GDM/X server question

Reid Rivenburgh reidr at pobox.com
Mon Jun 23 01:33:19 UTC 2008


I have a fairly obscure question that I may have asked here months
ago.  It was probably mixed in with a bunch of other issues that I've
resolved, so I thought I'd ask again, just in case.

I'm always logged in to my machine (F9).  I use gdmflexiserver to
switch to the gdm greeter when I leave the machine.  I also run a
process that checks for idleness (using dbus-monitor) in case I walk
away and forget to switch; after 10 minutes, it runs gdmflexiserver.
It works well, but for one small detail: If I switch to the gdm
greeter but don't hit a key or move the mouse, DPMS never kicks in to
turn off the monitor.  The server is configured to do that after a
period of time.  If I move the mouse, then it seems to restart some
idle counter and it does turn it off.  It's as if the gdm X server
thinks the monitor is off when it really isn't (i.e. the idle counter
is already beyond the DPMS setting).  This is a problem when idleness
forces the switch and I'm not there to move the mouse.

I have two ideas for solutions: 1) Fake an event somehow after
switching; or 2) call "xset force dpms off" in my script.  I don't
know if 1) is possible, especially since I don't necessarily know the
gdm screen's DISPLAY value (maybe there's a way to get it).  I thought
2) would be easy, but it doesn't work, even if I do it as root.  I
admit I don't understand the relationship between xset and DISPLAY.

Any suggestions...?

Thanks,
reid




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