Bug#247193: kdm: reserve doesn't seem to work
retitle 247193 kdm "reserve" documentation unclear
tag 247193 +patch
tag 247193 +upstream
severity 247193 minor
thanks
Oswald, I'm sending this to you as well since you seem to be the
author of the README for kdm. The debian bug
(http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=247193) started when
I couldn't figure out how to work the reserve functionality of kdm.
I've verified that Achim's description of how to use reserve works for
me, and checked on a couple of loose ends (does the "start a session"
menu item disappear when there are no more reserve sessions available?
No. In that case, does it restart one of the reserve sessions? No.
Will kdm reload get the new config if you edit XServers? Yes, but
"start a session" won't appear on your KDE menu til you begin a new
session after the reload).
So I've put this all together into a patch for the README that makes
things clear, at least for me!
The patch is attached, and I hope you (Debian and upstream) can
incorporate it.
For Oswald, or other KDE'ers, I'd also like to suggest this
information be incorporated into the kdm manual. Currently it has no
mention of reserve. It's quite a nice feature (my other family
members like to use my computer, and I'm hoping this keeps them out of
my hair. They have a way of messing up my session when they use
it!). This way you only pay for the load of another screen when you
need it.
Thanks, everyone, for your work and your help.
--- README 2004-05-06 23:04:54.000000000 -0700
+++ README.new 2004-05-06 23:22:12.000000000 -0700
@@ -93,13 +93,23 @@
This is not perfectly suited for Linux, as there X-Servers don't actually
cover consoles (gettys), but hey, it works. :-)
* reserve. A server marked as reserve is not started at KDM's startup time,
- but when the user explicitly requests it. See "Command FiFos" below.
+ but when the user explicitly requests it. If there is a reserve
+ specification, the KDE Menu will have a "Start New Session" item
+ near the bottom; use that to start kdm's greeter on one of the
+ reserved screens. The display will switch to the new screen, and
+ you will have a minute to login. If there are no more available
+ reserved screens, selecting the menu item will have no effect. For
+ finer control, see "Command FiFos" below.
Example:
:0 local@tty1 /usr/bin/X11/X vt7
:1 local reserve /usr/bin/X11/X :1 vt8
+Note that changes to Xservers will not take effect until you do a kdm
+reload, and your KDE menu won't change until you start a new session.
+Be careful: if you restart rather than reload kdm you will terminate
+your own session.
Configuring session types
-------------------------
@@ -181,7 +191,9 @@
This is a feature you can use to remote-control KDM. It's mostly intended
for use by ksmserver and kdesktop from a running session, but other
-applications are possible as well.
+applications are possible as well. You can write to these files from
+an application or by using, for example, the shell echo command.
+
There are two types of FiFos: the global one (xdmctl) and the per-display
ones (xdmctl-<display>).
The global one is owned by root, the per-display ones are owned by the user
@@ -220,7 +232,10 @@
"reserve" [timeout in seconds]
- Start a reserve login screen. If nobody logs in within the specified amount
of time (one minute by default), the display is removed again. When the
- session on the display exits, the display is removed, too.
+ session on the display exits, the display is removed, too. Direct
+ the reserve command to your current session's Fifo. So if session
+ 0 is your standard login session and 1 is reserved, send the
+ reserve command to xdmct-\:0. Once it executes, it creates xdmctl-\:1.
"suicide"
- The currently running session is forcibly terminated. No auto-relogin is
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