GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 592093
Reliance on gnome-session
Last modified: 2012-01-02 14:43:59 UTC
Since #567919 was resolved gnome-screensaver has started relying on gnome-session for idle detection. Please could gnome-screensaver's own idle detection code be restored and used either via a command-line option or if it doesn't get a response from gnome-session. I prefer to use ROX-Session, but I used gnome-screensaver and gnome-power-manager because of the useful dual timeout settings for battery and AC on laptops. Now that combination doesn't work :-(.
It also causes gnome-screensaver to be broken under xfce (http://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5927)
I'd say that the xfce session should probably do something like gnome-session. Either that or an external module that implements the same dbus interface. I don't think we are going to fix this. This is the gnome screensaver after all :)
Hi, I've had the same problem with my simple Fvwm-based environment. I ended writing a Python script which fakes the Gnome SessionManager, and does the XIDLE detection for Gnome ScreenSaver. It's available from [0], and the code is documented at [1]. It find it a bit annoying, though, that Gnome becomes so much integrated that its components become harder or impossible to be use on their own ): [0] https://scm.narf.ssji.net/svn/shtrom/browser/default-env/bin/SessionManager.py [1] http://www.narf.ssji.net/~shtrom/wiki/projets/gnomescreensavernosession
Here is a scenario where this gnome-screensaver should support other graphical environments. Like many, I switched to XFCE because as a power user, I feel I am more productive in a classical, fully customizable environment than under Gnome 3 with Gnome Shell or Unity. However, my laptop is also shared by members of my family, which use Gnome 3 with Unity. xsreensaver does not provide any means to switch between users. gnome-screensaver does. This is why I want to use gnome-screensaver; when my screen is locked, someone else can use the computer login into their own account. As a nice side effect, gnome-screensaver is esthetically more pleasing too. Granted, I could go and ask xscreensaver developers to provide the same functionality, but gnome-screensaver already has all the code and I believe that adding the idle detection code would be easier.
With embarrassment I must admit that xscreensaver does provide a mean to switch user. I just realized that there is a button named "new login" that xscreensaver provide, but it never dawn on me that it meant "switch user". However, it would be nice that the same interface for locking the screen and switch user be provided regardless of the user interface used by the currently logged in user. Gnomescreensaver could be that piece of software.