[Xquartz-dev] Time Machine Backup Alert

[Gene Selkov]

Sorry for driving this thread away from where it started (we should
probably continue under the 100% CPU heading), but this is just a
supplement for my observations about triggers, so you has as complete
a picture as possible.

I was performing that trap sequence again, just to gauge how reliable it is.

  Scribbled in gimp
  Switched to Activity Monitor.
  Waited 5 minutes -- nothing happened
  The screen went blank and stayed blank for 40 minutes -- nothing happened

I thought it was one of those failed experiments, and was about to
start a new one. Then,

  I touch the key on the keyboard, the screen lights up, and the first
thing I see is CPU load for X11.bin going from near 0 to 100%

I've been bumbling around with this long enough to assert this was not
random. The likelihood of coincidence was near zero, especially if you
consider what happened next.

Next, I began typing this message on another machine. The screen on
the mac went blank again (I set it to turn itself off in 1 minute),
and X11.bin continued to run 100%. I did not change focus -- Activity
Monitor still has it -- I just woke up the streen, and now it turned
itself off on its own, and could hear the fan and saw X11.bin at 100%
from this other machine.

Then, as I was about to finish what I was going to say about X11 going
nuts with the screen turning on as well as turning off, I touched the
key again and the screen lit up. X11 stopped spinning -- the effect I
could so far achieve only by touching one of the X11 clients.

I don't know if this makes the picture more clear or muddies it even
further, but now it's a more complete picture.

These machines have become as complex as all things in Nature.

... At this point, a friend sent a message to my skype on the mac (I
heard a beep), making me touch the screen, which went blank a few
minutes ago,  and we're at 100% again.

The trigger is not random. Access to it may be.

... many minutes and serveral screen-blanking cycels later, X11 is
still running at 100%. I avoided touching it. So the conclusion for
now is that the condition is stable, but can be disrupted by activity
in X11. It can also be disrupted by other things (such as screen
turning off or on). And it can also be precipitated by the same
events, except for normal user events in X11, which only disrupt it.

I don't know what to think. Must call it a day.

--Gene