GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 308171
Gdmflexiserver makes computer keep beeping when switching users with keyboard
Last modified: 2010-06-17 02:41:41 UTC
Please describe the problem: When using gdmflexiserver to switch users by pressing the "Change to existing display" button with the space bar (held on until the display changes), the computer will keep beeping until you switch back. Steps to reproduce: 1. Either select from the main menu Applications > System Tools > New Login, or enter in the terminal from your GNOME session "gdmflexiserver" 2. Create a new session by either logging in again as yourself or logging in as another user. 3. Use New Login again. A dialog should come up with a list box with the other user listed and three buttons at the bottom. 4. Select the user from the list. 5. Use TAB to select the button "Change to existing display" and hold spacebar until the display changes. (On a fast system this will be less than a second.) 6. Listen to the wonderful music. Your computer should be beeping continuously. (If you have the standard audible bell for X enabled) 7. In order to prevent your neighbours getting annoyed, switch back to the other user and the beeping will cease. You will also notice that the XScreensaver password entry box is full of stars. Actual results: I believe when you select the "Change to existing display" button with the spacebar, the button responds on the "button down" event and changes display before the user releases the spacebar. On the previous display, the "keyboard up" event is never received because it is received on the new display that is changed to before the spacebar is released, thus making a whole lot of spaces being entered into the password box in xscreensaver and the beeping. Expected results: Phonecalls from neighbours. Does this happen every time? It happens on GNOME 2.10 on both Ubuntu 5.04 "Hoary Hedgehog" and SuSE 9.3 Professional. Spacebar must be held until the display changes for it to happen. This issue is more likely to occur on faster systems, as on a slow system the spacebar may be released before the display changes, but on faster ones, the display may change very quickly. Other information: I am guessing that changing the buttons on the new login dialog to respond on the keyboard UP event or clearing keyboard / mouse events before / after switching displays would fix it. Only nerds like me use the spacebar to press buttons! (My Dad didn't even know you could press buttons using the spacebar.)
I'd accept a patch to fix the behavior of the buttons in the gdmflexiserver dialog so they respond to button up event instead of button down.
Note related bug #462264.
I’m not even sure if the dialog that this bug refers to even exists any more. I certainly haven’t seen it on my Ubuntu system since...over four years ago. Probably can be closed.
Thanks for taking the time to report this bug. However, you are using a version that is too old and not supported anymore. GNOME developers are no longer working on that version, so unfortunately there will not be any bug fixes for the version that you use. By upgrading to a newer version of GNOME you could receive bug fixes and new functionality. You may need to upgrade your Linux distribution to obtain a newer version of GNOME. Please feel free to reopen this bug if the problem still occurs with a newer version of GNOME.