[7596] in SIPB bug reports
Re: xscreensaver conflict with default dotfiles
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John Hawkinson)
Fri Jun 16 12:14:33 2000
Message-Id: <200006161614.MAA00777@contents-vnder-pressvre.mit.edu>
To: Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU>
Cc: bug-sipb@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 15 Jun 2000 21:09:14 EDT."
<200006160109.VAA04768@egyptian-gods.mit.edu>
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 12:14:30 -0400
From: John Hawkinson <jhawk@MIT.EDU>
In message <200006160109.VAA04768@egyptian-gods.mit.edu>, Greg Hudson
>writes: As a separate matter, we're finding that having renamed
>xscreensaver to xss makes gnome kind of unhappy, and we'd like to
>take the xscreensaver name in 8.5 or so.
Could you expand more on that?
>So, we'd like the SIPB locker to rename xscreensaver to something else
>(xscreensaver.real, sipb-xscreensaver, I don't particularly care)
I don't find this a particularly palatable proposal.
Neither of those names seem acceptable. I think that "xscreensaver"
was pushing the bounds of a reasonable name to by typed by users,
and anything longer is more problematic.
"xscreensaver.real" is grossly inappropraite as it implies that
"xscreensaver" is a wrapper script that might run it, and that's
not the case.
"sipb-xscreensaver" (or variations thereof) have no such semantic
failing, but are cumbersome and awkward. I suppose you would not take
kindly to sipb xscreensaver being renamed to xss? ;-)
>in at least the sun4x_57 and i386_linux22 arch directories, and to
>install a script much like the sgi_65 script.
I find it problematic to rename "xscreensaver" to something else
for some platforms and not others. I find it problematic that
there are architectures that the sipb locker supports where
typing "xscreensaver" might get nothing.
I don't know how to resolve this conflict.
Additionally, most users who run "xscreensaver" from their dotfiles
run it with options that are incompatible with those of "xss". Do
you have a proposal to address that?
>Here's some candidate script text:
>
> The SIPB xscreensaver has changed its name to <whatever>.
> Starting with Athena release 8.4, the default dotfiles run a
> screensaver which will automatically activate after ten
> minutes of idle time and lock the screen after eleven minutes.
> You can run:
> xss-button &
> to create a button to control this screen saver.
So xss-button is not being renamed to xscreensaver-button?
>
> If you elect to continue using the SIPB xscreensaver, you
> should put the command
> set skip_xss
> in your .environment file to avoid dueling screensavers.
Again, should it not be skip_xscreensaver?
>I can make this change myself if no one objects.
I object. I'd like to go a bit further and apply some pushback
with to fuzzballs with respect to this decision; I am rather
uncomfortable with it, though of course I'm not speaking for
all of bug-sipb at this point.
I don't see a discussion of this in the fuzzballs discuss meeting.
Could you try to summarize the discussion and pros and cons that
were considered?
The ceding of pieces of namespace, and rights to it are tricky business,
both technically and politically. On the other hand, the sipb xscreensaver
is hardly the paragon of software. But I am more at home with it than
the jwz xscreensaver, and suspect that may be true for many.
On the flipside, if it stays broken for 8.4 Solaris, opinions may change.
--jhawk
