Session Menu

Bug #501864
Comment #6

Comment 6 for bug 501864

Revision history for this message

Stéphane Gourichon (stephane-gourichon-lpad) wrote on 2016-08-16:

# Current status: regression bug still observed

Bug still present on Xubuntu 16.04 running XFCE (and without a doubt with Unity, too, since logic is in lightdm which is common).

# Good discussion at the time of bug report

Robert Pollak reported it very well: it's a regression.

## Some workarounds no longer applicable with lightdm

Hugo Buddel @v-launchpad-hugo-doemaarwat-nl wrote:

> FWIW, if you disable locking the screen entirely for the accounts, then it will not lock the screen when switching users anymore.

This workaround no longer works under the new lightdm logic: lightdm always switch to a lightdm greeter even if the session is not locked.

Robert Pollak (robert-pollak) wrote:

> I am still on Karmic and my workaround so far was to train my family to use Ctrl-Alt-Fx for switching if possible. This also helped with Karmic's missing fast-user-switch.

This workaround combined with completely disabling locking might still works under the new lightdm logic. Then users then have to guess and try which session is on which VT.

Klaus Reichl (klaus-reichl) made a very good case:

> A use case for family sharing computers is also:
> - If I wanna lock, I do
> - If I switch to another user for whatever purpose,
> I don't want to lock automatically,
> since I'm switching back in most of the cases soon
>
> So what would be needed here is another option beside "disable_lock_screen", named something like "disable_lock_screen_on_user_switch" and this should really be changeable efficiently in the user switching menu.

Hugo Buddel @v-launchpad-hugo-doemaarwat-nl confirmed with:

* concrete examples
* good analysis of what is related and what is not, showing that current logic is flawed

# What now?

## Need remains

In the meantime, some tech layers have changed (specifically, lightdm replaced many other components) but the users' needs remain. And human users that share a computer (e.g. at home) want fast switching that is fast.

## Solution

Bringing back a per-user option that says "Lock screen on switching users" would be very nice.

## Proof-of-concept implementation

I opened https://askubuntu.com/questions/811953/switching-between-two-opened-x-sessions-without-reauthenticating with a proof-of-concept implementation for lightdm. Currently it just allows any user to fast switch to any user that has a session already opened (actually, it unlocks it, this can be improved). This is overkill, but at least it provides the benefit and users wishing security can use a third party screen locker (e.g. xscreensaver) to get it back.

I'm open to discussing alternate solutions, like having groups of mutually trusted users as sketched on https://askubuntu.com/questions/811953/switching-between-two-opened-x-sessions-without-reauthenticating .

Thank you for your attention.

# Current status: regression bug still observed

Bug still present on Xubuntu 16.04 running XFCE (and without a doubt with Unity, too, since logic is in lightdm which is common).

# Good discussion at the time of bug report

Robert Pollak reported it very well: it's a regression.

## Some workarounds no longer applicable with lightdm

Hugo Buddel @v-launchpad-hugo-doemaarwat-nl wrote:

> FWIW, if you disable locking the screen entirely for the accounts, then it will not lock the screen when switching users anymore.

This workaround no longer works under the new lightdm logic: lightdm always switch to a lightdm greeter even if the session is not locked.

Robert Pollak (robert-pollak) wrote:

> I am still on Karmic and my workaround so far was to train my family to use Ctrl-Alt-Fx for switching if possible. This also helped with Karmic's missing fast-user-switch.

This workaround combined with completely disabling locking might still works under the new lightdm logic.  Then users then have to guess and try which session is on which VT.

Klaus Reichl (klaus-reichl) made a very good case:

> A use case for family sharing computers is also:
>   - If I wanna lock, I do
>   - If I switch to another user for whatever purpose,
>     I don't want to lock automatically,
>     since I'm switching back in most of the cases soon
> 
> So what would be needed here is another option beside "disable_lock_screen", named something like "disable_lock_screen_on_user_switch" and this should really be changeable efficiently in the user switching menu.

Hugo Buddel @v-launchpad-hugo-doemaarwat-nl confirmed with:

* concrete examples
* good analysis of what is related and what is not, showing that current logic is flawed

# What now?

## Need remains

In the meantime, some tech layers have changed (specifically, lightdm replaced many other components) but the users' needs remain.  And human users that share a computer (e.g. at home) want fast switching that is fast.

## Solution

Bringing back a per-user option that says "Lock screen on switching users" would be very nice.

## Proof-of-concept implementation

I opened https://askubuntu.com/questions/811953/switching-between-two-opened-x-sessions-without-reauthenticating with a proof-of-concept implementation for lightdm.  Currently it just allows any user to fast switch to any user that has a session already opened (actually, it unlocks it, this can be improved).  This is overkill, but at least it provides the benefit and users wishing security can use a third party screen locker (e.g. xscreensaver) to get it back.

Thank you for your attention.