Bug 25083 - Cannot enable Xorg server zapping.
Summary: Cannot enable Xorg server zapping.
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: xorg
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Server/General (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: Other All
: medium normal
Assignee: Xorg Project Team
QA Contact: Xorg Project Team
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2009-11-13 19:58 UTC by Nick Bowler
Modified: 2010-09-11 08:57 UTC (History)
0 users

See Also:
i915 platform:
i915 features:


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Description Nick Bowler 2009-11-13 19:58:22 UTC
The Xorg man page says

  "[Zapping] can be enabled with the -retro command line or by setting the
   DontZap xorg.conf(5) file option to a FALSE value."

However, if I pass -retro, I get the ordinary background pattern, yet pressing ctrl+alt+backspace does not kill the server.  Furthermore, adding Option "DontZap" "False" to the ServerFlags section in my xorg.conf does not enable zapping either, with or without the -retro option.

This appears to be the case with all server versions since (at least) 1.6.3.
Comment 1 Julien Cristau 2009-11-14 00:44:58 UTC
On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 19:58:22 -0800, bugzilla-daemon@freedesktop.org wrote:

> The Xorg man page says
> 
>   "[Zapping] can be enabled with the -retro command line or by setting the
>    DontZap xorg.conf(5) file option to a FALSE value."
> 
It also needs to be enabled in the keymap.  xkeyboard-config 1.6 makes
it optional, with the terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp option to turn it on.
Comment 2 Nick Bowler 2009-11-14 07:08:02 UTC
Thanks, that did the trick.

It appears that adding Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp" to xorg.conf is the only thing necessary to enable zapping -- neither the -retro or the DontZap option are required.

So I guess this is a documentation bug, then.
Comment 3 Jesse Adkins 2010-09-10 23:26:16 UTC
(In reply to comment #2)
> Thanks, that did the trick.
> 
> It appears that adding Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp" to
> xorg.conf is the only thing necessary to enable zapping -- neither the -retro
> or the DontZap option are required.
> 
> So I guess this is a documentation bug, then.

The documentation has been updated as of git commit bbffb85461.. on Sep 10 11:55:34 to mention the need to map terminate to Ctrl+Alt+Backspace.
Comment 4 Nick Bowler 2010-09-11 08:57:20 UTC
Great, thanks.  Just a note, though, the man page now reads roughly like the
following:

 The follwing is commonly part of the default keymap ...  ctrl+alt+backspace
 immediately kills the server ...  note that ctrl+alt+backspace is not part of
 the default keymap.

which is a little awkward.


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