locked out of computer due to xscreensaver/ibus conflict

alex.forencich · 2013-08-08 00:48:38

Here's the setup:

-xscreensaver is installed and configured to lock the screen with a password box after some inactivity
-ibus is installed with anthy (Japanese IME)

Usually ibus is turned off or left in English mode, but not always. When it is in English mode, there is no problem. The xscreensaver timer elapses, wiggling the mouse brings up the password entry box. I can type in my password just fine and get back into my computer.

However: if ibus is left in Japanese mode and xscreensaver kicks in, ctrl+space does not change input methods like it normally would for unknown reasons and so I cannot correctly type my password. There is no indication of any problems, either, as the password box does not display any intermediate text and no kanji selection drop-downs appear; just one dot per keypress. As there is no way to turn ibus off, I cannot enter the password to get out of the screensaver. There are two 'escape' mechanisms: one is to do a hard reboot, the other is to SSH into my laptop from another computer and pkill xscreensaver.

In windows, the 'language bar' is shown on the login screen and lock screens to mitigate issues like this, but there does not seem to be an equivalent in linux.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

cfr · 2013-08-08 01:19:38

Not a solution but can you not switch to a tty and login there to bring X down without doing a hard reboot? Or enable ctrl+alt+backspace to kill X? Or enable the "magic" sysrq key. I believe the latter is disabled for security reasons but I don't know the details. Probably better as a short-term measure than hard rebooting, though.

EDIT: You might try reporting it at http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/bugs.html. There is also a FAQ and manual though a quick look didn't throw up anything obvious.

EDIT EDIT: But read http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/toolkits.html first. I think what you want may be impossible...

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Reading that makes me wonder about the security of screen locking in e.g. KDE/Gnome etc. I wonder if in KDE it is handled by KDM so crashing it would bring KDM (and so KDE and X?) down as well?

Last edited by cfr (2013-08-08 01:51:54)

alex.forencich · 2013-08-08 01:51:32

I certainly understand the security concern. I figure they must have blocked or bypassed some of the hooks that ibus uses to do its work (namely, ctrl+space) but there are still some left that are causing trouble. I don't have to be able to use ibus to type a password in a foreign language, so bypassing it completely would also be acceptable if it allows xscreensaver to accept my password.

And yes, I can switch to a virtual terminal and pkill xscreensaver. I forgot that it's ctrl+alt+F-key. I tried just alt+F-key before resorting to SSHing from another computer. I actually have not had this issue in a while, but the last time it was a problem I did not realize it might have been ibus until after I had already rebooted it.

cfr · 2013-08-08 01:54:16

Maybe you could ask the author of xscreensaver if it would be possible for screensaver to automatically disable ibus or whatever? Because I would think if anything that could only make it *more* secure. I certainly cannot see how it could make it less so.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-08-08 00:48:38

locked out of computer due to xscreensaver/ibus conflict

#2 2013-08-08 01:19:38

Re: locked out of computer due to xscreensaver/ibus conflict

#3 2013-08-08 01:51:32

Re: locked out of computer due to xscreensaver/ibus conflict

#4 2013-08-08 01:54:16

Re: locked out of computer due to xscreensaver/ibus conflict

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