Description of problem: xfce4-session (x-s) should send idle notice to gnome-screensaver (g-ss), like gnome-session (g-s) does in F11 and later. In F11 and later, g-ss uses g-s as middleman to Xorg (the X server) for idle notice. This is an architectural change in g-s and g-ss, different from F10 and before. Since x-s is the counterpart of g-s in XFCE env, x-s should do the same as g-s does in F11 and later. In F11 and F12 g-ss no longer works because x-s does not send idle notice to g-ss. If you believe it's g-ss that should revert its change, please negotiate with g-ss folks. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): xfce4-session-4.6.1-3.fc11.i586 How reproducible: always Steps to Reproduce: 1. in F11 or F12, login XFCE4 session. 2. run gnome-screensaver-preferences, 3. change idle timeout to 1 minute, so it's easier to reproduce the issue. gnome-screensaver-preferences "Regard the computer as idle after" 1 minute gnome-power-preferences "Put display to sleep when inactive for" 1 minute 4. wait 10 minute. Actual results: g-ss did not kick in. Expected results: g-ss should kick in and show the screen saver thing. Additional info: From strace I gathered some info on what g-s does (may not be the complete picture, but this illustrates the control flow on high level): - g-s register with Xorg for IDLETIME counter, one positive transition for idle notice; one negative transition for activity-after-idle notice. - when g-s receives idle (or activity) notice from Xorg, it sends idle (or activity) notice to g-ss via dbus: /org/gnome/SessionManager/Presence org.gnome.SessionManager.Presence StatusChanged - when g-ss locks/unlocks, it sends lock/unlcok msg to g-s via dbus: /org/gnome/ScreenSaver org.gnome.ScreenSaver ActiveChanged
This bug is a spin-off from bug505915 Comment #66; issue originally raised by Martin Donald.
This is a design decision from the gnome folks, so it's not going to be changed there I don't think. The Xfce folks can't change gnome-screensaver, so it's unlikely to be fixed there. See all of the following: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=536381 http://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5927 https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=592093 https://launchpad.net/bugs/411350 https://launchpad.net/bugs/493573 It was my understanding of this issue however, that it would still work if you logged in via gdm and still had gnome-session installed/setup. Is gnome-session installed? Are you using gdm to login? Perhaps I am misunderstanding the scope of this bug.
Kevin, Thanks for super fast response! > Is gnome-session installed? Yes, g-s is installed; it was running at time of login window: root 1392 1 0 Mar03 /usr/sbin/gdm-binary -nodaemon root 4824 1392 0 00:49 /usr/libexec/gdm-simple-slave root 4825 4824 7 00:49 /usr/bin/Xorg :0 -br -verbose gdm 4850 4824 0 00:49 /usr/bin/gnome-session After login with xfce4, gnome-session disappeared, and was replaced by xfce4-session: root 1392 1 0 Mar03 /usr/sbin/gdm-binary -nodaemon root 4824 1392 0 00:49 /usr/libexec/gdm-simple-slave root 4825 4824 0 00:49 /usr/bin/Xorg :0 -br -verbose timliim 4961 4927 0 00:52 /bin/sh /etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc timliim 5114 4961 0 00:52 /usr/bin/xfce4-session > Are you using gdm to login? Could you elaborate what you meant? On a fresh installed F12, I did "yum groupinstall XFCE", then use the usual graphical login screen, using "XFCE4" as session. Does this count as "using gdm to login?" > it would still work if you logged in via gdm and still had > gnome-session installed/setup. As show by ps, upon login with xfce4, g-s disappears and x-s shows up. Is there a way to tell xfce4 to use g-s instead of x-s? Thanks. > Perhaps I am misunderstanding the scope of this bug. The complaint was mainly about g-ss not kicking in in XFCE4. Anyway to get it working is good to me.
Kevin, Thanks for pointers in Comment #2. Looks like this is an impasse between gnome and xfce. Shoule we just close this bug WONTFIX? View from gnome (who owns g-ss): https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=592093#c2 2010-01-29 I'd say that the xfce session should probably do something like gnome-session. Either that or an external module that implements the same dbus interface. I don't think we are going to fix this. This is the gnome screensaver after all :) View from xfce (who borrows g-ss for its own use but complains about change in g-ss): http://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5927#c4 2009-10-30 Yes, it definitely suck, but there's not much one can do, exept asking for GNOME people to revert the change and stay with the X idle counter.
Yeah, I fear we just need to get folks who use Xfce to switch over to xscreensaver. ;( The spin and group should do this soon... Sorry for the bad news.
Understand. Thanks!