linuxmint / linuxmint/cinnamon-session

cinnamon-session-check-accelerated and its helper are still unused

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Dominant language
C
Stars
31
Forks
41
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

I asked this in #151 back in 2022; it got no reply and the stale bot closed it in April
2026, so here it is again with current findings.

tools/meson.build on master still builds and installs both
cinnamon-session-check-accelerated and cinnamon-session-check-accelerated-helper into
libexecdir, but git grep over master of cinnamon-session and of Cinnamon finds no
caller. The mechanism that would use them — IsRunnableHelper= / FallbackSession= in
csm-session-fill.c — is implemented, but no shipped .session file sets either key.

They are also redundant by now: Cinnamon detects this itself at runtime in js/ui/main.js
via backend.is_rendering_hardware_accelerated(), which in Muffin
(meta_renderer_is_hardware_accelerated()) already returns FALSE for LLVMPIPE, SOFTPIPE
and SWRAST.

Can they be dropped from the build? What to do when there is no usable GL at all is a
separate question, which I filed as linuxmint/Cinnamon#13996

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start in tools/meson.build and inspect the entries for cinnamon-session-check-accelerated and its helper. Confirm the absence of callers by checking csm-session-fill.c and the shipped session files, then review the existing runtime check in js/ui/main.js. Done means the unused programs are no longer built or installed, with the project build still succeeding.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c
Domain
build-system
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
82/100

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