LightDM Session Locker `Light Locker` Sees First Stable Release

Light Locker, the new session locker for LightDM forked from GNOME Screensaver, has reached version 1.0 (stable).

According to its GitHub description, Light Locker aims to be simple, secure and well integrated with the desktop while not carrying any desktop-specific dependencies.

Using it, LightDM will be used for screen locking so the lock screen will look identical to the LightDM greeter:

But the good news is that all the reported bugs have been fixed so Light Locker should now work properly when resuming from suspend, etc.

Note: To use light-locker with systemd, you need at least lightdm 1.7.0. Light Locker doesn't work with lightdm version 1.7.5-1.7.9.

For more information about Light Locker 1.0, see the release announcement.

Install Light Locker in Ubuntu

1. Before installing Light Locker, I recommend removing gnome-screensaver (for Unity / GNOME Shell with LightDM) to avoid conflicts:

sudo apt-get remove gnome-screensaver

2. To install Light Locker in Ubuntu 13.04 or 13.10, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:light-locker/release
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install light-locker

If you're not using Ubuntu, grab the code from GitHub.

3. Once installed, log out and log back in.

4. Light Locker should now be used when locking the screen from the session menu or when resuming from suspend, but the lock screen keyboard shortcut won't work. This can be fixed by setting a custom keyboard shortcut for "light-locker-command -l" (this is the command used to lock the screen) or by following the instructions below.

For Unity / GNOME Shell, run the following command:

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/light-locker-command /usr/bin/gnome-screensaver-command

For Xubuntu / Xfce, copy/paste the following command:

sudo sed -i '/xscreensaver-command/a \    "light-locker-command -l" \\' /usr/bin/xflock4

Reverting the changes

If for some reason you don't want to use Light Locker any more, remove it using the following command:

sudo apt-get remove light-locker

And if you've removed GNOME Screensaver, install it back using the command below:

sudo apt-get install gnome-screensaver

Report any Light Locker bugs you may find @ GitHub.