Hook for catching X.Org freezes in Ubuntu

If there will ever be a polling for the worst Ubuntu bugs, X.Org freezes would no doubt be one of the most notorious. Ubuntu developers have created a lot of special procedures to let a user gather useful data during such freezes to help debug the issues. But these methods have always been a little technical and hence not really popular among the users. Starting from the next release of Ubuntu, Lucid Lynx, the system will automatically fetch the required information and file the bug when such freezes occur.

This is implemented using apport, intel_gpu_tools, and a udev rule. Currently this feature is available only on Intel cards. Once other drivers support a similar functionality, this feature can be extended to include those cards too. According to the developer, Bryce Harrington, he is not sure whether they are grabbing the right information to debug the issues but some small adjustments in the script will make sure it does.

By now, this feature may need some improvements but this has at least removed the huge pain of collecting the required information manually for users before filing a bug.

Source: http://www2.bryceharrington.org:8080/drupal/node/110