Bug 89985 - kscreensaver spawns multiple processes on dual head set-up
Summary: kscreensaver spawns multiple processes on dual head set-up
Status: RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Alias: None
Product: kscreensaver
Classification: Miscellaneous
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: Compiled Sources Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: kscreensaver bugs tracking
URL:
Keywords:
: 135449 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2004-09-22 00:38 UTC by zankou
Modified: 2015-01-23 14:08 UTC (History)
7 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:


Attachments
wrapper script for kdesktop_lock (223 bytes, text/plain)
2006-10-15 11:05 UTC, Thomas Eschenbacher
Details

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Description zankou 2004-09-22 00:38:11 UTC
Version:            (using KDE KDE 3.3.0)
Installed from:    Compiled From Sources
Compiler:          gcc 3.3.4 
OS:                Linux

i am running a dual head set-up with KDE 3.3 and ati-drivers "dual head" mode.  hence, i have two kde desktops with respective panels.  i have a lock/logout applet on both panels.  the problem occurs when i lock the screen from the second panel.  i have the "start screensaver automatically after x minutes" set, and this seems to be the cause.  after locking the screen via the panel applet, after x minutes, it seems KDE tries to start another screensaver process, indicating that it cannot detect one is already running.  the amount of time it takes for the problem to occur post locking matches the value i have in the "start screensaver automatically" option precisely.  i changed this value several times to verify.  more and more kscreensaver processes are spawned until the machine is overloaded.  the problem does not occur if i lock the screen from the first desktop.
Comment 1 zankou 2004-09-25 01:57:24 UTC
crashes my machine if left alone long enough... can be triggered by any command to lock the screen, as long as it's done from the second desktop.
Comment 2 Dave J 2006-04-11 22:34:40 UTC
I am running a dual head setup with NVidia drivers.  Occasionally when I lock the screen, or the screensaver starts automatically, the screensaver on screen 2 stays on.  The mouse is unable to leave screen 1, and the system is unresponsive since cpu usage is at 100% (all on X).  Going to a shell, there are many, many kdesktop_lock processes.  This latest time I also noticed that the [krandom.kss] processes had gone defunct.  Kill -9 on them stopped the screensaver on the other screen.  Other times I have been forced to kill X.

I have run this same setup on FC2, 3, and 4 with no problems.  Just recently upgraded to FC5 (running KDE 3.5.1-2.3 Red Hat) when the problem started.
Comment 3 Thomas Eschenbacher 2006-09-24 19:42:31 UTC
I have the same problem, also using dual head and NVidia drivers. Using KDE-3.5.2, gcc-4.1.1, Gentoo.
Comment 4 Thomas Eschenbacher 2006-10-15 11:05:42 UTC
Created attachment 18123 [details]
wrapper script for kdesktop_lock
Comment 5 Thomas Eschenbacher 2006-10-15 11:08:02 UTC
as nobody seems to be interested in fixing that problem, I wrote (hacked) a little wrapper script. Maybe it is useful for someone else too...

1. go into the directory where kdesktop_lock is located, e.g. /usr/kde/3.5/bin
2. rename kdesktop_lock to kdesktop_lock.bin
3. put the wrapper script (see above) there and make it executable

The wrapper simply checks if there is already one instance of kdesktop_lock running and exits if so.
Comment 6 Marc Haber 2007-09-22 12:41:50 UTC
I get the same behavior with kdesktop 3.5.7 from Debian unstable.
Comment 7 David 2009-10-10 20:27:12 UTC
I confirm the same behaviour in KDE 4.3.2 from Debian Sid (unstable).
It appears that kscreenlocker keeps spawning regardless of whether an instance is running or not. Managed to killall kscreenlocker but there are still many .kss processes lying around doing nothing.

I am also using a dual-headed display using the NVidia driver.
Comment 8 Mathieu Jobin 2010-03-05 00:47:00 UTC
I'm not sure if this is the right place or If I should submit a new bug report.

but it would be great if we could have has many instance of kscreensaver using a dual monitor (aka twinhead) setup.

some screensaver does not look good at all centered on two screens.

like the bouncing cows

thank you

... running 4.4.0
Comment 9 Oswald Buddenhagen 2010-10-23 23:56:05 UTC
*** Bug 135449 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 10 Thomas Eschenbacher 2013-12-29 09:13:32 UTC
Still the same here with Kubuntu / KDE-4.11.3 on two of my machines - with only one screen !

After a while I have dozens/hundreds of screensaver processes running, e.g. kblankscrn.kss. I had to switch to "blank screen" screensaver because other screensavers like ksolarwinds.kss would make the system completely unusable after a while due to the high load of the processes running in background.

Even worse: when logging out and logging in again, these processes get restored and the whole screen is filled with dozens of small windows, each one running a screensaver in it.
Comment 11 Wolfgang Bauer 2014-01-03 16:52:01 UTC
(In reply to comment #10)
> Still the same here with Kubuntu / KDE-4.11.3 on two of my machines - with
> only one screen !
> 
> After a while I have dozens/hundreds of screensaver processes running, e.g.
> kblankscrn.kss. I had to switch to "blank screen" screensaver because other
> screensavers like ksolarwinds.kss would make the system completely unusable
> after a while due to the high load of the processes running in background.
> 
> Even worse: when logging out and logging in again, these processes get
> restored and the whole screen is filled with dozens of small windows, each
> one running a screensaver in it.
Your problems have nothing to do with this bug report.
Those are bug#224200 and bug#314859, that got introduced with the new screenlocker in 4.10.
Comment 12 Martin Flöser 2015-01-23 14:08:31 UTC
The screen locker architecture changed with Plasma 5. The classic screen savers are no longer supported. The 4.x series won't see any further feature development, so this bug report won't be implemented as it doesn't apply to our current version any more.

I want to thank you for your bug report and for helping improving the quality of our software and I'm sorry that we were not able to provide a fix before we retired the affected component.