[aclug-L] Re: X server crashes Linux - why?

["Dale W Hodge" <dwh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
> Behalf Of John Goerzen
>
>
> Well there are several issues at work here.
>
> First of all, the X server takes control over the console (keyboard,
> mouse, screen).  This means that if the X server has a problem, it can
> APPEAR that the machine is locked, when in fact, it is not (you could
> still telnet in to it, for instance).  You might try
> Ctrl-LeftAlt-Backspace sometime if you think it has crashed; if it's
> not too terribly badly wedged, this chould kill th eX server process.
>
> The second reason is that the X server runs setuid root.  It has to do
> this in order to take over the console and control the video card.
> Note that the Framebuffer device in the kernel may alleviate this
> problem in some cases.  Anyway, when it is running as root, all bets
> are off as it can basically do anything.  Note that even though the
> server runs as root part o fthe time, the apps that run in X do not.
>
> -- John
>
Do you know if using magic SysRq keys will unhang it?  I've used the magic keys
a few times when something goes haywire and starts spawing infinate processes.
:-) If I could just figure out what's causing the root problem...

--dwh

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Dale W Hodge * dwh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * dwh@xxxxxxxx * dwh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
             -- www.neuralmatrix.org * www.dnd-automotive.com --
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