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11 |
maerct |
Ma_Sys.ma Emergency Remote Control |
2020/01/17 15:22:37 |
en-US |
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1.1.0 |
1 |
Copyright (c) 2020 Ma_Sys.ma.
For further info send an e-mail to Ma_Sys.ma@web.de.
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maerct -- Ma_Sys.ma Emergency Remote Control: Kill X11 in case of hangs.
maerct [-f] FILE
This program has to be run by the root user. It takes a Linux keyboard event
device, e. g. /dev/input/event0 and grabs it exclusively. Do not run it if
you only have one keyboard attached. -f forks twice.
NumLock CapsLock ScrollLock Description
slow off off Program operating correctly.
fast off off Program expecting input.
off fast off Process X takes >80% CPU.
off slow off RAM exceeded.
off off slow Shorttime Load AVG greater 10.
off off fast Command is being executed.
off off off Program not operating.
Key Description
ESC Cancel pending operation F1 Attempt to kill X11 process F2 Attempt to start (and immediately terminate) new X server. F4 Exit this program (no unlock required) u Press this before another operation to unlock input.
This program is intended to run as a background service on an interactively used machine with a second keyboard connected for the sole purpose of being used by this program (e. g. one can install otherwise unused PS2 keyboards for the purpose).
It then outputs a limited amount of status information in form of regular blink codes using the three keyboard LEDs: NumLock, CapsLock and ScrollLock.
Apart from displaying status, it can serve as a remote control (thus the name) for killing the X-server. This might be an interesting feature for users of third-party kernel modules (e. g. NVidia drivers or VirtualBox modules) which used to cause some X11 freezes on the machine this program was developed for. By pressing [U], followed by [F1], one can cause the X-server to be terminated, freeing access to the console (if it does not work, sequence [U] followed by [F2] attempts to restart the X-server).
Be aware that similar to SysRq-codes (which may also work in such cases), this program allows bypassing any running screensaver! In case you only want the keyboard blinking, consider using ma_capsblinker(11) (currently does not provide any status information, but does not need to run on a separate keyboard).
This program is provided together with an LSB init script
(masysma-emergency-remote-control) and a default configuration in
/etc/default/maerct which is actually a shellscript sourced into the init
script, allowing for host-specific configuration or any other logic.
To compile this program, a C compiler is needed e. g. as provided by Debian
package gcc-8-base. Additionally, the ant build tool is needed and can then
be invoked by running ant. To build the Debian package (with the necessary
dependencies installed), use ant package.