I'm sorry, I misread your bug report. The bug in fast-user-switch-
applet is related, but not the same as the bug you reported. I do have
the same problem as you, however.
As far as I understand it, your bug is partially due to a limitation in
gnome-screensaver, partially due to a limitation in gdm, and partially
due to a limitation in the Linux kernel. I'm not sure the best package
to assign to this bug, so I just changed it back to gdm.
gnome-screensaver's contribution: When you click on the "Switch User"
button in the unlock dialog box, gnome-screensaver executes the command
"gdmflexiserver --startnew Standard" (see the do_user_switch() function
in gs-lock-plug.c). Looking at the output of "gdmflexiserver --help",
it's not clear to me what the "Standard" parameter does. The man page
doesn't even mention the "--startnew" parameter. However, I'm assuming
that "Standard" is either ignored or it instructs gdmflexiserver to
start a new server as defined in the [server-Standard] section of
gdm.conf(-custom). If that parameter is not ignored, attempting to
start a new instance of the "Standard" server is not the right thing to
do in a multi-seat configuration like yours and mine.
gdmflexiserver's (part of gdm) contribution: I'm less clear about how
gdmflexiserver works, but as far as I understand it, gdmflexiserver does
its job by firing up a new instance of the X server on an unused Linux
virtual terminal. I'm not sure which server section in
gdm.conf(-custom) it reads -- it has something to do with the
"flexible=true" option. It could be firing up an instance of the wrong
server. Unfortunately, the "flexible" gdm option isn't well documented.
At any rate, there doesn't seem to be a way to run multiple X servers at
the same seat without the use of Linux virtual terminals, and this has
problems due to Linux's lack of support for multiple consoles (see
below).
Linux kernel's contribution: Linux only supports one console. That one
console has many virtual terminals. Since there is only one Linux
console (even in a multi-seat X setup), switching virtual terminals
affects all seats (hit Ctrl-Alt-F1 and you'll see what I mean. Hit
Alt-F7 to go back). This is why multi-seat setups should use the
"-novtswitch" X argument in addition to the "-sharevts" argument. I'm
guessing that this limitation is what fundamentally prevents
gdmflexiserver from working properly.
So from what I can tell, there's no easy fix for this. The best you can
do for now is probably set "flexible=false" in gdm.conf and never use
the user switch functionality.
** Changed in: gdm (Ubuntu)
Sourcepackagename: fast-user-switch-applet => gdm
** Changed in: fast-user-switch-applet
Importance: Unknown => Undecided
Bugwatch: GNOME Bug Tracker #368704 => None
Status: Confirmed => New
--
multiseat gdm won't switch users
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/158245
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