Re: [gdm-list] gdm username history

[Bob Doolittle <Robert Doolittle Sun COM>]

Hi Jon,

William Jon McCann wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 1:22 PM, Bob Doolittle <Robert Doolittle sun com> wrote:
> > Please do file a bug in any case. You're not the only person affected by
> > this. This will be a big issue when GDM is used for multi-user systems such
> > as thin client servers which may have hundreds of users and on which display
> > numbers may be assigned non-deterministically. There needs to be a way to
> > turn off login history within gdm.
> >     
> Have you tried this or are you just speculating?

I'm speculating at this point, since ConsoleKit hasn't yet been adapted 
to our thin client model (I think - I haven't been involved with that 
aspect).

> Done correctly, this
> system should be split into different seats.  ConsoleKit history is
> per seat.  So, it should not be a big issue.
>   

How do you define a "seat"?

There's nothing fixed in a typical thin client model.  A given thin 
client can be used to host any number of sessions over time, for any 
number of users.  Each session will get a display number assigned on the 
fly based on whatever is free at the time.  At my company, we have "flex 
offices" which are assigned on demand to whomever needs a space, so 
people are highly mobile wrt where they physically may create or access 
their session.  Multiple people may have sessions which were originally 
created on a particular thin client, and are later accessed on different 
thin clients.  At any given point in time, a session can be connected to 
any client, or can disconnected and waiting to be connected to a thin 
client somewhere.  Any sort of login history here is meaningless, except 
from an accounting/auditing perspective, so ideally it could be turned off.

-Bob