Intrepid's gnome-session will easilly cause serious user data loss

[Martin Soto]

Hello everyone:

I've been trying to bring this issue to the attention of the Ubuntu
developers through the regular channel (Launchpad), but haven't received
a single answer so far. This looks to me like a pretty serious issue,
and I have the impression that no Ubuntu developer is even aware of it
so far. For this reason I'm writing to ubuntu-devel-list as a last
resort.

The problem is that gnome-session 2.24 fails to notify applications upon
log out or shut down, even if code for this purpose seems to be there.
The X server is terminated while applications are still running, and
applications get killed due to a broken X connection, without having a
chance of saving any data.

This can be reproduced by starting OpenOffice or GIMP (among many other
possible applications) making a few changes in the document or picture
and logging out using the Ubuntu menu, without closing the
application(s) first. The session terminates almost instantly, and any
changes done are probably lost. Depending on the application and the
level of save button addiction of a particular user, this may easily
result in the lost of hours of user work. I can reproduce it on my two
Intrepid installations (both upgraded from Hardy) and on a vanilla
Intrepid CD.

I'm aware of the fact that gnome-session was completely refactored, and
I know that a new session protocol is being introduced, and that most
applications haven't been adapted to work with itl. Still, there is code
in gnome-session 2.24 for doing "legacy" XSMP session management, so
this part should work at least.

The relevant bug report in Launchpad is

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-session/+bug/276134

I originally added information to another bug report:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-session/+bug/249373

This last one has to do with a different problem, namely, session
saving. It is clear that gnome-session 2.24 isn't able to save the
session, which is also a regression, but that should not lead to data
loss.

Many thanks,

M. S.