Re: Automatic access to master
On Thu, Jun 10, 1999 at 07:47:47PM -0400, Branden Robinson wrote:
[concerning disadvantages of starting ssh-agent automatically]
> The ssh-agent aspect of your complaints has been addressed, but I haven't
> closed the bug because you had 2 or 3 other gripes in that bug as well.
>
> xfree86-1 (3.3.3.1-5) unstable; urgency=low
> [...]
> * debian/xfree86-common/Xsession:
> - clean up error handling and messages a bit
> - support new "use-ssh-agent" option
Ok, I set no-use-ssh-agent. Thanks. This would be a good candidate for
per-user configurability, though.
> While I'm at it I might as well address the other points in your bug.
[concerning annoying defaults when Xsession.options doesn't exist]
> 1) I inherited this way of doing things from the previous maintainer.
> Provided the packaging system does not fail to install Xsession.options,
> though, I don't see this as a big deal. More flexibility is better than
> less, and the options do default to the permissive state.
In the config file, not the script. In general I find it good practice to
"compile in" the recommended defaults, but this would probably change
behavior for too many people.
[concerning my claim of "surprising" changes]
> in general) only the ssh-agent change was new and surprising
Well, the missing Xsession.options gave me a start, but that's not your
fault!
[concerning my question about xinit vs. startx]
> by the way) xinit and startx have been separated since time immemorial.
> The job of xinit is just to get the X server started, and not much more.
> The purpose of startx is to get an X session in order as well.
All fair. I just meant to point out that the duplication is confusing (to
me), especially since I can't "vi =xinit" to see for myself what's going on.
Pop quiz: Who really knows that the sequence typically initiated by startx
is:
1. startx (shell script)
2. xinit (binary)
3. X (debian-specific wrapper binary)
4. XF86_whatever (specified in /etc/X11/Xserver)
5. /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc (shell script that just sources...)
6. /etc/X11/Xsession (nice, featureful debian-specific startup script)
7. ~/.xsession or default window manager
(Unless you happen to have an ~/.xinitrc on /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc that
someone told you to install....) It's wonderful that on Debian systems I
just need a ~/.xsession file no matter how X is started, but when
something's going wrong or I just want to see how things work, there's a lot
to trudge through.
I'm not blaming Brandon or asking him to change the world (well, he already
has, so maybe a little more...), but I hope you'll agree there is room for
improvement.
> If your concerns have been addressed to your satisfaction, please consider
> closing the bug.
Ok.
Andrew
--
Don't forget that Linux became only possible because 20 years of OS
research was carefully studied, analyzed, discussed and thrown away.
- kernel hacker Ingo Molnar
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