[Bug 407981] New: Session hangs up when metacity .sm file is missing

[metacity (bugzilla.gnome.org)]

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  metacity | general | Ver: 2.16.x

           Summary: Session hangs up when metacity .sm file is missing
           Product: metacity
           Version: 2.16.x
          Platform: Other
        OS/Version: Linux
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: Normal
         Component: general
        AssignedTo: metacity-maint at gnome.bugs
        ReportedBy: joss at debian.org
         QAContact: metacity-maint at gnome.bugs
                CC: pkg-gnome-maintainers at lists.alioth.debian.org
     GNOME version: 2.15/2.16
   GNOME milestone: Unspecified


Metacity registers to the session manager with the --sm-save-file option,
pointing to the file containing - among other things - the client ID.

When for some reason or another the file is missing, metacity cannot find back
its client ID, and the session manager waits for 120 seconds for a registration
that never comes.

In theory this should never happen, but it is nevertheless regularly hitting
users, see for example http://bugs.debian.org/391287 and
http://bugs.debian.org/315169.

I see two ways to fix this issue:
 * allow --sm-save-file and --sm-client-id to be set simultaneously, and
register to the session manager with both options;
 * use the client ID as the filename.
The latter approach has the advantage to remain compatible with older metacity
versions; I'll see if I can cook up something.


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