The XRandR spec should have an option to mark a change as "temporary". Such changes would not generate XRRUpdateConfiguration events. This flag would be used by fullscreen programs (e.g. games) to note that the intent is not to change the desktop size, but to lower the hardware resolution for better performance. Temporary changes would also revert after the client that made the change disconnects. Alternately, "temporary" changes could generate a different event (XRRUpdateConfigTemp maybe?) so that clients could still listen for them in case they're interested in every miniscule resolution change (screen savers/lockers come to mind).
Misread the manpage. "XRRUpdateConfiguration" should be "XRRScreenChangeNotifyEvent". Similarly, a better suggestion for the temporary might be "XRRScreenTempChangeNotifyEvent"
better idea: XRRGrab() and XRRUngrab(). allow an argument to Grab to specify whether sending RR events to other apps should be suppressed.
Sorry about the phenomenal bug spam, guys. Adding xorg-team@ to the QA contact so bugs don't get lost in future.
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 14255 ***
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