4.2. Disabling [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Delete]

To prevent the key sequence [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Delete] from rebooting the computer and from displaying the Log Out dialog, you must make configuration changes at both the window manager level and at the system level.

4.2.1. Window Manager Configuration

Setting the following gconf keys will prevent [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Delete] from displaying the Log Out dialog.

  1. Note in Figure 4-2 that the default global keybinding for [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Delete] is attached to the gconf key run_command_1.

    Figure 4-2. Default Metacity Action for [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Delete]

  2. To change the window manager's interpretation of [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Delete], change the run_command_1 key value from gnome-session-save --kill to something benign as shown in Figure 4-3. (Note that the appropriate key to change is /apps/metacity/keybinding_commands/command_1.)

    Figure 4-3. Resetting the run_command_1 Key

4.2.2. System-Level Configuration

To disable [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Delete] at the system level, comment out the relevant section in /etc/inittab as shown below:

# Trap CTRL-ALT-DELETE
#ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now

4.2.3. Disabling [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Backspace]

To disable the [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Backspace] key combo from terminating the X session, add a Serverflags section to the X configuration file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add a DontZap option to the section.

Section "Serverflags"

Option "DontZap"      "yes"

EndSection