ctrl-alt-backspace aka don't zap via GUI, was: Re: [Merge] lp:~albertomilone/gnome-control-center/randr-virtual into lp:~ubuntu-core-dev/gnome-control-center/ubuntu

[Hugo Heden]

2009/1/30 Scott Kitterman <ubuntu at kitterman.com>:

> To follow-up the discussion from the merge request...
>
> In that discusion it was declared that alt-sysreq-k was "better" because it's harder to
> hit accidentally and more reliable due to being implemented in the kernel
> and not X.
>
> So far I've tested this approach on one laptop and I find it "not working".
>  If we are going to hand this to end users as the solution to a locked X, I
> think it needs testing first.
>

I dislike Ctrl-Alt-Delete, because I sometimes hit them by accident.
Nevertheless Ctrl-Alt-Delete still seems to be needed because it's
more reliable than Ctrl-Alt-F1 and other variants when X hangs.

So I *neither* want Ctrl-Alt-Delete working like today, *nor*
completely disabled.

Two separate propositions follow. No GUI would be needed to edit any
preferences in either case.

1) So I would like Ctrl-Alt-Delete to take me out of X to a GRUB-like
menu asking me something like "Do you want to immediately shut down
the log-in session, thereby losing any unsaved work?". Is that
technically possible?

2)  We could do what SuSE did (or does?): "Pressing Ctrl-Alt-Backspace
on GNOME, KDE, or any other graphical desktop does not terminate the X
server any longer. If you press Ctrl-Alt-Backspace within 2 seconds
again, it terminates the X server. On most hardware you hear a beep
after the first Ctrl-Alt-Backspace press." See
http://linux.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/SuSE/2008-07/msg00442.html

Best Regards

Hugo Heden