Re: i18n problem in GDM

[Christian Rose <menthos gnome org>]

tis 2004-03-09 klockan 18.02 skrev George:
> > > I've noticed a problem wrt i18n in GDM lately. The function
> > > gdm_get_last_info() uses last(1) to get the date and time of the last
> > > login for the user and just strips off some stuff and presents the date
> > > and time in raw format when entering the username. This makes it
> > > impossible to do any kind of sane localisation of this string. Did this
> > > feature get added recently? I think we should default this setting to
> > > off until we can get it localized properly at the very least. Maybe it's
> > > possible to set it based on locale? If running in C or en_* use it, if
> > > not hide it?
> > 
> > I'd second that. Nice gimmick, but apart from being i18n'ly broken, it
> > also slows down the login process noticably and unnecessarily. Probably
> > best defaulted off ;)
> 
> It was added to make it compliant with some US govt code (and others
> probably, see http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=128940) not as a
> gimmick.  It's a security measure to allow users to note the last time of
> their login before they actually log in.  This is useful since logging in
> could run a malicious login script.  In any case it makes it much easier to
> spot that someone else is using your account, and apparently such a feature
> seems to be required for at least the dod and likely others.
> 
> Also there is absolutely no slowdown because of this, if running 'last' slows
> down your system, something is horribly wrong with it.  I suppose 'last'
> should be translated (I assumed it was actually), in this case we will have
> to add our own 'last' to gdm like we have say our own version of 'open'
> where we can.
> 
> But in any case, it is a security feature, not a gimmick, and one that is in
> fact required in some installations.  We can turn it off by default for 2.6
> in the config file.

Yes please; off by default in 2.6. That will give some time for
resolving the i18n implications in time for 2.8 so that it can be on by
default (if needed) then, while the DoD and other organizations who need
this for conformerance can still have it and use it in 2.6.


Christian