I figured out a four part solution to this problem which has been going on since 2006.The history itself (which is given below) reveals the solution.
Part I https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=144473 has a partial fix for gdm which has not been assigned to anyone. Part II The next part of the fix is that the gnome warning that your disk space is low is too weak. It should state that if you don't fix the problem before rebooting, you will lose everything. There should be additional warnings about the problem placed in ubuntu documentation. Part III, ubuntu should abandon encryption until a method is found that allows you to recover a encrypted drive when you have a full-disk. At this point, it is my view that an encrypted drive is just do dangerous if you can lose everything because you have a full disk. My proposed solutions of course would make some people unhappy but I believe they are more appropriate than what has been going on since 2006, which is basically to endlessly put off the solution to the problem. Part IV So my final proposed solution has to do with the tracker team. I'm sure we all appreciate the terrific job the tracker teams do in identifying and addressing problem. So why wasn't the problem solved in 2006? It appears the nature of problem and solution has befuddled the tracker team. The problem was difficult to recognize because a typical debug report is not possible because the user can't login. My proposed solution is to suggest that when a problem has been around for over a year that it is assigned to someone who goal is to identify similar problems in forums and other bug reports. If there is a pattern of a lot of similar bugs and/or questions not being dealt with and no one seems to have a constructive solutions, I would suggest that one person be assigned to come up with a workable solution to the more general problem. This approach would actually save time because instead of endlessly putting out small fires, you would identify an important underlying issue that is contributing to user dissatisfaction. It was quite striking to me when reading all this material, to see so many comments by experienced and highly competent progammers trivialize this issue which has clearly affected a sizeable portion of the Ubuntu community without anyone recognizing it's genuine important or realizing that a simple fix is possible. That's because the problem and solution are more about social psychology than they are about programming. You need a tracking process that addresses this issue. Sometimes the solution might be as simply as updating the documentation. For example, there is documentation about how to handle full-disks. However, this doesn't address all the issues raised in the discussions belows (e.g., how to address the problem when one has an encrypted drive). THE HISTORY Many links below including this one are assigned to gnome-bugs #144473 which means its assigned as a more general linuz problem. Unfortunately, the problem has little to do with linux it has to do with Ubuntu gdm. Next, legitimate confirmed high-priority bugs are linked to this black hole as duplicates. If someone brings it up as a new problem its moved to a question (e.g., https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/38900, https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-power-manager/+question/38900 ). As you can see below there is a lot of bugs that claim to have been fixed or illigimate because the solution is simply. You just delete some space but apparently that doesn't work in all cases. Some short-term solutions have been painted as panaceas but they are not. To make that point crystal clear imagine that you have an encrypted drive solutions involving chaning sudoers, copying your user directory or deleting $HOME/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/displays.xml or .ICEauthority file. These solutions cannot be accomplished with encrypted drives. Other proposed solutions are just silly. For example, some solutions involve logining in at the command prompt (forgetting that you can't login in at the command prompt). Others have designated the problem as illigimate because it is too vague or the original questionner has stopped responding to questions after several months or years. Some problems given high priority haven't been fixed since 2006 because no one has ever been assigned the problem. FORUM discussions are ignored and then closed. There has been a lot of forum discussions (see below). https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/22842 confirmed, importance high unassigned since 2005 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/35217 not fixed since 2006 assigned to fictional gnome-bugs #144473 which means its assigned to a linuz problem which refers it back to gdm https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/38900, https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-power-manager/+question/38900 Question form of the problem around since early in 2008 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/40216 claimed to be invalid duplicate https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/41170 triaged not fixed since 2006 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/47145 not fixed since 2006 confirmed and given high priority but remains unassigned marked as duplicate but best description of problem given here https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/66143 marked as duplicate since 2006 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/82048 marked as duplicate since 2006 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/47145 importance high. Not fixed since 2006 remains unassigned https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/62638 obsolete fix released remains unassigned since 2006 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/539959 my own take on this bug unassigned https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+question/86687 relagated from a bug to a question https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/113067 unassigned since 2008 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/118445 https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=144473 relegated to linuz from Ubuntu https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/147063 marked as duplicate http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg398823.html removed https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-power-manager/+bug/441646 unassigned since October 2009 Criticized by tracker team as too vague so probably is on the way out. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/454437 fix medium status confirmed remains unassigned https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/526379 2010 unassigned FORUM DISCUSSIONS http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1293794&page=3 Three page thread where no one has figured out what the problem is since 2006 discussion closed http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1355880 no solution found since original post in November 2009 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1309603 http://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2009-August/msg00079.html forum discussion of the issue http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1426968&highlight=login no one responded to a question about this http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8402051#post8402051 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1425752&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1422922&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1414308&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1403359&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1323293&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1396672&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1323293&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1400670&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=844249&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1396733&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1392452&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1395707&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1393178&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1392048&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1388762&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1388778&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1367342&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1363374&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1341395&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1335446&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1322001&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1301415&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1267929&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1201648&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1202527&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1202671&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1175276&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1146638&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=983024&highlight=login http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=949474&highlight=login . -- Unable to login when disk space is exhausted https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/35217 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is a direct subscriber. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
