OpenWindows used the "xlock" client, whereas the CDE screen lock is integrated into the window manager (dtwm) and session manager (dtsession), so when a CDE user invokes a screen lock via tooltalk messaging, the CDE dtsession is requested to lock the screen. dtsession locks the screen by
calling dtexec to execute dtscreen, which is the program which displays the screen saver patterns on the screen, from the dtscreen(1X) man page:
"Note that the Session Manager, dtsession, is responsible for locking the session and prompting for a password to unlock, the session manager may launch the dtscreen client to provide screen saver animations during session lock, refer to the session manager specification for resources controlling the launching of screen savers by the session manager."
However you *cannot* unlock the screen simply by killing dtscreen, this is because CDE notices its death and starts a new one, this is part of the normal scheme where dtsession invokes multiple instances of the screen saver,
in succession, to put up different patterns, also, the password dialog is part of the window manager, not the dtscreen process. The only way to kill the screen lock is to kill the user's dtsession, which ends their login session very abruptly! they will be logged out of CDE and
work-in-progress may be lost, this design was necessary to provide a secure screen-lock to the user.
Regards,
Carlos Almeida.
