xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

Baz · 2015-07-27 14:11:39

Hi there

I'm trying to remove the ability to play the hidden game in xfce4-panel. I've looked absolutely everywhere and am drawing a blank.

As it is, xfce4-panel has an 'About' item with a 'Credits' section, with a game of Tic-tac-toe in the form of an easter egg.

Right click on the panel, you get a context menu with the name of the panel item at the top (example Launcher or Separator) and 'Panel >' at the bottom. Clicking 'Panel' reveals second level, which contains 'Log Out', 'Help' and 'About' options. Click 'About', then the 'Credits' button, then click the bottom item 'tictactoe@xfce.org' and a window pops open with the game inside.

I'm trying to remove this as it's inappropriate for the desired application of the computer.

I'd like to customise (or just flat out remove) the ability for the user to right click the xfce4-panel. If not, I'd settle for being able to remove the items from the 'Panel' menu.

All suggestions welcome smile

Rayonant · 2015-07-27 14:52:17

How many years have I been using Xfce without knowing about this?

Sorry but it was in fact a great surprise,however back to the topic I do not see a straightforward way to eliminate this option, the only one I guess it could work would be to eliminate this "tic-tac-toe" at compilation time, maybe ToZ could give you a hint on how to do it.

Last edited by Rayonant (2015-07-27 17:16:21)

Jerry3904 · 2015-07-27 15:13:16

I did a search on that email address, and found out that such a thing is known as an Easter Egg:

Easter eggs are secret responses that occur as a result of an undocumented set of commands.

Programmers have been inserting such things as a form of humorous signature for a long time--a well-known one in Linux is the output of this command:

apt-get moo

Since the one you mention is buried so deep, couldn't you just ignore it as a fun (always *inappropriate*) indication of "the man in the machine"?

Baz · 2015-07-27 15:19:07

I did say it's an Easter Egg!

And yes, it is inappropriate as the system could be deployed in a professional environment - not the kind of thing your customers would appreciate you spending their time 'developing'... smile

Jerry3904 · 2015-07-27 15:36:51

I did say it's an Easter Egg!

Well yes, I see you did--guess I just skipped over it b/c I didn't understand it.

If you follow your own definition of inappropriate, will you also want to remove apt-get and aptitude because they have those hidden moo jokes?

Last edited by Jerry3904 (2015-07-27 15:40:32)

Baz · 2015-07-27 15:39:39

Absolutely, I already have removed access to these by not providing access to the terminal.

Please could we stay on topic and not dismiss credible and legitimate user requirements?

Jerry3904 · 2015-07-27 15:41:15

You're right, I'm not being helpful, so I won't ask about Google Maps because "Do A Barrel Roll" causes the page to revolve 360 degrees.

Good luck with your project.

Sideburns · 2015-07-27 16:45:40

The Google Maps one doesn't work for me. If you put in the line "Do A Barrel Roll" including the quotation marks, you get a restaurant in Redlands CA. Oh well! There used to be an accidental one in bash, caused by the fact that if you specified a file that didn't exist on the CLI, you'd get a message that the program couldn't open the file:

$ cat food.in.tin.cans
cat can't open food.in.tin.cans

And, to remain on-topic, my guess is that you have two choices: compile a custom version of the code with the game disabled, or hope that your users don't find out. I'd suggest the second because I've been using Xfce for several years and this is the first I've heard of it.

ToZ · 2015-07-27 16:46:25

Had a look at the code and there is no easy way to disable it. You can compile a patched version of the source to eliminate this call or create a bug report and ask the developers to either remove it or create some way to disable it.

From panel-dialogs.c:

static void
panel_dialogs_show_about_email_hook (GtkAboutDialog *dialog,
                                     const gchar    *uri,
                                     gpointer        data)
{
  if (g_strcmp0 ("tictactoe@xfce.org", uri) == 0)
    {
      /* open tic-tac-toe */
      panel_tic_tac_toe_show ();
    }
  else
    {
      exo_gtk_url_about_dialog_hook (dialog, uri, data);
    }
}

Baz · 2015-07-27 16:48:01

Users already spotted it sad

Thanks very much ToZ, that's confirmation of my fears. I think I'm going to have to follow your advice, report and recompile it.

MountainDewManiac · 2015-07-27 21:29:13

Baz wrote:

I'm trying to remove this as it's inappropriate for the desired application of the computer.

Respectfully, you appear to be identifying this mole-hill as a mountain (IMHO).

Baz wrote:

I'd like to customise (or just flat out remove) the ability for the user to right click the xfce4-panel. If not, I'd settle for being able to remove the items from the 'Panel' menu.

Remove the mouse from the system (or disable it, if your computer is a laptop). This would, I suspect, make it rather more difficult to "right-click" on... anything.

Remove all panels. This would also appear to lessen the ability to right-click on a panel.

There's another possible solution, but before mentioning it...

Baz wrote:

And yes, it is inappropriate as the system could be deployed in a professional environment - not the kind of thing your customers would appreciate you spending their time 'developing'...

Here's a thought: Tell your "customers" that YOU haven't spent any of their time (and, possibly, money?) developing this feature, because it - along with the rest of the Xfce DE - were developed and released for free for non-specific users. The same would, in all likelihood, be true for the distro as well, unless you have created your own. Maybe it's time to level with your customers and disclose the little fact that you didn't create Xfce, lol, and that because of this little fact, none of their time/money was spent?

Failing that, you could always explain (with demonstrations, if necessary) that a person can play tic tac toe with tools as simple as a (reasonably) flat surface and a little bit of spit on a finger if there are no other materials at hand. Or that, when you use other people's work for free, the act of doing so can occasionally bring some minor unasked-for "baggage" (for wont of a better term) that you would not get if you were paying them to do the development or, at least, paying for the finished product.
[Pre-posting EDIT: On second thought, one tends to get "Easter Eggs" regardless of whether one uses someone else's "donated" work or pays for a commercial product. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Easter_eggs_in_Microsoft_products

specifically, the various (Microsoft) Windows OS sections.]

Explaining that little things like the aforementioned Easter Egg can be helpful in nourishing an investigative mind and even beneficial in basic mouse (or mouse-like device) use... Probably won't be helpful if you're not packaging everything for the young, the old, and/or for situations in which the users might not have been able to use a computer before or at least within the past decade or two (such as a prison environment, I suppose). But the other things are still relevant.

Oh, I almost forgot: Kiosk mode, permissions, Xfce. You can do a search with your favorite search tool or start with this page:
https://wiki.xfce.org/howto/kiosk_mode
Disclaimer: As that web page was last updated five years ago, the information may no longer be entirely correct.

Regards,
MDM

Last edited by MountainDewManiac (2015-07-27 21:30:07)

Baz · 2015-07-28 05:58:41

Cool story, thanks for your help.

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#1 2015-07-27 14:11:39

xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

#2 2015-07-27 14:52:17

Re: xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

#3 2015-07-27 15:13:16

Re: xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

#4 2015-07-27 15:19:07

Re: xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

#5 2015-07-27 15:36:51

Re: xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

#6 2015-07-27 15:39:39

Re: xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

#7 2015-07-27 15:41:15

Re: xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

#8 2015-07-27 16:45:40

Re: xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

#9 2015-07-27 16:46:25

Re: xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

#10 2015-07-27 16:48:01

Re: xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

#11 2015-07-27 21:29:13

Re: xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

#12 2015-07-28 05:58:41

Re: xfce4 panel inappropriate content (tic-tac-toe game)

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