gdm leaking filehandles, causing "too many open files"

Okay, I can confirm this would appear to fix the problem.

Test procedure:

1. Log in remotely to the affected machine using ssh, run the following command:

   $ sudo watch ls -l /proc/$( pidof gdm-binary )/fd

2. Start a remote X session with that host (through Xnest, plain X, whatever)... observe that new files are opened.

3. Close the X session, observe that the files are not removed from the list. In my case, this looked like this:

Vanilla Ubuntu gdm build.
After initial start-up.

total 0
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 0 -> /dev/null
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 1 -> /dev/null
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 2 -> /dev/null
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 3 -> socket:[78942]
lr-x------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 4 -> pipe:[78945]
l-wx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 5 -> pipe:[78945]
lr-x------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 6 -> inotify
lr-x------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 7 -> pipe:[78952]
l-wx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 8 -> pipe:[78952]
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 9 -> /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-omI8J6/database
lr-x------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 10 -> pipe:[78971]
l-wx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 11 -> pipe:[78971]
lr-x------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 12 -> pipe:[78937]
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 13 -> socket:[78973]
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:34 14 -> socket:[78974]

After a few logins...

total 0
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 0 -> /dev/null
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 1 -> /dev/null
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 2 -> /dev/null
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 3 -> socket:[78942]
lr-x------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 4 -> pipe:[78945]
l-wx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 5 -> pipe:[78945]
lr-x------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 6 -> inotify
lr-x------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 7 -> pipe:[78952]
l-wx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 8 -> pipe:[78952]
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 9 -> /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-omI8J6/database
lr-x------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 10 -> pipe:[78971]
l-wx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 11 -> pipe:[78971]
lr-x------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 12 -> pipe:[78937]
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 13 -> socket:[78973]
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 14 -> socket:[78974]
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 15 -> /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-bqKAEb/database
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 16 -> /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-QC37Jk/database
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 17 -> /var/run/gdm/auth-for-vrtadmin-4oPw6L/database
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 18 -> /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-ePg83T/database
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:38 19 -> /var/run/gdm/auth-for-vrtadmin-YMcsem/database

Now, build gdm with the given patch here, re-start gdm, and try again with the same procedure. In my case, I see:

Patched gdm build.
After initial start-up.

total 0
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:49 0 -> /dev/null
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09-20 14:49 1 -> /dev/null
lrwx------ 1 root root 64 2012-09...

The attachment "The aforementioned patch for gdm" of this bug report has been identified as being a patch. The ubuntu-reviewers team has been subscribed to the bug report so that they can review the patch. In the event that this is in fact not a patch you can resolve this situation by removing the tag 'patch' from the bug report and editing the attachment so that it is not flagged as a patch. Additionally, if you are member of the ubuntu-reviewers team please also unsubscribe the team from this bug report.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by Brian Murray. Please contact him regarding any issues with the action taken in this bug report.]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Hi,

Is there any possibility of this patch being reviewed and included in the Ubuntu 10.04 series? We just had the customer at this site ring up complaining that they couldn't log in today. Turns out something reverted our patched gdm package back to the original Ubuntu one.

Think: big industrial system, and when this problem occurs we have to boot everyone off to restart gdm. It was good until the old package got instated then the service restarted, causing the old problem to occur once more. This is our problem, but you could help us a little if you put out an updated gdm binary.

Or, as a work around: maybe tell us a way we can stop the update manager from messing with the one we have now.

The original patch is linked in the original post, my revised patch is supplied, and I've given detail on how to reproduce the problem and how to check if the problem is fixed. Is there anything else I need to supply in order to get this bug resolved?