Improving screenlocking (or: sessionlocking) has been on our agenda for a few cycles now. We've used the old and proven XScreensaver for a few releases, but people have always complained about its antiquated looks (which are also not customizable). Switching to gnome-screensaver wasn't an option because of the additional package dependencies. Furthermore, after gnome-screensaver 3.6, locking became more tightly integrated into Gnome-Shell, which is why Ubuntu/Unity kept version 3.6 and has maintained it for a few releases now.
Starting with 14.04, Ubuntu/Unity have switched to a new solution for locking, and so have we.
The solution Xubuntu uses in 14.04 is called light-locker . The light-locker project is a fork of gnome-screensaver 3.6, but cut down to a bare minimum (so no gnome-dependencies), using LightDM's greeter as the lock (and unlock) screen.
How does the screenlocking work?
There aren't too many changes for users. The light-locker process operates in the background and people can still lock their session in the ways they used to (e.g. through Whiskermenu's lock launcher or through a keyboard shortcut invoking “xflock4″).
Settings are configurable via a settings dialog developed for Xubuntu 14.04, called Light .. cntd
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