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Primary monitor setting is not honored anymore since upgrade to 4.12.4
Status:
RESOLVED: FIXED

Comments

Description Anaël O. 2017-03-22 20:12:37 CET
Hi,
I'm on Archlinux x64 with the following dual-head configuration:
    [Monitor 2][Monitor 1]
(so primary monitor is the right one)


After upgrading to xfwm4 4.12.4 (was on 4.12.3) all system dialogs open on the left monitor, so in my configuration the one set as secondary. Fullscreen applications like games do the same.

The layout is correct, in display configuration and in xrandr. Downgrading to 4.12.3 solves the issue so I'm assuming a bug has been introduced in between.

I could also reproduce the problem on another machine, also running Archlinux x64 with Xfce.

A user on the Archlinux forum pointed out this commit as a possible cause: https://git.xfce.org/xfce/xfwm4/commit/?id=eacc942a0698bd6103e43fd711de08773634f9c8

Regards
Comment 1 Olivier Fourdan editbugs 2017-03-22 20:55:26 CET
I think this is actually the right behavior, the location of the dialog does not depend on which monitor is "primary", but rather the actual location they specify themselves...

Previously, xfwm4 would enforce the location, but not anymore - This is a "wontfix" I'm afraid, fix the apps instead...
Comment 2 Anaël O. 2017-03-22 21:00:22 CET
I don't think this can be the right behavior. Actually it does not even open on the monitor the cursor is in (which may be a desired behavior). How can it be considered a wontfix?
Comment 3 Olivier Fourdan editbugs 2017-03-23 08:45:35 CET
(In reply to Anaël O. from comment #2)
> I don't think this can be the right behavior. Actually it does not even open
> on the monitor the cursor is in (which may be a desired behavior). How can
> it be considered a wontfix?

It may not seem the right behavior from a user point of view, or even a regression because the behavior changed and you relied on the previous behavior, but it is the right behavior from an application point of view in the sense that apps expect their windows to be placed where they asked for, and might break if placed elsewhere.

See bug 12587 as to why it needs to be this way, even if that changes your workflow. Also please note that apps themselves can and should place their dialogs according to the primary monitor, in which case no further relocation by the WM is required.
Comment 4 Anaël O. 2017-03-23 09:14:30 CET
So it should be considered normal that Xfce settings window opens on the leftmost monitor, even if it is non-primary, and the cursor is not in it? Strange behavior indeed from a user point of view.

Unfortunately it "breaks" a lot of applications that used to work well before this change, and I'm afraid their developers won't "fix" them in a near future (specially the fullscreen games using Steam, we're already lucky to have some working on Linux!).

Would it be possible to make this behavior configurable via xfce4-settings-editor? That way it could be the 4.12.4 behavior as a standard by default, but it would be possible to switch to < 4.12.4 easily. That would be really *really* awesome.
Comment 5 Olivier Fourdan editbugs 2017-03-23 11:57:25 CET
OK, you convinced me, there must be a way to improve that... But that won't be an option to restore the previous behavior though.
Comment 6 Anaël O. 2017-03-23 12:05:04 CET
That's great news! Thank you very much for taking the time to consider it. I hope we'll find a good compromise.
Comment 7 Anaël O. 2017-04-26 14:20:43 CEST
Hi Olivier, any update on this issue? No hurry, just wanted to make sure it doesn't get neglected over time.
Thanks
Comment 8 Olivier Fourdan editbugs 2017-04-26 15:34:40 CEST
Not forgotten, I have a patch ready, just haven't had time to commit/push yet
Comment 9 Anaël O. 2017-04-26 15:52:26 CEST
Amazing, looking forward to trying it :)
Comment 10 Ruben van Nieuwpoort 2017-05-04 13:46:10 CEST
I have the same issue on Mint x64 18.1. Looking forward to a patch!
Comment 11 Michal V. 2017-09-21 15:16:48 CEST
This bug has been now open for six months.

How much longer until the 'Do you want to empty your Trash?'* modal dialog stops launching exclusively on my (physically remote) secondary monitor that has absolutely no apps or anything else running on its screen and has been sitting blanked for most of the day?

(* - and several dozens of other applications dialogs, just to mention.)
Comment 12 Anaël O. 2017-10-18 13:51:23 CEST
Hi Olivier, can you provide some updates about that issue? You said you had a patch ready some months ago. Do you think it will be released on the Xfce 4.12 branch?
Thanks!
Comment 13 Olivier Fourdan editbugs 2017-10-18 14:12:37 CEST
It's all in git, both branched (4.12 and master).
Comment 14 Anaël O. 2017-10-18 14:38:21 CEST
Nice! Do you know if it's been released in a stable version yet?
Comment 15 Anaël O. 2018-03-21 09:27:15 CET
Hi Olivier,
I wanted to know if this issue is supposed to be fixed in the release I'm using (xfwm4 --version tells me it's "xfwm4 version 4.12.4 (revision 7844952) for Xfce 4.12") because I still have the impression that it's not.

Is there a 4.12.5 planned with this fix soon?

Thanks
Comment 16 Olivier Fourdan editbugs 2018-03-21 09:36:27 CET
Nope, it's post 4.12.4... a 4.12.5 release would be nice, indeed.
Comment 17 Anaël O. 2019-02-03 11:47:57 CET
Hi Olivier,
I was wondering if the fix had been integrated in 4.12.5. It's been a while now, and I would be glad to upgrade my old 4.12.3 :)

Thanks

Bug #13454

Reported by:
Anaël O.
Reported on: 2017-03-22
Last modified on: 2020-05-28

People

Assignee:
Olivier Fourdan
CC List:
4 users

Version

Version:
4.12.0

Attachments

Additional information