I am running ubuntu 10.10, and installed Gnome Activity Journal. However it does not show any recently used files. I have attached a screenshot below.
Please note that gnome activity journal has been installed on the system for quite some time. So it is not that I recently installed and it still has to slowly gather data. Also the zeitgeist-daemon is running in the background.
Would reinstalling zeitgeist help solve this problem? If yes could you please provide a ppa where I can find the latest stable release of zeitgeist.
Update 1: I tried uninstalling both zeitgeist and gnome activity journal, but still the problem persists. Why is zeitgeist not gathering data?
Update 2: I checked the spikes in the month of december. But they were nothing. After proceeding to that month, the spike just went back to nothing just like the rest.
Update 3: I checked the zeitgeist preferences. I have not blacklisted anything. Going to check if deleting the database does anything.
Update 4: I am glad to know that zeitgeist is collecting data but somehow it is not being shown in gaj. Following one of the solutions below to purge the software and then reinstall it, I am no longer able to open gaj. However I can say that I couldn't purge everything properly. When I tried the command sudo apt-get --purge gnome-acitivity-journal it doesn't work. When I try to open gaj now I get the following message in the terminal.
** Message: pygobject_register_sinkfunc is deprecated (GstObject)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gnome-activity-journal", line 101, in <module>
from src.main import PortalWindow
File "/usr/share/gnome-activity-journal/src/main.py", line 31, in <module>
from activity_widgets import MultiViewContainer, TimelineViewContainer, ThumbViewContainer
File "/usr/share/gnome-activity-journal/src/activity_widgets.py", line 39, in <module>
from store import ContentStruct, CLIENT
File "/usr/share/gnome-activity-journal/src/store.py", line 539, in <module>
STORE = Store()
File "/usr/share/gnome-activity-journal/src/store.py", line 397, in __init__
days_population = ZeitgeistDBusInterface().get_extension("Log", "journal/activity").GetHistogramData()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/zeitgeist/client.py", line 82, in __getattr__
raise TypeError("Unknown method name: %s" % name)
TypeError: Unknown method name: GetHistogramData
The thing is I used to get this error before. However I solved it by copying gnome_activity_journal.py to /home/krnekhelesh/.local/share/zeitgeist/Extensions/. But now that method does not seem to work. I also tried restarting the zeitgeist daemon but still the same problem.
Update 5: I no longer get the error posted in update 4. Gnome Activity journal opens but with the same problem as shown in the screenshot. The output of the terminal is
** Message: pygobject_register_sinkfunc is deprecated (GstObject)
Activate
Activating Example Plugin
Activating Blacklist Manager
Update 6: The recent documents is not disabled. I can view it perfectly under the places menu. Also the file activity.sqlite was created again when I deleted it showing that zeitgeist is recording recent activity.
Update 7: This is the most recent screenshot I've inserted below, where it shows 8 items for one or two days. However when I click on that day, GAJ does not show any recently used files. 
Update 8: I deleted ~.local/share/zeitgeist folder and then ran the command zeitgeist-datahub in the terminal. The output is as follows,
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/zeitgeist-datahub", line 33, in <module>
from _zeitgeist.loggers.zeitgeist_setup_service import DataProviderService
ImportError: No module named loggers.zeitgeist_setup_service
Update 9: Version Number of the zeitgeist components are the following,
Zeitgeist-Core : 0.7.0
Gnome-Activity-Journal : 0.6
Zeitgeist-datahub : 0.5.2
Update 10: I completely removed GAJ and zeitgeist and made sure the folders /usr/share/zeitgeist and /usr/local/share/zeitgeist were also clear before I reinstalled GAJ again. On running GAJ the windows did not appear. So I did the following.
I typed zeitgeist-daemon --replace and got the following output,
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/bin/zeitgeist-daemon", line 38, in <module>
from _zeitgeist.engine import constants
ImportError: No module named _zeitgeist.engine
And then I ran the command zeitgeist-datahub and got the following output,
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/zeitgeist-datahub", line 32, in <module>
from zeitgeist.client import ZeitgeistDBusInterface
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/zeitgeist/client.py", line 35, in <module>
from zeitgeist.datamodel import (Event, Subject, TimeRange, StorageState,
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/zeitgeist/datamodel.py", line 1116, in <module>
execfile(os.path.join(_config.datadir, "zeitgeist/ontology/zeitgeist.py"))
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/usr/local/share/zeitgeist/ontology/zeitgeist.py'
On checking synaptic manager, the version numbers are the same as stated before in update 9.
UPDATE 10: IT WORKS!!!!!! Here is what I did, as told by mhr, I uninstalled everything, used locate zeitgeist and removed everything. After which I also forced Version 0.5.1 for zeitgeist-datahub. Restarted and installed everything again. It works..however there is a small catch!
I have to first run the command zeitgeist-daemon --replace and while this is running in the terminal, I can open GAJ. Otherwise it does not appear.
If I dont run zeitgeist-daemon --replace but run GAJ in the terminal I get the following error messeage.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gnome-activity-journal", line 90, in <module>
CLIENT = ZeitgeistClient()
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/zeitgeist/client.py", line 318, in __init__
self._iface = ZeitgeistDBusInterface()
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/zeitgeist/client.py", line 184, in __init__
self.OBJECT_PATH)
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/bus.py", line 244, in get_object
follow_name_owner_changes=follow_name_owner_changes)
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/proxies.py", line 241, in __init__
self._named_service = conn.activate_name_owner(bus_name)
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/bus.py", line 183, in activate_name_owner
self.start_service_by_name(bus_name)
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/bus.py", line 281, in start_service_by_name
'su', (bus_name, flags)))
File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/connection.py", line 620, in call_blocking
message, timeout)
dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ExecFailed: Failed to execute program /usr/local/bin/zeitgeist-daemon: Success
Other than this, it works perfectly. It nicely got the files I used today, the picture I worked with and everything.
Hope this helps. Anyone?
Best Answer
It seems like you're using quite recent version of zeitgeist engine, but an old version of zeitgeist-datahub, make sure you updated to the latest version of datahub available from zeitgeist PPA.
Update: Your installation is seriously screwed, apparently at one point you installed zeitgeist from source and you also have it installed from a package, another thing is that the latest version of datahub available in zeitgeist PPA is 0.5.1, version 0.5.2 was when it was still part of the engine package (ie from zeitgeist 0.5.2).
So first remove everything zeitgeist-related (all packages), then run
locate zeitgeistand remove everything it finds (some of those will be already deleted). Next install zeitgeist package from PPA, but make sure you're also installing datahub from PPA (ie version 0.5.1), you might need to force using that version.