Allow .xsession-errors to be a symlink

Customer request to also backport the fix to 10.04 LTS.

I backported the patch to the current lucid version (applies cleanly), and uploaded to lucid-proposed. This needs an ubuntu-sru member to review and approve now.

Accepted gdm into lucid-proposed, the package will build now and be available in a few hours. Please test and give feedback here. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

The linked merge proposal will merge the lucid-proposed gdm branch into the lucid-backports ditto. I have built (locally), installed and tested the proposed branch successfully. It's also queued to be built at https://launchpad.net/~gunnarhj/+archive/lang-backports.

Ack from ubuntu-backporters.

I can confirm that the version of gdm in lucid-proposed functions as expected.

Specifically I tested that changing .xsession-errors to a symlink both does not get overwritten and that the symlink destination gets created if it does not exist.

This bug was fixed in the package gdm - 2.32.1-0ubuntu4

---------------
gdm (2.32.1-0ubuntu4) oneiric; urgency=low

  [ Martin Pitt ]
  * Add 44_xsession-errors_symlink.patch: Don't rename .xsession-errors to
    .xsession-errors.old if the file is a symlink. The later code will
    truncate the file to zero anyway, so even in that case the file won't grow
    indefinitely. (LP: #771661)

  [ James Hunt ]
  * Updated gdm.conf to fix gdm in single user mode (LP: #436936)
 -- Stephane Graber <email address hidden> Mon, 02 May 2011 14:41:57 -0400

Same here, tested gdm 2.30.2.is.2.30.0-0ubuntu5.2 from lucid proposed, and it preserve .xsession-errors being a symlink across reboot and session logout. Looks good to me!

Sponsored and accepted into lucid-backports, thanks!

This bug was fixed in the package gdm - 2.30.2.is.2.30.0-0ubuntu5.2

---------------
gdm (2.30.2.is.2.30.0-0ubuntu5.2) lucid-proposed; urgency=low

  * Add 44_xsession-errors_symlink.patch: Don't rename .xsession-errors to
    .xsession-errors.old if the file is a symlink. The later code will
    truncate the file to zero anyway, so even in that case the file won't grow
    indefinitely. (LP: #771661)
 -- Martin Pitt <email address hidden> Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:56:59 +0200

I am noticing something strange with this patch.

I see that .xsession-errors -> /dev/null is indeed preserved correctly.

However, I also see that a new file named ~/.xsession-errors.XX6U63VV has also appeared, and that seems to be the new file that X is writing to. Is this expected?

Thanks.

Alex,

this would happen if ~/.xsession-errors is not a regular file, i. e. symlink to a nonexisting file, or a pipe or something. So in your case /dev/null is not S_ISREG, so it would fall back to creating a new file.

Reopening to catch the "symlink to character device" case as well.

Yesterday I fixed the remaining case of ~/.xsession-errors -> /dev/null, and pushed the whole thing upstream:
http://git.gnome.org/browse/gdm/commit/?id=178459c33a64170d9ebe83ebbaeabeb05574f169

This bug was fixed in the package gdm - 3.0.4-0ubuntu1

---------------
gdm (3.0.4-0ubuntu1) oneiric; urgency=low

  [ Sebastien Bacher ]
  * New upstream version 3.0.0
  * Start cleaning for the GNOME3 update
  * debian/patches/00git_passwordless_login_crash.patch,
    debian/patches/17_use_timed_login_after_autologin.patch,
    debian/patches/19_no_greeter_for_autologin.patch,
    debian/patches/37_disable_resize_grip.patch,
    debian/patches/38_user_chooser_focus.patch,
    debian/patches/43_translate_cancel_button.patch:
    - those are fixed is in the new version
  * debian/patches/08_use_polkit_for_settings.patch,
    debian/patches/09_gdmsetup.patch:
    - drop gdmsetup, the options should be integrated in gnome-control-center
      (the autologin one is in the user account configuration for example)
  * debian/patches/09_gdmserver_gconf_settings.patch:
    - the gconf hack to turn on and off login sounds, that should be
      rewritten use gsettings if wanted, lightdm should also make that easier
  * debian/patches/10_xsplash.patch:
    - xsplash was a one cycle hack and has been deprecated since
  * debian/patches/24_respect_system_minuid.patch:
    - deprecated with the accountsservice use
  * debian/patches/25_update_gconf_directories.patch:
    - the new version use gsettings and that was useful for the
      gdmsetup configuration only
  * debian/patches/34_disable_a11y_default.patch:
    - the change was not appropriate for a sru but is fine early
      during the cycle
  * debian/%gconf-tree.xml:
    - tweaks to the default layout, those will need to be revisited with the
      new ui and gsettings if needed (no needed if lightdm is the default?)
  * Resynchronize some of the files on Debian to lower the difference

  [ Gunnar Hjalmarsson ]
  * debian/patches/36_language_environment_settings.patch:
    Set LC_CTYPE and LC_COLLATE to the same locale name as LC_MESSAGES
    (LP: #786986).
  * Patches adapted to gdm-3.0.0:
    - 15_default_session.patch
    - 30_don_t_save_failsafe_session.patch
    - 32-hide-mouse-cursor.patch
    - 45_time_display_on_greeter.patch
    - 90_register-bin-true-as-URI-scheme-handler-for-several-schemes.patch
  * debian/patches/45_time_display_on_greeter.patch:
    Display time on the greeter in a proper format also when
    /etc/default/locale assigns different locales to LANG respective
    LC_MESSAGES (LP: #777264).
  * debian/gdm.upstart:
    Export LC_MESSAGES so the weekday gets displayed in the system
    language on the greeter.
  * debian/patches/41_pt_time_format.patch:
    Patch deleted (superseded by 45_time_display_on_greeter.patch).

  [ Robert Ancell ]
  * debian/patches/42_no_ecryptfs_autologin.patch:
    - Only stop autologin if full home directory encryption is used
      (LP: #753707)

  [ Martin Pitt ]
  * New upstream version 3.0.4.
  * debian/control.in: Require accountsservice 0.6.12.
  * Drop 90_register-bin-true-as-URI-scheme-handler-for-several-schemes.patch:
    Fixed upstream in a different way.
  * debian/gdm.install: install the dummy desktop handler and the
    mimeapps.list to /usr/share/gdm/applications.
  * debian/rules: Drop installation of bonobo .server for FUSA,...

I recall trying this fairly recently under KDE (Ubuntu Precise), and it did not preserve the symlink. So it seems this needs to be fixed in kdm as well.

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Correcting source package for kdm.

This best be discussed and fixed by upstream. Please file a bug report at bugs.kde.org.

Now that ubuntu uses lightdm by default, something similar should be implemented in lightdm as well.

A similar request is https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/lightdm/+bug/1108518.