Is it just me, or is LTSP a mess?

[Jordan Erickson]

Oliver Grawert wrote:
> hi,
> On Do, 2008-09-11 at 13:35 +0200, kjetil knudsen wrote:
>   
>>         
>>         
>>         one thing coming up often here since 7.10 are apps hanging
>>         around ...
>>         please note *this is usually a faulty app* i made various
>>         requests to
>>         the people complaining to please file bugs about the apps not
>>         exiting
>>         properly if their parent session goes away (the first request
>>         for that
>>         was around the 7.10 development cycle over a year ago) so i
>>         can point
>>         the app developers to fix these bugs (whih they will
>>         gratefully do). up
>>         to today not a single bug for any of the apps was put into
>>         launchpad
>>         only many hackish workarounds came up that kill apps on
>>         startup in very
>>         intrusive ways ...
>>     
>
>   
>>  dirty? It would really helped us out a lot..." Pkill -u user" does a
>> fine job killing the left-behind apps for the specified user. Why can
>> not this be integrated when a user logs out? Forgive me if I sound
>> ignorant..... I understand that this would not be a real fix, but
>> hey... If it works...
>>     
>
> so if you are able to use pkill, you are obviously able to identify the
> apps hanging around, how about filing bugs for them then ;) 
>
> Gideon Romm made a small script for running a pkill in a slightly less
> intrusive way at the ltsp hackfest two months ago, we could include it
> for hardy. 
>
> the big probelm i have is that the actual problem will never be fixed
> because running the pkill will not expose any hanging apps anymore at
> all, i'd happily add this script to a release *after* i recieved enough
> feedback from testers so even though we dont fix the problem immediately
> we at least identify the apps, i refuse to do so *unless* we have them
> identified for the above reasons ... 
> so pretty please, everyone who sees hanging apps, file bugs for them,
> feel free to subscribe me to the bugs (do not assign them to me please)
> so i can assign them to teh right people and poke them about fixes ...
>  
> if i see *any* movement i'll happily include the script ... but please
> understand that i wont simply hide breakage and lose the opportinity to
> fix them forever through simply adding a hack.
I see the "gnome-watchdog" package as a great tool for killing stale 
processes - I am currently testing it at 3 of my 8 sites. I have it on 
my own server for download here: 
http://logicalnetworking.net/other/gnome-watchdog_0.9.2_i386.deb

I do agree with Ogra - there needs to be bugs filed against all 
offending applications that do not exit cleanly, either when a 
thin-client crashes or logs out cleanly. It seems naive, however (and no 
offense at all) to think that there will be a point in time that ALL 
applications will behave correctly, so this package/script seems to be a 
necessity now and for the future.

What I'd like to point out now, is that 'gnome-watchdog_0.9.2' has 
syslog features that detail offending applications. I'll show you some 
from my own LTSP server to give you an idea, as this is probably what 
ogra is talking about for gathering information to file bug reports:

---
jerickson at Fibonacci:~$ grep gnome-watchdog /var/log/user.log.0
Sep  4 09:11:00 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:watchdog gnome-panel 
for jerickson
Sep  4 10:26:41 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(5) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep  4 10:26:44 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(4) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep  4 10:26:47 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(3) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep  4 10:26:50 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(2) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep  4 10:26:53 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(1) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep  4 10:26:53 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:test
Sep  4 10:26:53 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:cleanup jerickson 
because there is no gnome-panel for this user existing ...
Sep  4 10:26:53 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Still these processes 
are active: 5674,10351,10428,16813
Sep  4 10:26:53 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:wait 5 seconds before 
killing them, but don't kill own process (10351).
Sep  4 10:26:58 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Process gvfs-fuse-daemo 
(5674) killed
Sep  4 10:26:58 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Process gvfs-fuse-daemo 
(10428) killed
Sep  4 10:26:58 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Process gconfd-2 
(16813) killed
Sep  4 10:27:02 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:watchdog gnome-panel 
for jerickson
Sep  4 12:17:23 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:watchdog gnome-panel 
for esamuels
Sep  4 14:09:52 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(5) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for esamuels
Sep  4 14:09:55 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(4) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for esamuels
Sep  4 14:09:58 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(3) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for esamuels
Sep  4 14:10:01 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(2) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for esamuels
Sep  4 14:10:04 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(1) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for esamuels
Sep  4 14:10:04 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:test
Sep  4 14:10:04 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:cleanup esamuels 
because there is no gnome-panel for this user existing ...
Sep  4 14:10:04 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Still these processes 
are active: 9822,26105,26190
Sep  4 14:10:04 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:wait 5 seconds before 
killing them, but don't kill own process (26105).
Sep  4 14:10:10 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Process gconfd-2 (9822) 
killed
Sep  4 14:10:10 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Process gvfs-fuse-daemo 
(26190) killed
Sep  9 14:20:31 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:watchdog gnome-panel 
for guest
Sep  9 14:22:38 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(5) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for guest
Sep  9 14:22:41 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(4) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for guest
Sep  9 14:22:44 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(3) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for guest
Sep  9 14:22:47 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(2) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for guest
Sep  9 14:22:50 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(1) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for guest
Sep  9 14:22:50 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:test
Sep  9 14:22:50 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:cleanup guest because 
there is no gnome-panel for this user existing ...
Sep  9 14:22:50 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Still these processes 
are active: 18128,18592
Sep  9 14:22:50 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:wait 5 seconds before 
killing them, but don't kill own process (18128).
Sep  9 14:22:55 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Process gconfd-2 
(18592) killed
Sep  9 14:26:07 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:watchdog gnome-panel 
for guest
Sep  9 16:27:10 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(5) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep  9 16:27:13 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(4) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep  9 16:27:16 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(3) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep  9 16:27:19 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(2) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep  9 16:27:22 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(1) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep  9 16:27:22 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:test
Sep  9 16:27:22 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:cleanup jerickson 
because there is no gnome-panel for this user existing ...
Sep  9 16:27:22 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Still these processes 
are active: 3982,16905,16985
Sep  9 16:27:22 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:wait 5 seconds before 
killing them, but don't kill own process (16905).
Sep  9 16:27:27 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Process gconfd-2 (3982) 
killed
Sep  9 16:27:27 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Process gvfs-fuse-daemo 
(16985) killed
Sep 10 11:40:43 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:watchdog gnome-panel 
for jerickson
Sep 10 14:26:30 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(5) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for guest
Sep 10 14:26:34 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(4) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for guest
Sep 10 14:26:37 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(3) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for guest
Sep 10 14:26:40 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(2) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for guest
Sep 10 14:26:43 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(1) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for guest
Sep 10 14:26:43 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:test
Sep 10 14:26:43 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:cleanup guest because 
there is no gnome-panel for this user existing ...
Sep 10 14:26:43 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Still these processes 
are active: 3024,18973,19049
Sep 10 14:26:43 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:wait 5 seconds before 
killing them, but don't kill own process (18973).
Sep 10 14:26:48 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Process gconfd-2 (3024) 
killed
Sep 10 14:26:48 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Process bonobo-activati 
(19049) killed
Sep 10 14:27:25 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:watchdog gnome-panel 
for esamuels
Sep 10 14:28:17 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(5) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep 10 14:28:20 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(4) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep 10 14:28:23 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(3) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep 10 14:28:26 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(2) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep 10 14:28:29 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(1) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for jerickson
Sep 10 14:28:29 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:test
Sep 10 14:28:29 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:cleanup jerickson 
because there is no gnome-panel for this user existing ...
Sep 10 14:28:29 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Still these processes 
are active: 3519,13659,13743
Sep 10 14:28:29 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:wait 5 seconds before 
killing them, but don't kill own process (13659).
Sep 10 14:28:35 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:watchdog gnome-panel 
for jerickson
Sep 10 17:06:48 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(5) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for esamuels
Sep 10 17:06:51 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(4) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for esamuels
Sep 10 17:06:54 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(3) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for esamuels
Sep 10 17:06:57 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(2) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for esamuels
Sep 10 17:07:01 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:(1) Process gnome-panel 
isn't existing anymore for esamuels
Sep 10 17:07:01 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:test
Sep 10 17:07:01 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:cleanup esamuels 
because there is no gnome-panel for this user existing ...
Sep 10 17:07:01 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Still these processes 
are active: 3184,3296,24302
Sep 10 17:07:01 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:wait 5 seconds before 
killing them, but don't kill own process (3184).
Sep 10 17:07:06 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Process gvfs-fuse-daemo 
(3296) killed
Sep 10 17:07:06 Fibonacci logger: gnome-watchdog:Process gconfd-2 
(24302) killed
jerickson at Fibonacci:~$
---

Cheers,
Jordan