Sloppy focus mode broken in 16.04 beta2

[Yoav Weiss]

Switching to "sloppy" focus mode doesn't work and behaves like "mouse mode".

I switched using unity-tweak-tool by going to Workspace Settings -> Additional -> Focus mode. Both "mouse" and "sloppy" result in the same behavior, with focus following mouse and not focusing on anything when the mouse is on the root window.

Sloppy previously meant that focus changed when mouse was entering a window, but not when leaving it.

I'm not sure if it's a bug in xorg or in unity.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+13ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-17.33-generic 4.4.6
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-17-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Wed Apr 6 18:55:13 2016
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: xenial
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 virtualbox, 5.0.16, 4.4.0-16-generic, x86_64: installed
 virtualbox, 5.0.16, 4.4.0-17-generic, x86_64: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Sky Lake Integrated Graphics [8086:1916] (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Skylake Integrated Graphics [17aa:2233]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-03-29 (8 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Beta amd64 (20160323)
MachineType: LENOVO 20F9CTO1WW
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.4.0-17-generic.efi.signed root=/dev/mapper/hostname-root ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 01/15/2016
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: N1CET37W (1.05 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 20F9CTO1WW
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: SDK0J40709 WIN
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: None
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrN1CET37W(1.05):bd01/15/2016:svnLENOVO:pn20F9CTO1WW:pvrThinkPadT460s:rvnLENOVO:rn20F9CTO1WW:rvrSDK0J40709WIN:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNone:
dmi.product.name: 20F9CTO1WW
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T460s
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160331-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.67-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 11.1.2-1ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 11.1.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.18.3-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.10.1-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.6.1-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20160325-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.12-1build2
xserver.bootTime: Wed Apr 6 18:42:12 2016
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 1178
 vendor LGD
xserver.version: 2:1.18.3-1ubuntu1

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

works here just fine

[Yoav Weiss (weiss-yoav)]

I'm testing it with the latest 16.04 update, running Unity.

I open a terminal, move the mouse into it, so it focuses and I can type into the terminal. Then I move the mouse out of the window, to the root window (no other window exists). I see the terminal lose focus, and if I type anything, the keystrokes go to the root window (actually appearing in a text field in the bottom right). So it's not working as it used to.

Is unity-tweak-tool the wrong way to turn it on? Anything else I could test?

[Yoav Weiss (weiss-yoav)]

Adding more info:

The problem is that what's visible as the root window isn't really the root window. It has some X client running on top of it, so it gets the focus as the mouse enters it. I verified this by running xkill and clicking the root window. It actually killed something, which wouldn't have happened with a normal root window:

xkill: killing creator of resource 0x280000a

After killing that invisible layer, "sloppy" starts working as it should.

So the problem is an incompatibility between "sloppy mode" and whatever app runs on top of the root window and presents a text field at the bottom right when typing in the root window. I don't know what this app is, but it has to be disabled in sloppy mode.

[Yoav Weiss (weiss-yoav)]

Another piece of info: the X client that prevents sloppy mode from working is "nautilus". Killing nautilus makes the root window behave normally and not grab the focus.

[Brian Campbell (bacam)]

There's a setting in the CompizConfig Settings Manager (General Options > Focus & Raise Behaviour > Focus Desktop) that controls the behaviour for me in 16.04. It was on by default, and despite selecting sloppy mode in Unity Tweak Tool it would focus the desktop. However turning it off gave me the usual "sloppy mode" I expected.

[Yoav Weiss (weiss-yoav)]

Thanks, Brian. That solved the problem for me as well. So I guess the bug is that it has to be set in two different places, in unity-tweak-tool and in ccsm. At least there's an easy workaround so I don't have to keep killing nautilus.