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I want to run a script before I log out of my GNOME session, to warn myself if I have forgotten a pendrive plugged into the machine.

However, all solutions I have found have not been enough for me:

  • This similar question suggests editing the /etc/gdm/PostSession/Default file, but I don't have the permissions to do that. (And the file is currently empty on my machine, so there are no existing hooks to take advantage off)

  • I also found this post suggesting a workaround but, according to the first reply, it does not work if I shutdown the computer instead of only logging off.

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2 Answers

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If you want your session to block under all circumstances you need root-privileges. There's no way around that. User root can always kill -9 your processes. I am surprised that a shutdown does not make gnome emit the "save-yourself" signal. Also I believe the "PostSession" scripts are only run after gnome-session has terminated and (I believe) just before the Xserver terminates, meaning that's not the place where you would want to put a warning that's supposed to show up on screen (if I'm correct).

What may work is a Gnome application that a) reacts on the "save-yourself" gnome event AND b) reacts on SIGTERM in the same way it reacts to "safe-yourself". Beyond that there's little you can do, especially without root privileges.

However you can solve the non-root problem: Write a PostSession script that does what you want and suggest to somebody with root-privileges to deploy it on all machines as it is a sensible tool that helps users a lot. Usually the guys with root-privileges are paid to make/keep users happy. :-)

What's the problem you are trying to solve? Why may you not logout of your session when a pendrive is plugged in?

You can have a dbus client that displays "Don't forget to unplug the device!" when gvfs announces unmounting a Filesystem on a USB device. But I don't know how well that works or even serves your purposes.

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This is for my account at the computer lab; If I forget my pendrive plugged in when I logout I can leave it behing when I go home. This is also why I don't have root priviledges (and unfortunatly asking anything for the admins here is a very bureocratic process). What would I have to do to make a dbus client like you said? I never worked with something like this and I can't find any documentationon telling what messages gcfs supports when I search for it. – missingno Sep 28 '12 at 14:19
up vote 0 down vote accepted

I finally managed to actually test the Python script I mentioned as the second option in my question. It turns out that it does work when asking to shut down as well, not just on reboot.

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