Fixing GNOME Terminal Python Import Error | Generated by AI

Home 2025.10

Issue Diagnosis

Your GNOME Terminal is failing to launch due to a Python import error in the GObject Introspection (GI) library. The traceback shows it’s choking on from gi.repository import GLib, Gio, specifically at line 40 in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/gi/__init__.py. The full error (based on common reports) is likely:

ImportError: cannot import name '_gi' from partially initialized module 'gi' (most likely due to a circular import)

This typically happens because of a mismatch between your system’s Python version and the GI bindings (python3-gi package), often after manual Python upgrades, virtual environments, or package corruption. The UFW BLOCK logs in your journalctl output are unrelated—they’re just your firewall dropping harmless multicast traffic (e.g., mDNS/UPnP discovery from other devices on 192.168.1.x). Ignore those for now.

Quick Fixes to Try

Since you already have a working shell prompt (looks like you’re in ~/projects), you can run these commands directly. Start with the simplest:

  1. Reinstall the GI package and GNOME Terminal (most common fix): 
    sudo apt update
sudo apt install --reinstall python3-gi gir1.2-glib-2.0 gnome-terminal

    Then test by running gnome-terminal from your current shell.

  2. If that doesn’t work, check/fix Python symlinks (if you recently tinkered with Python versions):
    • Verify your system Python: ls -l /usr/bin/python3 (should point to something like python3.10 or 3.12, depending on your distro version).
    • If it’s broken, reinstall the default Python: 
      sudo apt install --reinstall python3-minimal
    • Or manually set the symlink (replace 3.10 with your distro’s default): 
      sudo ln -sf /usr/bin/python3.10 /usr/bin/python3
  3. Full GNOME reset (if the above fails—resets terminal prefs but not data): 
    dconf reset -f /org/gnome/terminal/
gnome-terminal --reset-config
  4. Nuclear option: Purge and reinstall GNOME Terminal: 
    sudo apt purge gnome-terminal
sudo apt install gnome-terminal

After any fix, log out/in or reboot to ensure the desktop environment picks it up. If you’re on Ubuntu/Debian-based (guessing from paths), these should work. If it’s another distro (e.g., Fedora), swap apt for dnf.

If none of this resolves it, run python3 -c "from gi.repository import GLib; print('OK')" in your current shell and share the output for more clues.

References

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