Bug#610826: gdm3: Should detect short lived X server , or Xorg returning error

[Witold Baryluk]

Package: gdm3
Version: 2.30.5-6
Severity: normal

Hi.

I had on one machine gdm3 installed, and was going to install
nvidia driver. I changed xorg.conf but forgot to install driver.

Of course Xorg stoped working as it was trying to use driver which do not existed
(due to the missing xorg dirver and/or missing kernel module).

Unfortunetly gdm3 goes insane, and repeatedly restarts Xorg server.
(about 5 times per seconds), and do this forever. Screen is constantly flashing,
and I cannot even login on console. Only way to fix problem is to
login using ssh or restart system in single user mode.

Please introduce some kind of more robust crash detection.
There are multiple ways in which this can be achived.
Even simple ones like "Last 3 sessions on this screen lasted less than 5 second each,
and non of this 3 started sucessfully greater - thus disableing,
displaying message to the user, or waiting 60 seconds".


This problem already happened to me twice on to separate box.
(one of them was as described above, other was slightly different IMHO).

PS. Problem is not releated to nvidia driver, and can be triggered in many other ways
(simples is just to add error like non-existing/misspeled driver name).

Thanks.


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 6.0
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.32-5-686 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=pl_PL.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=pl_PL.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages gdm3 depends on:
ii  adduser                 3.112+nmu2       add and remove users and groups
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]   1.5.36           Debian configuration management sy
ii  dwm [x-window-manager]  5.8.2-1          dynamic window manager
ii  gconf2                  2.28.1-6         GNOME configuration database syste
ii  gnome-session [x-sessio 2.30.2-3         The GNOME Session Manager - GNOME 
ii  gnome-session-bin       2.30.2-3         The GNOME Session Manager - Minima
ii  gnome-terminal [x-termi 2.30.2-1         The GNOME terminal emulator applic
ii  kde-window-manager [x-w 4:4.4.5-6        the K window manager (KWin)
ii  konsole [x-terminal-emu 4:4.4.5-1        X terminal emulator
ii  libart-2.0-2            2.3.21-1         Library of functions for 2D graphi
ii  libatk1.0-0             1.30.0-1         The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libattr1                1:2.4.44-2       Extended attribute shared library
ii  libaudit0               1.7.13-1+b2      Dynamic library for security audit
ii  libbonobo2-0            2.24.3-1         Bonobo CORBA interfaces library
ii  libbonoboui2-0          2.24.3-1         The Bonobo UI library
ii  libc6                   2.11.2-7         Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii  libcairo2               1.8.10-6         The Cairo 2D vector graphics libra
ii  libcanberra-gtk0        0.24-1           Gtk+ helper for playing widget eve
ii  libcanberra0            0.24-1           a simple abstract interface for pl
ii  libdbus-1-3             1.2.24-4         simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  libdbus-glib-1-2        0.88-2.1         simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  libfontconfig1          2.8.0-2.1        generic font configuration library
ii  libfreetype6            2.4.2-2.1        FreeType 2 font engine, shared lib
ii  libgconf2-4             2.28.1-6         GNOME configuration database syste
ii  libglib2.0-0            2.24.2-1         The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgnome2-0             2.30.0-1         The GNOME library - runtime files
ii  libgnomecanvas2-0       2.30.1-1         A powerful object-oriented display
ii  libgtk2.0-0             2.20.1-2         The GTK+ graphical user interface 
ii  liborbit2               1:2.14.18-0.1    libraries for ORBit2 - a CORBA ORB
ii  libpam-modules          1.1.1-6.1        Pluggable Authentication Modules f
ii  libpam-runtime          1.1.1-6.1        Runtime support for the PAM librar
ii  libpam0g                1.1.1-6.1        Pluggable Authentication Modules l
ii  libpanel-applet2-0      2.30.2-2         library for GNOME Panel applets
ii  libpango1.0-0           1.28.3-1         Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  libpolkit-gobject-1-0   0.96-4           PolicyKit Authorization API
ii  libpolkit-gtk-1-0       0.96-3           PolicyKit GTK+ API
ii  libpopt0                1.16-1           lib for parsing cmdline parameters
ii  librsvg2-common         2.26.3-1         SAX-based renderer library for SVG
ii  libselinux1             2.0.96-1         SELinux runtime shared libraries
ii  libupower-glib1         0.9.5-5          abstraction for power management -
ii  libwrap0                7.6.q-19         Wietse Venema's TCP wrappers libra
ii  libx11-6                2:1.3.3-4        X11 client-side library
ii  libxau6                 1:1.0.6-1        X11 authorisation library
ii  libxdmcp6               1:1.0.3-2        X11 Display Manager Control Protoc
ii  libxklavier16           5.0-2            X Keyboard Extension high-level AP
ii  libxml2                 2.7.8.dfsg-2     GNOME XML library
ii  lsb-base                3.2-23.1         Linux Standard Base 3.2 init scrip
ii  lxsession [x-session-ma 0.4.4-3          a lightweight X11 session manager
ii  lxterminal [x-terminal- 0.1.8-2          desktop independent vte-based term
ii  metacity [x-window-mana 1:2.30.1-3       lightweight GTK+ window manager
ii  openbox [x-window-manag 3.4.11.1-1       standards compliant, fast, light-w
ii  policykit-1-gnome       0.96-3           GNOME authentication agent for Pol
ii  rxvt [x-terminal-emulat 1:2.6.4-14       VT102 terminal emulator for the X 
ii  rxvt-unicode-lite [x-te 9.07-2+b1        RXVT-like terminal emulator with b
ii  terminator [x-terminal- 0.93-1           multiple GNOME terminals in one wi
ii  twm [x-window-manager]  1:1.0.4-2        Tab window manager
ii  upower                  0.9.5-5          abstraction for power management
ii  xfce4-session [x-sessio 4.6.2-3          Xfce4 Session Manager
ii  xfce4-terminal [x-termi 0.4.5-1          Xfce terminal emulator
ii  xfwm4 [x-window-manager 4.6.2-1          window manager of the Xfce project
ii  xterm [x-terminal-emula 261-1            X terminal emulator
ii  zlib1g                  1:1.2.3.4.dfsg-3 compression library - runtime

Versions of packages gdm3 recommends:
ii  at-spi                        1.30.1-3   Assistive Technology Service Provi
ii  desktop-base                  6.0.5      common files for the Debian Deskto
ii  gnome-icon-theme              2.30.3-2   GNOME Desktop icon theme
ii  gnome-power-manager           2.32.0-2   power management tool for the GNOM
ii  gnome-settings-daemon         2.30.2-2   daemon handling the GNOME session 
ii  x11-xkb-utils                 7.5+5      X11 XKB utilities
ii  xnest                         2:1.7.7-10 Nested X server
ii  xserver-xephyr                2:1.7.7-10 nested X server
ii  xserver-xorg                  1:7.5+8    the X.Org X server
ii  zenity                        2.30.0-1   Display graphical dialog boxes fro

Versions of packages gdm3 suggests:
ii  gnome-mag                     1:0.16.1-2 a screen magnifier for the GNOME d
ii  gnome-orca                    2.30.2-2   Scriptable screen reader
ii  gok                           2.30.0-1   GNOME Onscreen Keyboard
ii  libpam-gnome-keyring          2.30.3-4   PAM module to unlock the GNOME key
ii  metacity                      1:2.30.1-3 lightweight GTK+ window manager

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