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Date:      Thu, 16 Feb 2012 03:44:09 +0100
From:      Nikola =?utf-8?B?UGF2bG92acSH?= <nzp@riseup.net>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: How to prevent gam_server from running?
Message-ID:  <20120216024408.GA57917@sputnjik.localdomain>
In-Reply-To: <20120215165738.75518ea9@cox.net>
References:  <20120215165738.75518ea9@cox.net>

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On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 04:57:38PM -0600, Conrad J. Sabatier wrote:
> Lately, I've been hovering hither and thither when it comes to which
> desktop environment I choose when logging in, but several of them seem
> to insist on starting gam_server, which is just a real CPU hog, and
> once this thing is started, there's no stopping it.
> 

PolicyKit is like that too. :)

> I've looked and looked and still can't figure out how to disable it.  I
> can't even figure out where exactly it's being started from.  Whether
> it's GNOME or XFCE or what-have-you, at login, some add-on tool
> somewhere is launching this thing, and I just plain don't want it!  :-)

It's not just desktop environments, a huge amount of 'normal' ports depend on
it.  I'm running a bare bones window manager and can't get rid of it.
At first I thought polkit and gam_server were some kind of leftovers
from a couple of months long experiment with KDE4, but after I made sure
every last bit of KDE was gone from the system (it was like trying
to kill those packs of core hounds in Molten Core[1]; older WoW players
will appreciate the analogy) and tired to remove them, this is what I
got (and still get; some of the more amusing dependants marked):

# pkg_delete gamin\*
pkg_delete: package 'gamin-0.1.10_4' is required by these other packages
and may not be deinstalled:
ORBit2-2.14.19
atk-2.0.1
dbus-glib-0.94
desktop-file-utils-0.18
eggdbus-0.6_1
gdk-pixbuf-2.23.5_1
gio-fam-backend-2.28.8
libIDL-0.8.14_1
libcroco-0.6.2_1
libgee-0.6.2.1
libimobiledevice-1.0.6_2
liblqr-1-0.4.1_2
policykit-0.9_6
py27-dbus-0.84.0
shared-mime-info-0.90 <---
enchant-1.6.0
gsettings-desktop-schemas-3.0.1
glib-networking-2.28.7_3
libsoup-2.34.3
loudmouth-1.4.3_6
mcabber-0.10.1_2  <---
cairo-1.10.2_3,1
gobject-introspection-0.10.8
pango-1.28.4
graphviz-2.28.0
vala-0.12.1
gtk-update-icon-cache-2.24.6
gtk-2.24.6
dconf-0.5.1_3
polkit-0.99
gconf2-2.32.0_2
libgsf-1.14.21
gtk-engines2-2.20.2
librsvg2-2.34.1
ImageMagick-6.7.4.4_1 <---
goffice-0.8.17
wv-1.2.9
abiword-2.8.4_1
consolekit-0.4.3
libnotify-0.7.3_1
firefox-10.0,1
gstreamer-0.10.35
gstreamer-plugins-0.10.35_1,3
py27-cairo-1.8.10
py27-gobject-2.28.6
libgpod-0.8.0
libglade2-2.6.4_4
gtkpod-1.0.0
hal-0.5.14_18
hal-info-20091130
lxappearance-0.5.1
xorg-server-1.7.7_3,1
nvidia-driver-285.05.09
nvidia-settings-285.05.09
py27-gstreamer-0.10.22
py27-gtk-2.24.0
py27-notify-0.1.1_8
trayer-srg-1.1.4
vim-7.3.121
wine-1.4.r2,1
xf86-input-keyboard-1.5.0
xf86-input-mouse-1.6.0
xf86-video-nv-2.1.18
xf86-video-vesa-2.3.0_1
xorg-drivers-7.5.1
xorg-7.5.1
xplanet-1.2.2_1
xscreensaver-5.15
zenity-2.32.1_1
musicpd-0.16.7

Sure, some of these are not direct dependencies, but this is the end
result.  At that point I just sighed, gazed away from the computer and
decided to leave it be. :)  (Yes some of the stuff in that list can be
weeded out with pkg_cutleaves but they end coming back as build
dependencies of other stuff that I do need).

> 
> Any clues, anyone?  I'm really worn out from trying to solve this one.
> 

At this point I guess any GTK+ application (and I bet a lot of KDE ones
too) that even remotely has anything to do with Gnome is going to result
in pulling in gam_server (gamin).  Maybe it's even a plain GTK+ thing... It
seems like a lost battle.

But the CPU hogging sounds strange.  On my machine it just sits there
seemingly doing nothing with probably constant 0 % CPU load and a few
processes.


----
[1] http://www.wowpedia.org/Core_Hound_Pack


-- 
The thrill is here, but it won't last long
You'd better have your fun before it moves along...



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