Preventing screensaver when playing movie?

[Attila Kinali]

On Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:19:49 +0100
Erik <esigra at gmail.com> wrote:

> Graeme Gill skrev:
> > (such as xscreensaver and the gnome screensaver) don't hook into the X11 screensaver functions.
> >   
> 
> You have reported those bugs, right? Please post the links here so 
> others can subscribe.

As a little bit of background info. These issues with screensavers
are about as old as the screensavers themselves. MPlayer's first
x11 submodule maintainer reported all these issues back than and
asked for advice. The only response he got back was "use our system,
it works" (this was in 2001!). After him, each of the x11 submodule
maintainers we had over the years tried to solve this issue together
with the screensaver authors, to no avail. 

After first trying to add support for all screensavers out there
(there weren't that many back then), MPlayers current verdict
is to use the most simple, most general solution (XResetScreenSaver)
within MPlayer itself and provide a command line option (-heartbeat-cmd)
to specify a command to be called every 30s.

And if you ask me for my opinion, it's a fucking mess created
by people who have not even tried to reuse the functions X11 already
supplies them. And i really doubt that we will have a working system
before we replace by X11 by something new (ie not in the next 10 years).

			Attila Kinali
-- 
Praised are the Fountains of Shelieth, the silver harp of the waters,
But blest in my name forever this stream that stanched my thirst!
                         -- Deed of Morred