Re: GDM, getty and VTs
* Josselin Mouette <joss@debian.org> [091114 17:26]:
> > I guess you mean as long as there is no negociation between gdm and
> > whatever decides where gettys go?
>
> GDM does try to use a VT that is not currently in use - although there
> can be race conditions.
So gdm does not negotiate but just claims "first!".
Getting things at random places is also the opposite of being nice to
users. ("Now switch back to graphic by pressing Alt-F7". "Does not
work". "Are you sure you did, try again". "only black screen". "oh, try
Alt-F8 then"...).
> The process which doesn’t negociate is init:
> consoles defined in /etc/inittab are started without any thought,
> regardless of whether they are available or not.
Actually init has nothing to do with consoles. It does not start
consoles but programs, one one of those is getty. And while having
no "some other program is buggy and used the tty I am supposed to use"
warning is annoying, not having your consoles because something breaks
and the system thinks they are still in use would be even worse.
Bernhard R. Link
P.S:
That said, reducing text consoles running might be a sensible thing.
(Even I stopped to reconfigure every installed computer to have 8
instead only 6 getties since about a release). But arguing it is
necessary because a bug in gdm should not cause bugy behaviour, is ...
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