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: (none)
  Version table:
libzeitgeist-2.0-0:
  Installed: 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1
  Candidate: 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1
  Version table:
 *** 0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.9.14-0ubuntu4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
libqzeitgeist0:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 0.7.0-1build1
  Version table:
     0.7.0-1build1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe amd64 Packages

Edit #3:

NOTE: This is only a simulation!
      apt-get needs root privileges for real execution.
      Keep also in mind that locking is deactivated,
      so don't depend on the relevance to the real current situation!
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  apturl apturl-common empathy-common folks-common gedit-common
  gir1.2-gtksource-3.0 gstreamer1.0-nice libavahi-gobject0 libfarstream-0.2-2
  libfolks25 libgtksourceview-3.0-1 libgtksourceview-3.0-common
  libmission-control-plugins0 libpococrypto11 libpocofoundation11 libpoconet11
  libpoconetssl11 libpocoutil11 libpocoxml11 libtelepathy-farstream3
  libtelepathy-logger3 libwhoopsie-preferences0 linux-image-4.4.0-42-generic
  linux-image-extra-4.4.0-42-generic signon-plugin-password telepathy-gabble
  telepathy-haze telepathy-logger telepathy-mission-control-5 telepathy-salut
  whoopsie-preferences
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  account-plugin-aim* account-plugin-jabber* account-plugin-salut*
  account-plugin-yahoo* activity-log-manager*
  activity-log-manager-control-center* empathy* gedit* libfolks-telepathy25*
  libzeitgeist-1.0-1* libzeitgeist-2.0-0* mcp-account-manager-uoa* nautilus*
  nautilus-sendto* nautilus-sendto-empathy* nautilus-share* python-zeitgeist*
  rhythmbox-plugin-zeitgeist* totem-plugins* ubuntu-desktop* unity*
  unity-lens-applications* unity-lens-files* unity-lens-video*
  unity-scope-video-remote* unity-tweak-tool* zeitgeist* zeitgeist-core*
  zeitgeist-datahub*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 29 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Purg account-plugin-aim [3.8.6-0ubuntu9.2]
Purg account-plugin-jabber [3.8.6-0ubuntu9.2]
Purg account-plugin-salut [3.8.6-0ubuntu9.2]
Purg account-plugin-yahoo [3.8.6-0ubuntu9.2]
Purg activity-log-manager-control-center [0.9.7-0ubuntu14.1]
Purg activity-log-manager [0.9.7-0ubuntu14.1]
Purg nautilus-sendto-empathy [3.8.6-0ubuntu9.2]
Purg mcp-account-manager-uoa [3.8.6-0ubuntu9.2]
Purg empathy [3.8.6-0ubuntu9.2]
Purg ubuntu-desktop [1.325]
Purg gedit [3.10.4-0ubuntu4]
Purg libfolks-telepathy25 [0.9.5-1ubuntu5]
Purg nautilus-share [0.7.3-1ubuntu5]
Purg nautilus-sendto [3.6.1-2ubuntu1]
Purg nautilus [1:3.10.1-0ubuntu9.11]
Purg unity-scope-video-remote [0.3.15+13.10.20130920-0ubuntu1]
Purg libzeitgeist-1.0-1 [0.3.18-1ubuntu2] [unity-lens-video:amd64 unity-lens-applications:amd64 ]
Purg unity-tweak-tool [0.0.6ubuntu1] [unity-lens-video:amd64 unity-lens-applications:amd64 ]
Purg unity [7.2.6+14.04.20160408-0ubuntu1] [unity-lens-video:amd64 unity-lens-applications:amd64 ]
Purg zeitgeist [0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1] [unity-lens-video:amd64 unity-lens-applications:amd64 ]
Purg zeitgeist-datahub [0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1] [unity-lens-video:amd64 unity-lens-applications:amd64 ]
Purg libzeitgeist-2.0-0 [0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1] [zeitgeist-core:amd64 unity-lens-video:amd64 totem-plugins:amd64 unity-lens-applications:amd64 unity-lens-files:amd64 ]
Purg python-zeitgeist [0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1] [zeitgeist-core:amd64 unity-lens-video:amd64 totem-plugins:amd64 unity-lens-applications:amd64 unity-lens-files:amd64 ]
Purg rhythmbox-plugin-zeitgeist [3.0.2-0ubuntu2] [zeitgeist-core:amd64 unity-lens-video:amd64 totem-plugins:amd64 unity-lens-applications:amd64 unity-lens-files:amd64 ]
Purg totem-plugins [3.10.1-1ubuntu4] [zeitgeist-core:amd64 unity-lens-video:amd64 unity-lens-applications:amd64 unity-lens-files:amd64 ]
Purg unity-lens-applications [7.1.0+13.10.20131011-0ubuntu2] [zeitgeist-core:amd64 unity-lens-video:amd64 unity-lens-files:amd64 ]
Purg unity-lens-files [7.1.0+13.10.20130920-0ubuntu1] [zeitgeist-core:amd64 unity-lens-video:amd64 ]
Purg unity-lens-video [0.3.15+13.10.20130920-0ubuntu1] [zeitgeist-core:amd64 ]
Purg zeitgeist-core [0.9.14-0ubuntu4.1]

Answer 1

That error is related to zeitgeist service (user activity tracker). DBus was unable to spawn it. Either /usr/bin/zeitgeist-daemon or one of its configuration was removed or corrupted.

Anyway, quick path to fix problems, reinstall all related packages

sudo apt-get install --reinstall  zeitgeist-datahub libzeitgeist-1.0-1 \
zeitgeist-core python-zeitgeist zeitgeist libzeitgeist-2.0-0 nautilus

Answer 2

So what I gathered here is that you added another desktop environment on Ubuntu? I'm sorry to say this but if this is indeed the case, you will have to reinstall Linux. For whatever reason, adding Desktop Environments seems to break Linux. This site should provide you with information on things you should avoid doing in Linux.

https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/fatalmistakes

I myself made that very same mistake when I tried to install the KDE desktop environment on Linux Mint 18; which uses the desktop environment, Cinnamon. The end result caused the OS to constantly change resolutions for whatever reason and when it wasn't doing that, the screen would go fuzzy. I ultimately chose to use Ubuntu, but I wasn't a fan of the standard Ubuntu look, so I went with Kubuntu.