Multiple X logins

[Miles Lane]

On 3/8/06, Chris Tyler <chris at tylers.info> wrote:
> On Tue, 2006-03-07 at 23:44 -0500, fedora-test-list-request at redhat.com
> wrote:
> >
> > Though recently, it seems that certain people
> > http://blog.fubar.dk/?p=63
> > are thinking about how to solve the problems associated with multiple
> > concurrent "console" user policy via dbus.  Its a long blog post and
> > it will confuse you, as it continues to confuse me, until you are
> > comfortable in dbus messaging syntax.
>
>
> I'm concerned that we're thinking too small here. There's more to this
> that multiple users on the console VTs...
>
> - multiseat systems (several video cards/keyboards/monitors on one box -
> we're seeing more of this now that we have X11R7)
> - VNC and NX remote users
> - LTSP
> - housewide multimedia systems
>
> Each of these are entangled with the console ownership issues. For
> example:
>
> - in a multiseat system, different parts of the local hardware may be in
> use by users in the different seats. Any of the users might want to use
> the disc burner or mount a CD. The user on X0 may be using /dev/snd/*C1*
> while the user on X1 may be using /dev/snd/*C2* and the user on X2 may
> be using /dev/snd/*C0*. And I won't even get into flash drives :-O
>
> - in a housewide multimedia system, perhaps the console user should only
> get ownership of /dev/snd/*C0* while /dev/snd/*C[1-9]* remain owned by
> the whole-home multimedia app, which uses them to pipe sound into other
> rooms.
>
> - LTSP and NX users may want sound to be redirected through some virtual
> sound device to their remote system. The ownership of that virtual
> device will follow different rules than the ownership of the console
> devices.
>
> We need a table of which hardware is associated which which user ID and
> which X display (whether local or remote) and a way of expressing rules
> of arbitrary complexity for how the table entries are to be updated.
> This table should be used not only to set ownership and permissions, but
> also to enable applications to use the right device, e.g., send sound to
> the correct sound card, display an icon for a new flash drive on the
> right desktop, open a DVD player app on the right screen when a disc is
> inserted.

Chris, I totally agree with you.  I raised similar concerns years ago on the
XFree86 list and others.  Not sure which lists these ideas should be
discussed on.  Maybe here:  http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xdg

       Miles