11.2RC1, M8 and problably earlier versions (but not 10.3):
I’ve noticed that the system won’t shut down or reboot from the X session when some user is logged in a console session (tty), but some dialog window waits for response. Any idea how to turn off that feature?
Thanks.
Why should you? This is a security feature, giving other users the opportunity to close and save what they are working on. Otherwise you would just bang the system down, no matter what other users are doing.
Why shouldn’t I? 
I’m the only user of my laptop, and in a few occasions I clicked Shutdown, closed the lid and put the laptop in my bag. You probably can imagine how hot the computer was after running for two hours in a closed laptop bag. If that “feature” cannot be turned off, then it’s a Very Bad Thing.
dcengija wrote:
> Knurpht;2052311 Wrote:
>> Why should you? This is a security feature, giving other users the
>> opportunity to close and save what they are working on. Otherwise you
>> would just bang the system down, no matter what other users are doing.
>
> Why shouldn’t I? 
>
> I’m the only user of my laptop,
Who is this “some user” that you mention, then?
> and in a few occasions I clicked
> Shutdown, closed the lid and put the laptop in my bag. You probably can
> imagine how hot the computer was after running for two hours in a closed
> laptop bag. If that “feature” cannot be turned off, then it’s a Very Bad
> Thing.
We need to remember that we are talking about multiuser multitasking
here, Linux is not Windows
If there’s another session going on while you start the shutdown in GUI,
you’ll get a popop up listing the other sessions. If you still want to
shut down it will. I just tested it.
I use to tell people: Read the question before you click ok or hit
enter. In this case: When you shut down, don’t pack your laptop too
hastily in a bag.
“Sunrise 8:09am (EEST), sunset 6:00pm (EEST) at Espoo, Finland (9:50
hours daylight)”
http://waxborg.servepics.com
Linux 2.6.25.20-0.5-default #1 SMP 2009-08-14 01:48:11 +0200 x86_64
5:35pm up 27 days 0:15, 16 users, load average: 0.16, 0.15, 0.13
I am very well aware of the fact that Linux is not windows. Also, I am very well aware of the fact that it won’t shut down when asked, regardless of the reason. It is a Good Thing that it asks me wether I want to shut down or not when something unusual is going on (e.g. another user is logged in) but it is a Bad Thing that it waits for the answer endlessly. A countdown timer, similar to that in KDE, would be just fine. Or the possibility to turn off that feature. Linux is about choice, isn’t it? My choice is “shut down when asked; prompt politely but still shut down when there’s no answer”. This is one major usability flaw, even dangerous one - cpu fan could melt down in a closed, well isolated laptop bag.
I guess there’s an option to turn that prompt off, I just cannot find it.
Cheers
dcengija wrote:
> I am very well aware of the fact that Linux is not windows. Also, I am
> very well aware of the fact that it won’t shut down when asked,
> regardless of the reason. It is a Good Thing that it asks me wether I
> want to shut down or not when something unusual is going on (e.g.
> another user is logged in) but it is a Bad Thing that it waits for the
> answer endlessly. A countdown timer, similar to that in KDE, would be
> just fine. Or the possibility to turn off that feature. Linux is about
> choice, isn’t it? My choice is “shut down when asked; prompt politely
> but still shut down when there’s no answer”. This is one major usability
> flaw, even dangerous one - cpu fan could melt down in a closed, well
> isolated laptop bag.
>
> I guess there’s an option to turn that prompt off, I just cannot find
> it.
Give your user permission to run ‘sudo /sbin/shutdown’ without root
password. This you can do via YaST or visudo.
Then make a nice button, a link to application, on your desktop which
executes ‘sudo /sbin/shutdown now -h’
This way you only get a message “system is going down now”
and it does, too.
“Sunrise 8:09am (EEST), sunset 6:00pm (EEST) at Espoo, Finland (9:50
hours daylight)”
http://waxborg.servepics.com
Linux 2.6.25.20-0.5-default #1 SMP 2009-08-14 01:48:11 +0200 x86_64
9:29pm up 27 days 4:09, 16 users, load average: 0.04, 0.10, 0.19
Seems a bit kludgy but probably works. I’ll give it a try.
Thanks!
My advice is if you don’t want a multi user system, don’t use one.
I really don’t see any reason to bash me for asking such a natural question: why the prompt cannot be turned off/doesn’t have a countdown timer. Anyway, I’ll file a feature request.
And 40 or so my posts on this forum doesn’t mean that I’m a novice in Linux. However, I’m always open to ‘mine’s bigger than yours’ kind of flame
and, my daddy can beat up your daddy… 
–
palladium
On 2009-10-19, Barry Nichols <Barry_Nichols@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>
> My advice is if you don’t want a multi user system, don’t use one.
Yeah, of course. If he wants to use Linux, he’d better have some spare users
ready, like we all do. Otherwise, how can he expect to have a “real” system.
Please…
If there are other sessions open, on most of our machines those would be our
own.
I’d vote for a timeout system, over a configurable delay. Say 0 secs to 15
min, for instance. If there really are other people connected, that’d give
them time to log out. That is, if we (the machines owner) decide to give
them that time.
–
Any time things appear to be going better, you have overlooked
something.
Finally, a reasonable response. Thank you.
Here’s the feature request:
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=549867