That would be the new black proxy window with the "X2GO" branding in dark grey
letters, right? It's not a real crash, it just terminates? (I.e., OS X doesn't
show an appcrash dialog.)

Maybe taking a look at ~NISuser/.xsession-x2go-errors might show something
interesting.

working around it with XFCE and then using the work around for DBUS
> when the same user is logged in via ssh and X2go.

So XFCE is working, while MATE is not?

xfce4-session-Message: SSH authentication agent is already running

gpg-agent[14125]: WARNING: "--write-env-file" is an obsolete option - it has no effect

gpg-agent[14126]: gpg-agent (GnuPG) 2.1.13 started

(xfce4-session:14115): xfce4-session-WARNING **: gpg-agent returned no PID in the variables

(xfce4-session:14115): xfce4-session-WARNING **: xfsm_manager_load_session: Something wrong with /u/sobolev/agw/.cache/sessions/xfce4-session-erdos.dsm.fordham.edu:85, Does it exist? Permissions issue?

(xfwm4:14130): xfwm4-WARNING **: The display does not support the XComposite extension.

(xfwm4:14130): xfwm4-WARNING **: The display does not support the XFixes extension.

(xfwm4:14130): xfwm4-WARNING **: Compositing manager disabled.

Starting Dropbox...

(xfwm4:14130): xfwm4-WARNING **: Error opening /dev/dri/card0: Permission denied

vmware-user: could not open /proc/fs/vmblock/dev

SELinux Troubleshooter: Applet requires SELinux be enabled to run.

(xfsettingsd:14147): xfsettingsd-CRITICAL **: Your XI is too old (1.3) version 1.4 is required.

(xfsettingsd:14147): xfsettingsd-CRITICAL **: Failed to change the keyboard repeat

** (zeitgeist-datahub:14476): WARNING **: kde-recent-document-provider.vala:174: Couldn't find actor for 'kolourpaint'.

(xfwm4:14130): xfwm4-WARNING **: Unmanaged net_wm_state (window 0x340000e, atom "_NET_WM_STATE_STAYS_ON_TOP")

(xfce4-panel:14136): Gtk-CRITICAL **: IA__gtk_widget_show: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(xfce4-panel:14136): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_box_pack: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (child)' failed

(xfce4-panel:14136): Gtk-CRITICAL **: IA__gtk_widget_show: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(xfce4-panel:14136): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_box_pack: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (child)' failed

(xfce4-panel:14136): Gtk-CRITICAL **: IA__gtk_widget_show: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(xfce4-panel:14136): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_box_pack: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (child)' failed

(xfce4-panel:14136): Gtk-CRITICAL **: IA__gtk_widget_show: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(xfce4-panel:14136): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_box_pack: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (child)' failed

** (xfdesktop:14140): CRITICAL **: xfce_backdrop_loader_closed_cb: assertion 'XFCE_IS_BACKDROP(backdrop)' failed

(xfce4-terminal:16430): GLib-WARNING **: GChildWatchSource: Exit status of a child process was requested but ECHILD was received by waitpid(). Most likely the process is ignoring SIGCHLD, or some other thread is invoking waitpid() with a nonpositive first argument; either behavior can break applications that use g_child_watch_add()/g_spawn_sync() either directly or indirectly.

(xfce4-session:14115): Gtk-CRITICAL **: IA__gtk_widget_set_visible: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(xfce4-session:14115): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

/usr/local/sbin/start-xfce: line 4: EOF: command not found

Thunar: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :85.0.

Gdk-Message: nm-applet: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :85.0.

xfce-polkit: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :85.0.

Gdk-Message: blueman-applet: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :85.0.

Gdk-Message: abrt: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :85.0.

Gdk-Message: evolution-alarm-notify: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :85.0.

** (zeitgeist-datahub:14476): WARNING **: zeitgeist-datahub.vala:226: Unable to get name "org.gnome.zeitgeist.datahub" on the bus!