Re: Session manager questions

[Gisli Ottarsson <gisli master adams com>]

>>>>> On 20 Feb 1999 15:14:58 +0100, you said:
 
  Robbe> First: why should you be logged out when your wm dies? 

You absolutely should not.  If you do, work is lost.  Also, an
inexperienced user may confuse this with an OS crash, thereby
tainting the reputation of UNIX.  We can't have that.

  Robbe> Second: there is a "Restart Style Hint" ...

This should like a very desireable feature.  Even when the logout is
prevented, the loss of the window manager (if it crashes) can be a
confusing experience.  Restaring it would definitely the right thing
to do.

  Robbe> There are also hints for "Restart If Running" (the default),
  Robbe> "Restart Always", and "Restart Never". These can pretty much
  Robbe> model the behaviour you want. Unfortunately there is no way
  Robbe> for the user to set this right now. 

This all sounds right on the money, but an intuitive user interface to
these capabilities is called for.

  Robbe> BTW, the Emacs example should work, because the working
  Robbe> directory is one of the things saved.

I have been using XEmacs which often does the right thing, but has on
occasion given me a "new file".  I'll try to be more alert and try to
isolate the exact cirumstances.

  Robbe> The SM way to do it (IMHO) is to allow saving "snapshots" or
  Robbe> "checkpoints" and later reloading these at arbitrary
  Robbe> times. 

This seems like a very simple idea with the added benefit of being
easily explained to a layperson.

Gisli