Gnome-terminal tab bar steals keyboard focus

[Nick Phillips]

I'm not sure when it started, but using the version of Gnome-Terminal in latest ubuntu (GT 3.34.2), I regularly find the tab bar stealing keyboard focus.

This is dangerous.

The problem is usually that I click on a tab, leave the mouse there, and start typing. The tab bar then steals the first character typed. Sometimes I click in the terminal window, and then move the mouse out of the way (to the tab bar). Sometimes it happens later, when the mouse drifts onto a tab (maybe I knock it slightly while typing).

There are many cases in which the unexpected loss of a character typed could lead to significant damage. For example,

rm *~

losing the tilde. Or

sudo rm -rf /mnt/1/*

losing the 1.

I have preferred click to focus (as opposed to focus-follows-mouse) in X for nearly 30 years. Gnome-Terminal should not pervert this preference.

Reported upstream - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-terminal/-/issues/245

Not clear that this is 100% a bug with gnome-terminal, or whether it is an interaction between it and another part of the XWayland/gnome/gnome-shell setup.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 19.10
Package: gnome-terminal 3.34.2-1ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.3.0-46.38-generic 5.3.18
Uname: Linux 5.3.0-46-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.8
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Thu Apr 16 10:16:15 2020
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-03-15 (31 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017)
SourcePackage: gnome-terminal
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Nick Phillips (monsterlemon)]

See upstream bug report for more details.

[Nick Phillips (monsterlemon)]

As upstream bug is now closed & it seems likely not an upstream bug... it's back.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for the bug report, could you try to screencast the issue, it could be cleared than a text description there. Reading the summary it sounds like it could maybe be a touchpad generating click event when not wanted?

[Nick Phillips (monsterlemon)]

On 12/05/20 2:51 am, Sebastien Bacher wrote:
> Thank you for the bug report, could you try to screencast the issue, it
> could be cleared than a text description there. Reading the summary it
> sounds like it could maybe be a touchpad generating click event when not
> wanted?

No touchpad, not a laptop. Will be upgrading to 20.04 in next day or
two; will check whether it is still present after that.

Cheers,

Nick

[Nick Phillips (monsterlemon)]

Doesn't seem to be happening with 20.04, for now at least.

[Nick Phillips (monsterlemon)]

Oops, yes it does. To reproduce in 20.04:

* open multiple tabs.
* click on an inactive tab, to activate it. do not move the mouse at all once clicked.
* wait a couple of seconds.
* move the mouse slightly within the new active tab title, and stop.
* wait a couple more seconds.
* when the tab tooltip pops up, the focus is stolen from the active terminal frame.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Francis Chin (chinf)]

There is one important step for reproducing this bug, not only in gnome-terminal, but also in nautilus and gedit:
* open multiple tabs

* !!! reorder one of the tabs !!!

* leave pointer hovering over one of the tabs
* observe tooltip appearing, and cursor changing to reflect loss of focus in the tab window
* observe the next keypress not going to the tab window, but seemingly either the tooltip or the tab widget (not sure which); after this, focus returns to the tab window for subsequent input.