xexit

Homepage:	xexit
Current version:	1.04
Download:	xexit-1.04
Requires:	nothing

Rationale

I've always hated the problem of finding an appropriate program to act as the X session control program. I hated it when i forgot to xlock my machine, and then couldn't get rid of ssh keys remotely. For that matter, xlocking remotely or restarting a dead window manager remotely was also a pain.

xexit was the solution to all these problems at once. When run with the -d option, it creats a pipe in $HOME called .xexit-HOSTNAME-DISPLAY. You can send it remote commands, so long as you have write permissions on the pipe, by saying something like:

echo lock > .xexit-highlander-:0

The currently implemented commands are:

exit -- tell xexit to exit (and therefore end the session)
lock -- run xlock
ssh-remove -- run ssh-add -D
user -- run the user command specified on the xexit command line with -u option (ie. afterstep). You can also run the user command by sending SIGHUP or SIGUSR1 to the xexit process.

I also originally wrote a "run" command that would execute any arbitrary command, but that seemed too dangerous.

Installing it:

Get xexit-1.04, install it in your favorite location, and in the beginning of your .xsession or .xinitrc, say:

 eval `xexit -s`

At the end of your .xsession or .xinitrc, say:

 xexit -d

Or if you want to specify a user program:

 xexit -u afterstep -d

That's all you need to install it.

When you're actually done your session, if you want an "Are you sure?" dialogue, run:

 xexit

. . .and if you want to force an exit at the end of your session, run:

 xexit -f

by Mordechai T. Abzug <morty+www@frakir.org>
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