Ubuntu
gdm-guest-session package

gdm-guest-session should be configurable

Bug #667089 reported by Gunnar Hjalmarsson on 2010-10-27

This bug affects 4 people

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	gdm-guest-session (Ubuntu)	In Progress	Wishlist	Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: gdm-guest-session

The purpose with this document is to effectively merge bug reports that request possibilities to customize or configure the guest session feature provided by lp:ubuntu/gdm-guest-session. Accordingly I have marked a few such bugs as duplicates of this bug.

The author of gdm-guest-session, Martin Pitt, has published version 0.18 of the package for the current development version of Ubuntu.
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm-guest-session/0.18

The 0.18 release includes a few hooks to facilitate customization, and I have written a tutorial to show how you can make use of that opportunity.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1566078

Please note that you don't need to have version 0.18 installed to benefit from the ideas in the tutorial. The attached tarball guest-session-prefs includes an install script that makes the necessary modifications of older gdm-guest-session files. I know it works with version 0.15 (Ubuntu 10.04), at least.

With this document I'm claiming, sort of, that the issues in the duplicate bugs have been resolved. Even if there is no fancy GUI, there is a reasonably convenient method to customize the appearance and behavior of a guest session. If you don't agree, you can simply remove the duplicate marks from those bugs that you think should keep being independent.

However, I for one suggest that minor questions or suggestions, with respect to the new opportunity and/or the tutorial, are discussed either here or at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1566078 If you, OTOH, would like to see a customization GUI, I imagine that such a wish is best communicated separately.

See original description

Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj) on 2010-10-27

description:	updated
Changed in gdm-guest-session (Ubuntu):
status:	New → In Progress
assignee:	nobody → Ubuntu Desktop Bugs (desktop-bugs)

Revision history for this message

Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj) wrote on 2010-11-18:

guest-session-prefs-0.13.tar.gz Edit (4.5 KiB, application/x-tar)

Newer version available

Sebastien Bacher (seb128) on 2011-03-11

Changed in gdm-guest-session (Ubuntu):
importance:	Undecided → Wishlist
assignee:	Ubuntu Desktop Bugs (desktop-bugs) → nobody

Revision history for this message

Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote on 2011-07-04:

The patches here seem like useful work, and they may help fix some of the bugs that were marked as a duplicate of this one. But those bugs are distinct issues which almost certainly will be fixed individually, so they should be tracked individually.

For that reason, I am unmarking the duplicates. For the record, they were:
* Bug 290507, that Firefox prompted to save passwords in a guest session. That requires code changes in Firefox.
* Bug 307196, that it is not possible to set a guest session's default keyboard layout. That requires an interface change, probably in the account settings.
* Bug 310801 and bug 463622, that it is not possible to choose a language when starting a guest session. Installing guest-session-prefs by default would be one way of fixing that bug, but not the only way, and guest-session-prefs is not installed by default.
* Bug 435930, that the guest session does not warn that files are temporary. That probably requires changes to the logout dialog at least.
* Bug 708982, that the guest session inherits login items. That probably requires a fix in gdm-guest-session itself.

Revision history for this message

Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj) wrote on 2011-07-04: Re: [Bug 667089] gdm-guest-session should be configurable

Hi Matthew,

On 2011-07-04 12:01, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> The patches here seem like useful work, and they may help fix some of
> the bugs that were marked as a duplicate of this one. But those bugs are
> distinct issues which almost certainly will be fixed individually, so
> they should be tracked individually.

I realize that my way to deal with those bugs was unconventional, and I
respect that you prefer to handle it otherwise. It would be a pity,
though, if somebody started to work with one of those bugs without
knowing about the solutions I point at via the tutorial and
guest-session-prefs.

Please note that, unlike what you implied in a couple of remarks,
guest-session-prefs does address all the issues that those bugs bring
up. Admittedly not in the most convenient manner (which probably would
be a g-s preferences GUI) but still..

Btw, there are links to the tutorial from these places:
https://help.ubuntu.com/11.04/ubuntu-help/shell-guest-session.html
ghelp:gnome-help#shell-guest-session
http://packages.ubuntu.com/natty/gdm-guest-session

> For that reason, I am unmarking the duplicates. For the record, they were:
> * Bug 290507, that Firefox prompted to save passwords in a guest
> session. That requires code changes in Firefox.

If you by Firefox mean the Firefox package, I disagree. It's a user
configuration thing, that you do in the guest's HOME directory.

> * Bug 435930, that the guest session does not warn that files are
> temporary. That probably requires changes to the logout dialog at least.

guest-session-prefs includes a login dialog about it, but I agree that
the logout dialog should better be modified as well.

> * Bug 708982, that the guest session inherits login items. That probably
> requires a fix in gdm-guest-session itself.

That's a misconception. Please see my comment on the bug report.

Cheers,

--
Gunnar Hjalmarsson
https://launchpad.net/~gunnarhj