It’s turned off by default in a lot of distros these days but it can be turned back on. It used to be that editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf was recommended but because file inclusions are a thing these days, it makes more sense to create a new file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/enable-killing-xserver.conf:
Then restart the X server (which, these days, is pretty much a reboot). Or, going through the x.org documentation archives, it looks like you could dispense with the config files and run setxkbmap -option"terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp" in a terminal session and that’ll do the same thing.
There is a proposal to consider making a Wayland extension where programs can sit around and re-attach to a fresh, non-deaded display server. KDE is much closer to having a working version.
On Linux, if a graphical app does not crash from this, that is a rare exception.
On windows, if a graphical app crashes from that, that is an exception.
There used to exist a hotkey CTRL-ALT-BKSP for restarting your current X-Session, don’t know if this still exists
That’s specific to X11. It also wasn’t always enabled for security reasons (breaking out of a locked screen). Now with Wayland there’s no standard.
How is it a security risk to break out of a lock screen only to end up at a login screen?
You wouldn’t end up at a login screen, you’d end up in the last logged in user’s session.
It’s turned off by default in a lot of distros these days but it can be turned back on. It used to be that editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf was recommended but because file inclusions are a thing these days, it makes more sense to create a new file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/enable-killing-xserver.conf:
Section "ServerFlags" Option "DontZap" "false" EndSection Section "InputClass" Identifier "Keyboard Defaults" MatchIsKeyboard "yes" Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp" EndSectionThen restart the X server (which, these days, is pretty much a reboot). Or, going through the x.org documentation archives, it looks like you could dispense with the config files and run
setxkbmap -option "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"in a terminal session and that’ll do the same thing.Additionally, it terminated all gui processes. Which the windows shortcut mentioned in the question doesn’t.
There is a proposal to consider making a Wayland extension where programs can sit around and re-attach to a fresh, non-deaded display server. KDE is much closer to having a working version.
That doesn’t restart anything. That kills the X11 server.
It may or may not restart depending on system settings.
That is not an equivalent.
On Linux, if a graphical app does not crash from this, that is a rare exception.
On windows, if a graphical app crashes from that, that is an exception.
That doesn’t work for Wayland and I’m unsure which one Zorin uses
It uses Wayland
I was thinking of that when I read this and was like. windows has something like this???
That is just the key to kill the X server. It does not restart anything.