Poll: Should Xorg change from using Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to something harder for users to press by accident?

Thomas Ilnseher illth at gmx.de
Tue Sep 23 01:17:37 PDT 2008


My vote is a "No" (actually a Yo)

After having read this bug, I understand that ctrl+alt+backspace might
be a problem for emacs users. 

however, I'm using vim, and there is no such problem. And I don't want
to learn another combination just due to the emacs users. And then there
might be another application that uses the x-y-z-foo-bar key combo now
used to zap the x server.

I think the way to go is to have an optional config option "ZAP-combo"
that can overwrite the default ctrl+alt+backspace sequence. Then, any
emacs user can change it to what (s)he does like.

I did actually ZAP the X server "accidentally", but that in that case,
"accidentally" means I wanted to zap it, and after wards, figured out it
actually was a bad idea ... changing the key-combo won't help there.

just my € 0.02

Tom



Am Dienstag, den 23.09.2008, 02:41 +0000 schrieb Jason Spiro:
> Problem:  Many[1] users have killed X by accident.[2]
> 
> Solution idea: Make it harder to kill X by accident.  E.g. you could
> change the key sequence users must press.
>    * Maybe require Control+Alt+Backspace then Control-Alt-Y.[3]
>    * Or require Control+K+X pressed simultaneously.
> 
> What do you think?  Should Xorg change this key sequence?  Please vote
> "yes" or "no".  You can add comments too.  If you reply only to me by
> private mail, I will eventually summarize your reply to the list.
> 
> Regards,
> -Jason
> 
> ^ [1].  See http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10510 then
> scroll down to the "== Example evidence ==" section.  Or see
> http://www.google.com/search?q=accidentally+hit+%7C+press+%7C+hitting+%7C+pressing+control+%7C+ctrl+alt+backspace+x%7Cxorg
> 
> ^ [2].  I filed a bug about this last year but it's still untriaged.
> So now I'm asking here.  It's bug 10510 (Xorg should use a more
> unlikely key combination than Control-Alt-Backspace as the server zap
> key): http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10510
> 
> ^ [3].  After Control+Alt+Backspace, the PC speaker would beep once,
> the keyboard LEDs would blink a few times, and X
> would attempt to show a warning dialog.  Thanks to Elisée Maurer at
> http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10510#c1 for the
> warning-dialog idea.
> 
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-- 
Thomas Ilnseher <illth at gmx.de>




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