Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!bu.edu!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU!mouse
From: mouse@LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU (der Mouse)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re:  Hung console (Sun)
Message-ID: <9007051011.AA27318@Larry.McRCIM.McGill.EDU>
Date: 5 Jul 90 10:11:45 GMT
Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background)
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 42

> We've just installed X11/R4 on our Suns (SPARCstations and Sun 490s)
> compiled under SunOS 4.0.3 and we have the following problem:

> If someone starts up X, using xinit, .xinitrc, xterm, twm, etc., and
> then kills the server process X:0, the console is left in a hung
> state.  The system is still up (I can telnet, ftp, etc to it), but I
> can no longer use the console.  The only way I can get the console
> back is by performing a shutdown and reboot.

You'll probably find this is not the only way.  Try running
"kbd_mode -a" (kbd_mode is in the mit/server/ddx/sun directory and is
installed as part of a "make install").

If the server is being killed with SIGTERM (eg, kill with no signal
specified on the command line), this is a bug: Xsun is supposed to
reset the keyboard state when it gets a SIGTERM.  If kill -KILL (aka
kill -9) is being used, well, if users insist in shooting themselves in
the foot they shouldn't be surprised when it hurts.

> ps. I try to inform as the users to not kill the X:0 process, but
>     these systems are in a workstation lab at a university where many
>     different users come and go.

Users who randomly kill processes without understanding what they're
doing deserve to lose.  (The problem is that they also take one X
station out of service until some support type can fix it.)

You might consider hacking xinit so it runs the equivalent of kbd_mode
-a if the server dies unexpectedly; this may be the cleanest solution
for your lab.  (kbd_mode is not complicated; UTSL.  It's basically a
tiny wrapper around KIOCTRANS.)

You might also consider setting the machines up with xdm, so that Xsun
is always running as root, so vanilla users can't kill it.  (If you
have people using SunView[%], this isn't a solution for you.)

[%] Or whatever they're calling the current version of it this week.

					der Mouse

			old: mcgill-vision!mouse
			new: mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu