Bug#276545: Xsession: $ERRFILE ($HOME/.xsession-errors) grows without bound
Branden Robinson writes:
> severity 276545 wishlist
> retitle 276545 xfree86-common: badly-behaved X clients fill $HOME/.xsession-errors with crap, and this is your package's fault
> tag 276545 + wontfix
> thanks
>
> On Thu, Oct 14, 2004 at 03:13:48PM -0400, Jeff Sheinberg wrote:
> > Package: xfree86-common
> > Version: 4.3.0.dfsg.1-8
> > Severity: normal
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Since the last upgrade in sarge/testing, the $ERRFILE, nominally
> > $HOME/.xsession-errors, grows without bound, since it is no longer
> > being truncated.
> >
> > I believe that this change is a mistake, however, controlling this
> > behavior via a setting in the "/etc/X11/Xsession.options" file is
> > certainly accceptable to me.
>
> I'm not going to fix this for the reasons I outlined in a discussion[1]
> with Chris Waters back in July.
>
> Quoting:
>
> For the time being, I do not agree.
>
> Justification #1: Xsession is a conffile and anybody who's annoyed by this
> can apply your patch or a similar one themselves.
>
> Justification #2: I think programs and libraries -- especially GTK+ and Qt
> and their dependent hordes -- need to be broken of the philosophy that
> .xsession-errors is just another name for /dev/null. Anything that spews
> gouts of garbage to the file needs a bug filed against it, and I strongly
> encourage you to do so.
>
> I didn't get the memo that said .xsession-errors is supposed to be useless,
> and I resent the Desktop Movement for trying to make it thus.
>
> [1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-x/2004/07/msg00068.html
>
> --
> G. Branden Robinson | Men use thought only to justify
> Debian GNU/Linux | their wrong doings, and speech only
> branden@debian.org | to conceal their thoughts.
> http://people.debian.org/~branden/ | -- Voltaire
Branden,
I disagree with you here, because the original bug submission has
nothing whatsoever to do with "badly-behaved X clients".
I stand by my assertion that the $ERRFILE grows without bound, and
therefore, it should probably be controlled by an option in the
/etc/X11/Xsession.options file.
Thanks,
--
Jeff Sheinberg
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