Re: gnome-screensaver 0.0.2

[William Jon McCann <mccannwj pha jhu edu>]

Hey Bastien,

Bastien Nocera wrote:
> I was wondering, what's the current state of this tool?
> I tried it out quickly, and the screenies[1] rock :)
>
> What's the TODO list, and will you push it to GNOME CVS?

The 0.0.2 version had a few problems.  There was a race while 
transferring the keyboard grab to the dialog window when the server is 
ungrabbed.  I think I have solved this problem by using 
GtkSocket/GtkPlug.  The dialog uses a separate process so that all the 
authentication and user-switching stuff doesn't happen in the daemon.

Another problem is that it isn't accessible.  I have to learn more about 
this.

Also, the daemon process currently uses libraries higher in the stack 
than X.  This potential problem with this is that any 
segfault/assert/etc in any path travelled through those libraries will 
expose the user's session.  I have mixed feelings about this.  Perhaps 
it is better to assume that any screensaver can crash and plan for that. 
 Maybe we can use a combination of DBUS/gnome-session to guard against 
this by grabbing the input and starting a new screensaver when the 
service leaves the bus.  Dunno.

I hope to have an updated version using GtkPlug ready in a few days.

Thanks,
Jon