Arch Linux User Repository

Because the origin source code does not support upstream glib2, this package delivers statically compiled glib2 2.74.6 within binary starting from 21-1. Please give any feedback if it does not work.

Can someone downgrade glib and then modify the openvpn makefile with -static in the linker options so that way it just becomes part of the bin? I had path issues when I tried and couldn't quite figure out how options were passed from the PKGBUILD -> bootstrap -> makefile. I need another few hours of tinkering to get it to work but won't be able to dedicate the time for another few days, hoping someone can get to it first, if not I'll post the instructions and then hopefully someone can merge it in for everyone.

Not sure it's related to the issue others are having with glib2 but for about a year I've had to use a downgraded version of protobuf since openpvn3 does not work with newer versions for some reason. It also segfaults early so cannot do any logging.

Upgrading to 20-1 doesn't resolve the issue. Downgrading glib2 still the only way to run it.

I know this doesn't solve what's going on with OpenVPN3, but I had to find a solution for my wife's work from home days. So, I swallowed my pride and dare I say it - created a bootable flash drive with Windows 10 and an OpenVPN3 client on it. It kept my Endeavour OS system intact, but easily solved our problem. It works great and boots up quick.

https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/

When I downgraded glib2 to 2.74.6, I couldn't use pacman or yay to update since timeshift would crash before updating.

To get around this you will need to revert the downgrade by running. sudo SKIP_AUTOSNAP=1 pacman -S glib2

During the downgrade if you chose to ignore the package then you will need to revert that too.
sudo vim /etc/pacman.conf You should see glib2 mentioned near the top under options.

@stfm5 I totally agree with you. In my case, the problem seemed to be related to the configuration on the OpenVPN server. So, I focused my solution on that, and it could be useful for someone else too!

By the way, I created a Python script based on your suggestion. However, it seems like I need to use sudo privileges to downgrade with pacman -U ...version2.74.1 and make my file easier and add a revert button. Unfortunately, I couldn't accomplish it the way I wanted to in the limited time I had. It is working but combining with console... If I have more time, I will probably end up doing it the way that suits me best. For now, it's easier to do it via the console.

@draganp

When I got the error, I first tried downgrading openvpn by itself, but that didn't seem to fix the problem on my end. The glib2 downgrading solution is the only reliable way that I found that gets the vpn to work. But from what I can tell, this package is outdated and a new version of openvpn3 is available on github, so it is possible that this issue resolved in the new stable build.

EDIT: I'm running manjaro on the affected PC, not turned on right now to check the right version.

@stfm5 you are close to right solution. The real problem is founding on other distros too.

For example on Ubuntu 20.04 can be working but on newest version not, etc...

The main instruction to work every time is:

to downgrade glib2 glib2-docs lib32-glib2 to: 2.74.1 and also openvpn to: 2.4.7

then you got this:

openvpn --version OpenVPN 2.4.7 [git:makepkg/2b8aec62d5db2c17+] x86_64-pc-linux-gnu [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [EPOLL] [PKCS11] [MH/PKTINFO] [AEAD] built on Feb 19 2019 library versions: OpenSSL 1.1.1t 7 Feb 2023, LZO 2.10 Originally developed by James Yonan Copyright (C) 2002-2018 OpenVPN Inc sales@openvpn.net Compile time defines: enable_async_push=no enable_comp_stub=no enable_crypto=yes enable_crypto_ofb_cfb=yes enable_debug=yes enable_def_auth=yes enable_dlopen=unknown enable_dlopen_self=unknown enable_dlopen_self_static=unknown enable_fast_install=yes enable_fragment=yes enable_iproute2=yes enable_libtool_lock=yes enable_lz4=yes enable_lzo=yes enable_management=yes enable_multihome=yes enable_pam_dlopen=no enable_pedantic=no enable_pf=yes enable_pkcs11=yes enable_plugin_auth_pam=yes enable_plugin_down_root=yes enable_plugins=yes enable_port_share=yes enable_selinux=no enable_server=yes enable_shared=yes enable_shared_with_static_runtimes=no enable_small=no enable_static=yes enable_strict=no enable_strict_options=no enable_systemd=yes enable_werror=no enable_win32_dll=yes enable_x509_alt_username=yes with_aix_soname=aix with_crypto_library=openssl with_gnu_ld=yes with_mem_check=no with_sysroot=no

and it will work perfectly!!! this is related to official openvpn from Arch repo.

The issue seems to be the 2.76.1 version of glib2. Just downgrading it works but breaks other packages and might cause issues booting into the system. The solution I found that doesn't cause issues is:

1. Downgrade glib2, glib2-docs and lib32-glib2 (I believe only glib2 is necessary, but for good measure I downgrade all three of them) to an older version ex. 2.74.1
2. Connect to the VPN
3. Upgrade back to 2.76.1

It's a bit tedious, but seems to be working. I recommend moving this into a script if you change VPNs often.

Still getting:

ERROR Failed calling D-Bus method UserInputProvide: GDBus.Error:net.openvpn.v3.sessions.error: Backend VPN process has died. Session is no longer valid.

I did the downgrade, last Friday, when my wife needed to log on to work from home and it worked. I got the error again, today, did the downgrade. It didn't work. I rebooted and it really hosed my up. I kept getting Account Service failed. I had to log in via tty and do an upgrade to get my system back.