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Screensaver sometimes does not unlock

Hello.

I am running -current and noticed recently that sometimes I cannot unlock my computer after the screensaver starts. I am running KDE. I have only noticed it when the screensaver starts automatically after a period of inactivity. It's really just a minor inconvenience (as long as I save things before I leave the computer) since I can use Ctl-Alt-Backspace to kill and restart X.

Has anyone else come across this behaviour? In the event there is a bug somewhere, any suggestions to help locate it?

These commands might give you more control over your situation:

Code:

loginctl lock-session

loginctl unlock-session

Quote:

Originally Posted by wagscat123 (Post 5805335)

These commands might give you more control over your situation:

Code:

loginctl lock-session

loginctl unlock-session

Those commands may work fine under OpenSUSE, Ubuntu or Mint. :D

BUT, they have zero value for Slackware, because it does not use SystemD. ;)

At the risk of being offtopic, I must say that all screensavers I have tried are bad. All except one.

Eventually, each screensaver I tried, would get me scared. I would enable it and take a 10 minute AFK just to return and see that it segfaulted and my computer isn't locked anymore. The only screensaver that did never do this to me yet is slock from suckless tools. There's a buildscript for it on SBo. I became a big fan of it and I'm preaching it to everyone :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Vader (Post 5805340)

Those commands may work fine under OpenSUSE, Ubuntu or Mint. :D

BUT, they have zero value for Slackware, because it does not use SystemD. ;)

Thanks for that.

Let me ask you something then. Is this simply one of the things one should expect when running a pre-release such as -current (I have no problem with that) that will work itself out on the way to release? Is there any value to the community to try and locate possible causes? If so, what would you suggest (I still have lots to learn about these things, but I run -current to have the chance to learn)?

What screensaver do you use? Have you checked your logs (using ssh or Ctrl+Alt+F1 to go to a different terminal) to see if there's any errors popping up?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassmadrigal (Post 5805446)

What screensaver do you use? Have you checked your logs (using ssh or Ctrl+Alt+F1 to go to a different terminal) to see if there's any errors popping up?

If I read the ps output right I think these two lines answer the which screensaver question.

Code:

4602  0.3  1.8 2883372 142572 ?      Sl  08:21  0:00 /usr/lib64/kde4/libexec/kscreenlocker_greet --immediateLock

4605  0.3  0.6 365892 50816 ?        S    08:21  0:00 keuphoria.kss -window-id 79691828

Next time it fails to unlock I'll look for messages. Would they be in /var/log/messages or one of the other log files in /var/log?

Quote:

Originally Posted by statguy (Post 5805438)

Long story short, the loginctl command is not available under Slackware, at least unless someone run Dlackware, because it is part of SystemD.

https://www.freedesktop.org/software.../loginctl.html

I know, that can look strange for an average "Linux user", but Slackware has already diverged enough from a typical "Linux distribution" that I prefer to consider Slackware, well... just Slackware. ;)

So, my comment was literally directed to that OpenSUSE user and his reply.

-------------------------------------------------------------
In other hand, generally speaking, I do not think that the slackware-current is for rookies and learning.

Contrary, I believe that it is for the advanced users, who willingly assume the role of beta-testers, and they are able to debug themselves the operating system, and also able to report back issues in a meaningful way.

-------------------------------------------------------------
At the end of day, I believe that what you describe can be a possible inconsistency between screensavers and ConsoleKit and/or PolicyKit, our custom thingies used to avoid the PAM and SystemD.

Unless you are able to debug further the issue, I am afraid that I cannot make a more meaningful statement, that's WHY also I do not responded (yet) to you, directly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by statguy (Post 5805449)

Next time it fails to unlock I'll look for messages. Would they be in /var/log/messages or one of the other log files in /var/log?

It depends on what might be locking up. If it is X, /var/log/Xorg.0.log might be helpful, if it's KDE related, it could be in /var/log/messages or ~/.xsession-errors. There could also be other logs that might provide insight, so it's best to just check whatever you can find to see if it contains something that might help figure out the issue.

Oops - I forgot that Slackware doesn't use systemd and thus loginctl. Besides my attachment to the vestigial runlevel change command "init 0", I take systemd for granted now :)

I googled this issue and cut-off results after 10/1/2011 (to get results for Slackware :P), and some of the commands below may do the trick for you. These are pre-systemd but mostly KDE 4-era

http://www.commandlinefu.com/command...e-lock-utility

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Vader (Post 5805476)

... but a typical "Linux distribution" has already diverged enough from Slackware that I prefer to consider Slackware, well... just Slackware. ;)

Fixed that for you :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassmadrigal (Post 5805480)

I had another lock-up this morning so I logged in via a console to check the log files. I looked at ~/.xsession-errors, /var/log/messages, /var/log/Xorg.0.log, /var/log/syslog, /var/log/kdm.log and /var/log/ConsoleKit/history, /var/log/debug and the output from dmesg. I saw nothing in any of these that looked like errors from the screen lock. The only errors I did see were in kdm.log related to DBUS. Here they are.

Code:

klauncher(1495) kdemain: No DBUS session-bus found. Check if you have started the DBUS server. 

kdeinit4: Communication error with launcher. Exiting!

kdmgreet(1487)/kdecore (K*TimeZone*): KSystemTimeZones: ktimezoned initialize() D-Bus call failed:  "Not connected to D-Bus server"

A couple other notes:

This lock-up has (so far) only happened when the screensaver starts automatically. The other thing is after I used console to log in (Ctrl-Alt-F1), when I switched back to my KDE session, it was unlocked and I did not manually kill any processes. If I have a not hung screen lock, switching back and forth between the terminal and X session leaves the session locked.

This is the KDE screensaver, I take it? If it is problematic for you, it might be worth just disabling it altogether and trying something else, like xscreensaver, i3lock, slock, etc.