Trouble with the Oops! screen

[Tassilo Horn <tassilo member fsf org>]

Hi all,

the "Oops! Something has gone wrong! [Logout]" screen appears much too
early, i.e., it appears also when the problem is rather without
consequences like some broken extension.

For example, I've just tried to install the show-a-looking-glass button
extension and restarted the shell using "r" at the command prompt.
Somehow, that didn't work and that Oops screen popped up.
Unfortunately, I had lots of applications open, partly with unsaved
work.  Logging out as the Oops screen forces users to do would have
meant data loss.

But the shell was basically working fine.  Why I know that?  I could
press the windows key, which showed the desktop for a fraction of a
second and then activated the fully working overview.  From there, I
could switch workspaces, close applications, and I even managed to
correctly confirm quit confirmation dialogs by deactivating the overview
and choosing the right button in the fraction of a second before the
Oops screen appeared again.

So, please, revamp that Oops screen so that it only pops up if there's
really a fatal error.  In any case, the user should be able to cleanly
close his applications.  If the error is that fatal that workspace
switching doesn't work anymore, that's bad luck, but still the user has
a chance to close at least the current workspace's apps.

IMHO, a good solution would be making the Oops screen a non-closable
dialog with [Logout] button that is visible on all workspaces.

Bye,
Tassilo