gnome-screensaver-command --poke no longer inhibits screensaver

Confirmed, same behavior on up-to-date Karmic i386.

confirmed as well on karmic amd64 up to 18th of september.

confirmed on karmic beta

also confirmed on karmic beta amd64

just to confirm:

please go to tools->Messages->Modules tree

Is the module "screensaver" listed there?

please also move your ~/.config/vlc/ out of the wav. This will remove all your previous settings, so please make sure you have a backup of that directory. Does this change behavior and/or the output of the modules tree?

If this does help, please attach a tarball of the broken settings.

Reinhard,

I followed these steps:

1) Renamed the folder ~/.config/vlc to ~/.config/vlc_old

2) Executed "vlc", that recreated the folder ~/.config/vlc, with the default settings.

3) Went to "Tools" -> "Messages" -> "Modules" tab: the module screensaver is there (interface "screensaver" (20857912)).

4) Sadly, nothing changed. The bug is still here: VLC didn't stop the gnome-screensaver.

Rogerio

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Extra information:

a) lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu karmic (development branch)
Release: 9.10

b) apt-cache policy vlc
vlc:
  Instalado: 1.0.2-1ubuntu1
  Candidato: 1.0.2-1ubuntu1
  Tabela de versão:
 *** 1.0.2-1ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

c) I attached the tarball of ~/.config/vlc with this message.

Moving the vlc folder doesnt help for me either. .. but the screensaver module is listed.

I found a parcial solution. Like Reinhard Tartler said, i moved the folder and then opened VLC. Then i checked the option "Always on top" in Tools->Preferences->Video. This worked fine, the screensaver didn't appeared.

carlosgaldino solution does not work at all. my window is always on top anyway

@praveenmarkandu

I know it. I talked with mac_v on IRC and he said that doesn't work for him too. Was a try. All we have to do is wait, i'm sure that soon the developers will fix it.

Forget it. The "Always on top" option failed. After a reboot, the problem came back. So, there's no partial solution anymore. Sorry.

What would be usefull is the log produced by "bustle" when running vlc and playing a video.

Filtering the log on "/org/gnome/ScreenSaver" would be even better.

Debian Bug #541968 seems to be more relevant. Unsure if the two aren't actually dupes, but this one is found in both 2.26 and 2.28

Xtophe (from vlc upstream) suggested that debian bug #541968 and gnome bug #579430 may be relevant. I've checked the proposed patch to gnome-screensaver, and it indeed seems that vlc is using a function in gnome-screensaver that has been replaced by a stub (well, rather a FIXME).

If gnome-screensaver is detected, VLC sends the "Poke" and "SImulateUserActivity" signals in modules/misc/screensaver.c, function poke_screensaver. "Poke" does not seem implemented at all, and "SimulateUserActivity" leads to this function:

static void
gs_monitor_simulate_user_activity (GSMonitor *monitor)
{
        /* FIXME: reset the xsync timer? */

        /* request that the manager unlock -
           will pop up a dialog if necessary */
        gs_manager_request_unlock (monitor->priv->manager);
}

I agree with xtophe that the proposed patch from the gnome bug could help here. Would someone please try that patch out?

Packages with the patch applied are available at http://people.videolan.org/~xtophde/debian/

oups i meant http://people.videolan.org/~xtophe/debian/

xtophe's packages are built in debian/sid. packages for ubuntu karmic can be found shortly in the motumedia ppa:

https://edge.launchpad.net/~motumedia/+archive/ppa

Thanks for that link Reinhard. I want to help out, if you dont mind letting me know which of the packages in those ppa are the ones I would install, I will do so. gnome-screensaver or vlc? or both? (want to make sure I am doing it correctly so we can get proper results.)

Reinhard,

Bad news. I downloaded the gnome-screensaver from your PPA, installed it with a 'dpkg -i', but nothing changed: VLC stills doesn't stop the gnome-screensaver...

Rogerio <email address hidden> writes:

> Bad news. I downloaded the gnome-screensaver from your PPA, installed it
> with a 'dpkg -i', but nothing changed: VLC stills doesn't stop the
> gnome-screensaver...

are you sure that you restarted the running gnome-screensaver? You will
need to either logout and re-login or restart your computer.

The patch is reported to work in debian, though.

--
Gruesse/greetings,
Reinhard Tartler, KeyID 945348A4

Reinhard,

I did the test again, following these steps:

1) I was using this version of gnome-screensaver:

$ apt-cache policy gnome-screensaver
  Instalado: 2.28.0-0ubuntu2
  Candidato: 2.28.0-0ubuntu2
  Tabela de versão:
 *** 2.28.0-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

2) Then I downloaded the version of the PPA:

$ ls gnome*
gnome-screensaver_2.28.0-0ubuntu1+motumedia1_amd64.deb

3) I installed it with the command:

$ sudo dpkg -i gnome-screensaver_2.28.0-0ubuntu1+motumedia1_amd64.deb

4) Confirmed the installation:

$ apt-cache policy gnome-screensaver
gnome-screensaver:
  Instalado: 2.28.0-0ubuntu1+motumedia1
  Candidato: 2.28.0-0ubuntu2
  Tabela de versão:
     2.28.0-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages
 *** 2.28.0-0ubuntu1+motumedia1 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

5) Rebooted. (I didn't do that in the previous test)

6) And then it WORKED! For the first time I could watch a movie using VLC in Karmic.

Thanks a lot!

This package will be officially released for karmic? Or i have to install directly using the motumedia PPA?

patch confirmed to work, working on a package.

okay to upload for RC?

proposed patch

nothing to fix in vlc, I've just uploaded the gnome-screensaver patch to karmic

status update:

21:08:14 < chrisccoulson> siretart - that gnome-screensaver patch
   makes the assumption that the MIT-SCREEN-SAVER extension is
   always available, which might not always be the case

21:09:53 < siretart> chrisccoulson: oh, can you perhaps improve
   the patch to check for that extension?

21:15:07 < chrisccoulson> siretart - i'll have a look if i get
   the chance, but the patch doesn't really look right anyway.
   gnome-screensaver currently gets session idle-ness from
   gnome-session, which uses the SYNC extension and IDLETIME
   counter. applications which want to inhibit the screensaver
   should really be the gnome-session inhibit API now, although
   it would be nice to get gnome-screensaver to work correctly
   too

21:16:54 < siretart> slangasek: based on chrisccoulson comments,
   please reject my gnome-screensaver upload :(

21:18:32 < slangasek> siretart: ok, rejected

IOW: the patch needs more work :-(

It worked for me too. I followed the steps and i have no problems.

Today, after a system update, gnome-screensaver and VLC received new versions:

$ apt-cache policy gnome-screensaver
gnome-screensaver:
  Instalado: 2.28.0-0ubuntu3
  Candidato: 2.28.0-0ubuntu3
  Tabela de versão:
 *** 2.28.0-0ubuntu3 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

$ apt-cache policy vlc
vlc:
  Instalado: 1.0.2-1ubuntu2
  Candidato: 1.0.2-1ubuntu2
  Tabela de versão:
 *** 1.0.2-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Then I perfomed a new test: this time VLC worked fine and stopped the screensaver, without the gnome-screensaver package from the PPA!

It appears the problem is fixed.

Rogerio <email address hidden> writes:

> Today, after a system update, gnome-screensaver and VLC received new
> versions:
>
> $ apt-cache policy gnome-screensaver
> gnome-screensaver:
> *** 2.28.0-0ubuntu3 0

Changes:
  [ Chris Coulson ]
  * debian/patches/08_gs_dialog_request_to_exit.patch:
    - Updated to not register a handler for SIGTERM in the dialog. This
      prevents the dialog from hanging on timeouts or authentication
      failures (LP: #454959)

> $ apt-cache policy vlc
> vlc:
> *** 1.0.2-1ubuntu2 0

Changes:
  * PulseAudio: higher priority than ALSA, LP: #402018

> Then I perfomed a new test: this time VLC worked fine and stopped the
> screensaver, without the gnome-screensaver package from the PPA!
>
> It appears the problem is fixed.

I cannot see how either change could be related to this.

--
Gruesse/greetings,
Reinhard Tartler, KeyID 945348A4

I have both those updates[up-to-date karmic] and the problem isnt solved here.

I have further studied the gnome-screensaver code, and have come to the conclusion that the SimulateUserActivity functionality (this is what vlc and 'gnome-screensaver-command --poke' actually call inside g-s-s) is left simply broken.

As shown in comment #15, SimulateUserActivity asks the unlock screen to appear, but will (no longer) prevent the screen to be locked. This makes this functionality absolutely unusable for any media player application.

Xtophe points out that g-s-s is supposed to proxy requests to gnome-session. This is right, but only when using the Inhibit API.

Patching vlc to use Inhibit instead of SimulateUserActivity would be an option. However, the API is different. While SimulateUserActivity does not require any parameters, Inhibit requires three: the application name, the reason for inhibiting and a random (but unique) cookie. Currently, vlc/modules/misc/screensaver.c does support dbus calls without parameters only. And since here the low level dbus API is used, adding this is hard for me. DBUS gurus welcome. Perhaps it would be easier if that file was ported to glib so that the glib dbus bindings could be used. YMMV.

For similar reasons gnome-screensaver is uneasy to fix. It would have to somehow identify what application has poked the screensaver, invent some reason for inhibiting the saver and decide on a duration how long the supression should last.

IMO improving g-s-s to proxy the SimulateUserActivity call to the inhibit API would make it most compatible with existing applications. At least this change should be properly communicated to upstreams who now wonder why poking the screensaver suddenly fails.

I repeated the test with the official packages from Ubuntu and, after a reboot, it doesn't work anymore.

The only solution to the problem is the gnome-screensaver package from the PPA.

My system is up-to-date and the problem persists. Today the screensaver came
up while watching a movie.

--
Carlos Galdino

2009/10/20 mac_v <email address hidden>

> I have both those updates[up-to-date karmic] and the problem isnt solved
> here.
>
> --
> Vlc does not inhibit screensaver
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/428884
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in GNOME Screensaver: Unknown
> Status in VLC media player: Incomplete
> Status in “gnome-screensaver” package in Ubuntu: Triaged
> Status in “vlc” package in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in gnome-screensaver in Ubuntu Karmic: Triaged
> Status in vlc in Ubuntu Karmic: Invalid
> Status in “gnome-screensaver” package in Debian: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: vlc
>
> In karmic , while playing videos , VLC does not inhibit screensaver.
>
> This is a regression from the behavior in jaunty.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> Architecture: i386
> CheckboxSubmission: 417990aadff2335cd485c57bb06c8968
> CheckboxSystem: 5484a8dd99f006173bd2ac53fa4837c2
> Date: Sun Sep 13 19:58:49 2009
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
> Package: vlc 1.0.1-2ubuntu1
> ProcEnviron:
> LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
> LANG=en_US.UTF-8
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-10.32-generic
> SourcePackage: vlc
> Uname: Linux 2.6.31-10-generic i686
>

While this is annoying, it it does not break karmic enough to be a release blocker. There is no fix available either. But this is SRUable, so moving milestone.

So... it won't be any fix to this? I mean, a well-made fix like Reinhard Tartler said.

I have one question, before it was about this bug that vlc doesn't inhibit
the screensaver, but now i'm having a bug that the screensaver doesn't
appear after i watch a movie using vlc. Does anybody know anything about
that?

Thanks.

--
Carlos Galdino

2009/10/21 Carlos Galdino <email address hidden>

> My system is up-to-date and the problem persists. Today the screensaver
> came up while watching a movie.
>
> --
> Carlos Galdino
>
>
> 2009/10/20 mac_v <email address hidden>
>
> I have both those updates[up-to-date karmic] and the problem isnt solved
>> here.
>>
>> --
>> Vlc does not inhibit screensaver
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/428884
>> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
>> of the bug.
>>
>> Status in GNOME Screensaver: Unknown
>> Status in VLC media player: Incomplete
>> Status in “gnome-screensaver” package in Ubuntu: Triaged
>> Status in “vlc” package in Ubuntu: Invalid
>> Status in gnome-screensaver in Ubuntu Karmic: Triaged
>> Status in vlc in Ubuntu Karmic: Invalid
>> Status in “gnome-screensaver” package in Debian: Confirmed
>>
>> Bug description:
>> Binary package hint: vlc
>>
>> In karmic , while playing videos , VLC does not inhibit screensaver.
>>
>> This is a regression from the behavior in jaunty.
>>
>> ProblemType: Bug
>> Architecture: i386
>> CheckboxSubmission: 417990aadff2335cd485c57bb06c8968
>> CheckboxSystem: 5484a8dd99f006173bd2ac53fa4837c2
>> Date: Sun Sep 13 19:58:49 2009
>> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
>> Package: vlc 1.0.1-2ubuntu1
>> ProcEnviron:
>> LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
>> LANG=en_US.UTF-8
>> SHELL=/bin/bash
>> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-10.32-generic
>> SourcePackage: vlc
>> Uname: Linux 2.6.31-10-generic i686
>>
>
>

Carlos, now that you say that, I realize mine has been the same way. Did not think about it until now, but it is true.

I observe the same problem in Me TV.

This bug was fixed in the package gnome-screensaver - 2.28.0-0ubuntu3.2

---------------
gnome-screensaver (2.28.0-0ubuntu3.2) karmic-proposed; urgency=low

  * debian/patches/10_legacy_scrsvr_inhibit.patch:
    - Reintroduce the legacy inhibit API, which is wrapped by
      xdg-screensaver and still required by some applications. This API
      was removed in the current version of gnome-screensaver, breaking
      screensaver inhibit in VLC and most games (LP: #428884)
  * debian/control:
    - Add build-depend on libxtst-dev, to make the inhibit work.
 -- Chris Coulson <email address hidden> Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:15:52 +0000

This bug is NOT fixed.

Gnome-screensaver continues to become active during video playback in Mplayer.
Stop XScreenSaver is checked in Mplayer preferences.

Bug encountered on:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala amd64

Ubuntu repository packages
mplayer_1.0~rc3+svn20090426-1ubuntu10.1_amd64.deb
gnome-screensaver_2.28.0-0ubuntu3.2_amd64.deb

Bug is not fixed by 2.28.0-0ubuntu3.2

It's been working for me in VLC.

This may be a stupid comment, but if you are checking "Stop XScreenSaver" in Mplayer, why would you expect it to stop gnome-screensaver? Aren't those two different packages?

Yes they are two different packages. As far as I understand though, both XScreenSaver and Gnome-screensaver were both disabled the same way using "poke" to reset the timer. So it shouldn't really matter what mplayer lists as "XScreensaver", because the end result should reset the timer for whatever screensaver was active.

Chris seems to be of the impression that whatever issue remains, is an issue with mplayer

This mplayer bug appears similar
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mplayer/+bug/439787

The screen-saver is not disabled also when a flash video clip is watched in Firefox.

On Fr, Jan 08, 2010 at 21:55:00 (CET), Xtigyro wrote:

> The screen-saver is not disabled also when a flash video clip is watched
> in Firefox.

thats a seperate issue that has nothing to do with the defect in
gnome-screensaver-command. Please file a new bug.

--
Gruesse/greetings,
Reinhard Tartler, KeyID 945348A4

Re-opening the karmic task. I've had to back out the patch which fixes this, as it causes a regression (bug 505789)

not only with 'mplayer' but also in 'VLC' the screen-saver is not disabled...

On Wed, 2010-01-13 at 21:45 +0000, Xtigyro wrote:
> not only with 'mplayer' but also in 'VLC' the screen-saver is not
> disabled...
>
> --
My previous comment explains why this doesn't work for VLC.

Mplayer is a completely separate issue, unrelated to this bug (explained
a few comments ago)

On Mi, Jan 13, 2010 at 23:04:05 (CET), Chris Coulson wrote:

> Mplayer is a completely separate issue, unrelated to this bug (explained
> a few comments ago)

IIUC, you intend to change the XResetScreensaver() implementation in in
the xserver to reset the IDLECOUNTER. If the XScreenSaverSuspend()
implementation would call XResetScreensaver() (which seems reasonable to
me), then mplayer would be unbroken instantly!

XScreenSaverSuspend() is a pretty widly used standard API from the XSS
extensions.

--
Gruesse/greetings,
Reinhard Tartler, KeyID 945348A4

this sounds silly, but is it possible for someone to attach a deb or source of gnome-screensaver 2.28.0-0ubuntu3.2 ?
though there is that "alt" regression as reported in the other bug report, it does not affect me in any visible way and 2.28.0-0ubuntu3.2 seemed to work just fine for me

Open Synaptic, find gnome-screensaver, and select it. Then go to the Package menu and select "Force Version". You should be able to select the previous version of the package.

After you do this you may have to lock the version (also through the package menu) so that it doesn't bug you to upgrade it.

Here's gnome-screensaver_2.28.0-0ubuntu3.2 deb for karmic, I will attach the 32bits version later on...

I'm using Lucid alpha 2. I'm watching a movie and the screensaver kicks in. So, the bug also exists in Lucid.

$ apt-cache policy gnome-screensaver
gnome-screensaver:
  Installed: 2.28.0-1ubuntu5
  Candidate: 2.28.0-1ubuntu5
  Version table:
 *** 2.28.0-1ubuntu5 0
        500 http://nl.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Here's gnome-screensaver_2.28.0-0ubuntu3.2 i386 deb for karmic.

thanks freddy3980. i tried applying the diff patch and then compiling it. couldnt get it to compile. i need to up my linux-fu

No problem, but actually I didn't compile it myself, I got it from a PPA the same day that gnome-screensaver_2.28.0-0ubuntu3.3 came out and broke the "fix". Now I tried to google it and it's no where to be found... If anyone has problems installing those packages, try using the console:

cd /path/to/the/deb
sudo dpkg -i name of deb file.deb

then restarts the computer.

Mythtv needs to either use a new API for inhibiting the screensaver, or gnome-screensaver's older method for inhibition needs to work. Without one of those, mythtv's frontend is virtually unusable without whacking a mouse or keyboard every X minutes.

MythTV will not be patched. gnome-screensaver advertises --poke for suspending even in it's --help. It's what xdg-screensaver uses. The root of the problem is in gnome-screensaver itself.

This bug is still present and still VERY annoying! I'm also VERY disappointed to see its also effecting Lucid too.

I have the same problem with "VLC media player 0.9.9a Grishenko" on Kubuntu 9.04.
Neither the screensaver, nor the powermanagement are disbled by vlc.

Applying the patch attached to this bug does fix the issue and I do not see that issue with menus popping up in open office like the other bug.

Is it possible to make a dbus call from within gs-monitor.c that stimulates the inhibit correctly?
I'm no dbus programmer so I haven't had a go.

i am getting the proposed updates and am up to date and this bug isnt fixed for me.

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/attachment.cgi?id=32398 *should* unbreak most "legacy" applications (== not ported yet to the new gnome powermanagement API) .

Does the xorg-server fix also fix gnome-screensaver-command --poke? Will we get this as an update to karmic?

I'm rewriting the screensaver code in Me TV to use the org.gnome.ScreenSaver interface like I've already done for GNOME Media Player.

Does this mean it wouldn't be able to suspend the screensaver in KDE
anymore?

On Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 20:26, Michael Lamothe <email address hidden>wrote:

> I'm rewriting the screensaver code in Me TV to use the
> org.gnome.ScreenSaver interface like I've already done for GNOME Media
> Player.
>
> ** Changed in: me-tv
> Importance: Undecided => Medium
>
> ** Changed in: me-tv
> Status: Invalid => In Progress
>
> ** Changed in: me-tv
> Assignee: (unassigned) => Michael Lamothe (lamothe)
>
> --
> gnome-screensaver-command --poke no longer inhibits screensaver
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/428884
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Jeremy Nickurak -= Email/XMPP: <email address hidden> =-

Weird , this bug seems fixed in lucid with either update:
vlc (1.0.4-2ubuntu2) to 1.0.5-1ubuntu1 or
gnome-screensaver (2.29.90-0ubuntu1) to 2.29.91-0ubuntu1

Oddly , both the updates were on the same day while neither changelogs mention fixing this bug ,
But when watching movies with vlc the screensaver is now inhibited...

Is it solved for other Lucid users too or is anyone else facing the bug in Lucid?

Hmm , I'm using the xorg-edgers ppa on Lucid , btw.
Might be the xorg fix Reinhard mentions in comment #123 [oh! we have had so many comments ]

Yeah, the fix is probably in there as it was committed upstream a few days ago. As gnome-screensaver is already fixed, this will work again once the Xorg patch lands in Ubuntu

The fix that went upstream (https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25855) is included in the xserver we carry in Lucid.

Been on Lucid since beta 1. Upgraded to the latest package versions just yesterday. For the first time since the migration to KDE4 apps I kept the Kaffeine upgrade (0.8.7 to 1.0). Since this is marked duplicate of bug 531306 I should note here that when using Kaffeine screen saver inhibition, or at least stand-by inhibition, is not working when watching tv from dvb.

btw, this problem occurred in the KDE3 version package as well, was then caused by a missing build dependency (I think) and was solved with a ppa package.

I installed the motumedia packages and this seems to have fixed the issue.