unclutter shouldn't be enabled by default

[Leonidas Arvanitis]

Binary package hint: unclutter

When you install unclutter it starts automatically every time you boot your computer. This is set in '/etc/default/unclutter'.

It can be confusing for many users (it was for me). I believe the default should be changed so that the user has to enable it.

Thanks.

[RichardNeill (ubuntu-richardneill)]

I agree, the default should be disabled. My rationale:

1. Most users wouldn't necessarily expect the program to be auto-start; rather, they would expect to add it to their own X-startup scripts if they want it.

2. Furthermore, it creates really "weird" symptoms for those who don't realise what's happening. For example,
bug #782049, bug #606565

3. On a multi-user machine, unclutter is a useful tool to have present - but it shouldn't run for everyone.

4. The least-surprise principle: if you want it and it's not running, it's very easy to turn on; whereas if you don't want it, but don't know where to look, it's very hard to turn off.

For example, I usually install unclutter, alongside wmctrl, and xmacro, as a "standard convenience" on systems that I administrate. I want it to be there when I need it, but I don't expect it to run until started.

Also, the man page ("man unclutter") does not mention the init-script, /etc/X11/Xsession.d/90unclutter nor
does it mention /etc/default/unclutter, which makes this more difficult to "discover".

[Travisgevans (travisgevans)]

I think I have to agree. I wasn't expecting it to be enabled for all users, and it took me a while to discover that it was getting launched twice and why (because I had already added it to my startup manually with the options I wanted).

I can appreciate trying to make it easy for the average user to figure out how to use it given that it lacks a GUI, but auto-launching it globally forces it on users who might not want it and also gets in the way of users launching it with their own command-line options.