Killing screens

[Sam Tardif]

Hi screen users,

We currently use Zterm to communicate with serial devices, but due to 
some problems it has I am looking for alternatives. screen was a good 
choice, but I have come across a stumbling block that I can't find a way 
around.

Basically, user A logs in (on Mac OS X machine), runs a script that 
attaches a screen to the serial device, gets their output from the 
device, closes the terminal window (without ctrl-A k) and logs out. When 
user B comes along, user A's screen still exists and hogs the connection 
to the serial device. Is there any way to kill user A's screen so that 
user B can make the connection (without forcing users to kill the screen 
with ctrl-A k, because I know they will never remember)? sending screen 
-X quit before opening a new screen doesn't work as user B doesn't have 
permission. Would like not to have to use multiuser and setuid root.

Any suggestions? Is there a way to tell screens not to be persistent? Or 
is this something screen just isn't capable of?

Cheers,
Sam.