Hello Debian.org,
_
__Problem description:_
I have noticed that when desktop screen applications peg cpu usage, such
as by having many browser tabs open or a bug in a web page's javascript,
the windowing system X appears to freeze so that the offending
application cannot be closed by the user. The mouse and keyboard are
non-responsive requiring a power cycle reboot.
_To replicate:_
Open many tabs on your browser to heavy javascript pages or other high
screen usage sites such as youtube.com. System will become
non-responsive. Mouse with lag and then freezes. Keyboard and mouse
become useless.
_Apparent cause_
When entering the top command on a Debian system, it can be seen that
the Xorg process is at the same priority as screen applications such as
Browsers, email, xterms, etc. User screen control of X should take
priority over general application processes. Currently, I perform a
workaround by the following root command:
# renice -12 -p $(pgrep Xorg)
It seems also desirable that some screen apps have high process priority
than other apps. For example, xterms to have higher priority than other
applications such a chromium browser tab processes. Should the Xorg
process have a higher priority over the user application screen
processes on Debian installs? If yes, what package to report, etc. or ?
Thank you,
Glen Wetzel
