[2523] in SIPB bug reports
New xscreensaver feature -- logout button
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jonathan I. Kamens)
Fri Feb 28 00:26:20 1992
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 92 00:24:58 -0500
From: "Jonathan I. Kamens" <jik@pit-manager.MIT.EDU>
To: sipb@Athena.MIT.EDU
Cc: bug-sipb@Athena.MIT.EDU
Cc: cfyi@Athena.MIT.EDU, honor@Athena.MIT.EDU
I have just released the sipb locker in order to force the following
change to xscreensaver into the read-only version of the locker....
When xscreensaver starts up, it will print this message....
>Xscreensaver is now configured so that thirty minutes after you lock
>your screen, a button will pop up. If someone clicks on that button,
>you will be logged out. This mechanism has been installed to prevent
>workstations from being locked for inordinate amounts of time, since
>such an action is against the Athena Rules of Use and inconveniences
>other users unfairly.
The message is accurate. Thirty minutes after a user locks his
screen, a button will come up and inch its way slowly around the edge
of the screen. The button reads something to the effect of, "If you
need this workstation, click this button to log <username> out."
A few notes:
*) The button can be disabled. We're not trying to give people a
reason to compile new xscreensaver clients. See the man page.
*) If someone does click on the button, xscreensaver logs the user out
by sending a HUP signal to all of his processes.
*) Each time a button is popped up (i.e. each time the 30-minute
period elapses), the event is logged to my workstation. The only
information that is logged is the number of seconds since the
screen was locked and the fact that the button has popped up -- we
don't want to violate anyone's privacy.
*) Each time somebody actually clicks on a button to log people out,
that, too, is logged.
We hope to eliminate the problem of people who don't realize that
they're being rude or breaking the rules of use when they leave
workstations locked for a long time, or who do so accidentally. We
can't really do anything about the problem of people who do it
intentionally.
We're also trying to find out exactly how much of an effect this
change has -- that's why the logging is there.
I think I've tested things pretty well, but I still may have screwed
up. Please let me know if any problems develop.
jik
