Re: [gdm-list] How to handle frequent resets?

[Brian Cameron <Brian Cameron Sun COM>]

You might try using the AlwaysRestartServer=true value in the gdm.conf
file which ensures that GDM always restarts the Xserver for each user
session.  By default it re-uses the existing Xserver, which is faster, but
can cause problems if your Xserver tends to runaway or leak memory.
Using this may minimize the problems you are seeing.

The problem with restarting the Xserver when it starts misbehaving is
that you effectively logout the user without warning, which might not
be very acceptable.  Though this might be better than having the whole
machine become unusable because one Xserver is eating all the CPU.
Simply killing the user's session (such as gnome-session if using GNOME)
should restart the login screen for a given display.  If AlwaysRestartServer
is true, this will cause GDM to also restart an Xserver.

Also, you can setup your Xserver so Ctrl-Alt-Backspace will restart
the Xserver.  Educating your users to use this feature when X seems to
freeze might be useful.  Though if the keyboard is really frozen it might
not accept the keystroke.

Brian

> We run multiple local X servers under gdm, each with its own screen, 
> keyboard and mouse. We request advice on how to control "runaway" X 
> servers. This could be a result of a user logging out and the X server 
> couldn't restart due to a POST or other problem. Another phenomenon is 
> the the server eats up 99% cpu with the result that it's keyboard and 
> mouse input are frozen.
> Question: How could we launch the X servers in a script which would 
> monitor their progress and automatically restart them in the event of 
> such a problem. Other angles of attack would be warmly welcomed. It is 
> imperative that we have ome automatic mechanism until Nvidia solve some 
> problems with their boards, because in the meanwhile this causes 
> children in the classroom much frustration.
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