Re: debian/unstable+KDE: screensaver/lock session not working

On Mon, Feb 05, 2007 at 12:58:52 +0100, Bruno Voigt wrote:
Hi all,

I have a debian/unstable box running KDE which gets nearly daily patched.
For some months ago the screensaver and KDE kicker lock session button
stopped working.

manual starting of xscreensaver & running xscreensaver-command -lock
works.

How does the kdscreensaver & session lock mechanism work in detail?

AFAIK, KDE does not use xscreensaver but provides its own screensaver
(and locking) functionality as a part of the "kdesktop" process (which
is normally started by kdeinit).

You can check if kdesktop is running with "ps -ef | grep [k]desktop".
You should see the process listed as "kdesktop [kdeinit]". (It is very
unlikely that kdesktop is not running when you have a KDE session, but
it does not hurt to check.)

How do teh different components interact?
How can I trace its execution path and check if everything is in place?

I don't know all the details, but I know that you should be able to lock
the screen under KDE with the following command:

dcop kdesktop KScreensaverIface lock

Maybe that will give you a helpful error message if it does not work;
also check ~/.xession-errors for anything related to the screensaver.

What config files are used?

~/.kde/share/config/kdesktoprc

This configuration works for me:

$ awk '/\[ScreenSaver\]/,/^$/' ~/.kde/share/config/kdesktoprc
[ScreenSaver]
DPMS-dependent=false
Enabled=true
Lock=true
LockGrace=60000
Saver=KRandom.desktop
Timeout=300

(You can run the same "awk ..." command to see the relevant part of your
own configuration.)

You can change these settings in the KDE control center ("Appearance &
Themes > Screen Saver").

Purging and reinstalling these packages didn't help:

ii kscreensaver 3.5.5-1 additional
screen savers released with KDE
ii kscreensaver-xsavers 3.5.5-1 KDE
hooks for standard xscreensavers
ii xscreensaver 4.24-5 Automatic
screensaver for X
ii xscreensaver-gl 4.24-5 GL(Mesa) screen
hacks for xscreensaver

I have the same packages installed. (I am currently on KDE 3.5.6 from
experimental, but I never had any problems with version 3.5.5-1 either.)

If all else fails you can create a new user and test if that user can
lock the screen normally. That will at least tell you if you have a
system-wide problem or one related to your regular user's configuration.

--
Regards,
Florian


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