ANNOUNCE: GDM 2.2.4.1, the "George is an idiot" release



BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM

Yes, it is true I am an idiot.  2.2.4.1 had some pretty big DOH! style
errors.  I urge everyone to upgrade now.  The biggest error was that the
GUI configurator server editting did NOT write servers correctly.  In fact
gdmconfig always screwed up your config :(  This version also has some added
features, mostly XDMCP related.  One is being able to run a script for the
WILLING response (what people see in a chooser).  The other big one is that
xdmcp/DisplaysPerHost, which was previously documented, is now actually
implemented.  This makes it quite a bit harder to DOS gdm.  However anyone
found running gdm with worldwide access should be shot, slapped with a dead
fish, and then put on a spike outside of city walls for display.  In
any case you might want to change the DisplaysPerHost from it's conservative
setting of 1 if you actually want to have more then one connection from the
same host at the same time.

I also updated the reference documentation, though no gdmconfig doc update,
that will come in time.  Another thing is that since this is such a DOH!
release I didn't have time to wait for translators to translate all new
strings.  This will be corrected in the next release ... I promise.

And now for the standard part of the release announcement:

Ahh, so you have no clue what gdm is?  Well if you've read this far ... let's
not get into that.  Gdm is GNOME Display Manager, the little daemon that lets
you log in to your computer.  It allows xdmcp multiple login displays,
selection of languages, multiple login sessions and generally is much cooler
then any xdm clone out there, mostly cuz it isn't an xdm clone to begin with.
I mean heck, it's even got a graphical configurator, so you don't have to use
the command line to hose your system anymore.

News:
=====

Highlights of 2.2.4.1:

- X server editting now actually works, and gdmconfig produces
  correct config files.  DOH!

- X server editting now enforces strict order of servers (it only sort
  of did before)

- XDMCP can now run a script to get a custom WILLING status script
  (Matt Forrest, me)

- Change the gdm extension protocol to XDMCP.  The MANAGED_FORWARD
  was being used in a wrong way and required a slight protocol change,
  as this is a non-required part of the protocol nothing will break.

- When declining a connection, give statement why it is, to aid in
  debugging your XDMCP setup.

- Implement the (previously documented) xdmcp/DisplaysPerHost
  configuration option.  So now the default is one connection per
  host, so you may need to change this in your setup if you need
  more.

- Fix one case of s/login/username/ in the greeter and in XDMCP mode,
  the button to kill the login is "Disconnect" and not "Quit"

- The reference doc updated a tad, still somewhat out of date,
  the configurator documentation has not been updated however.

- Many, many fixes mostly leaks, some minor some bigger

- Updated translations (Christian Rose, Abel Cheung, Kjartan Maraas,
  Zbigniew Chyla)

Note:  Gdm2 was originally written by Martin K. Petersen <mkp mkp net>, and
is now maintained by the Queen of England.  Although when she's not answering
her email, me or Lee Mellabone usually cover for her.

Note2:  If installing from the tarball do note that make install overwrites
most of the setup files, all except gdm.conf and gnomerc.  It will however
save backups with the .orig extention first.

Note3:  Distributors, packagers.  Please, PLEASE use the standard Gnome
script when setting things up as gnome, or at least equivalently working
scripts.  It should never be OK to just exec gnome-session, that is
considered bad form.  The script needs to read (if available) the ~/.gnomerc
and otherwise read the <sysconfdir>/gdm/gnomerc file.  This allows users and
administrators to setup custom startup for gnome.  Another thing is that if
your distro doesn't have gnome-core 1.4.0.3 or later you should probably
disable the Gnome Chooser stuff until that happens (you should update
gnome-core anyway).  Third thing is make sure to set up the X servers to run
on the correct virtual terminals if you start the gdm process before the
other login thingies.  See the end of the gdm.conf sample file.

Downloading:
============

Yay, this time I actually have RPMS for you.  Aren't you lucky.
The 5z site is updated now, but the gnome.org site will probably get
the files in a few hours, so you might need to wait a bit before updating.

So get the tarball at:

ftp://ftp.5z.com/pub/gdm/
http://download.gnome.org/GNOME/stable/sources/gdm/
http://download.gnome.org/GNOME/stable/redhat/i386/gdm/
http://download.gnome.org/GNOME/stable/redhat/SRPMS/gdm/

Alpha/Linux RPM is at the 5z site as well

Have fun,

George

PS:  Hmmm, 4:30am, before I post this it will be 5, maybe 5:30.  And I'm not
even getting paid to do this.  See how dedicated I am?  Or is that stupid? :)
In any case I spent more time on this then I wanted today.  If you sent a
patch and I ignored it.  That's the reason why it didn't get in.  I ignored
it.  Send it again.  I really hate email.  Email is evil.  Email should be
made illegal.  Anyone cought sending me email about stuff I should do would
be sentenced to 20 years of having to work with windows 24 hours a day, or
something equally cruel.  Or maybe I'll just do what I always do.  Ignore
most email ...

PS2:  It's now 7:10 and I'm finally posting it.  Sleep would help now ...

-- 
George <jirka 5z com>
   Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
                       -- Napoleon Bonaparte




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