Alt+shift+tab does nothing

[jussir]

Binary package hint: compiz

This is a fresh install of hardy x86_64, keyboard model is Generic 105-key (Intl) PC, layout is Finnish. I installed the updates that were available, after that I enabled extra visual effects from the appearance menu. Then noticed that alt+shift+tab does nothing, when it should switch to the previous window. Alt+tab works properly thought. Without compiz enabled (extra visual effects), they both work.

[Kjell Braden (afflux)]

<Shift><Alt>Tab doesn't work for me out of the box either in any effects "category" (normal effects / extra effects) while it does when using no desktop effects. Manually setting /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/switch_windows_backward worked around this issue.

I'm using compiz 1:0.7.0-0ubuntu1.

[David Barrett (dbarrett)]

Same problem here. Alt-Tab works, but Alt-Shift-Tab does nothing. Everything works if I disable "Visual Effects" in System/Preferences/Appearances. I have stock/updated 7.10 install on Sony PCG-TR3AP with Intel 85x video card.

Not sure if it's related, but I also have a strange problem where when I Alt-Tab, the entire switcher window shifts over to the right side of the screen about 500ms after appearing. Ie, it appears in the center of the screen, and then suddenly jumps over to the right about 25% off the right edge of the screen. Similarly, the window text shoots to the left edge of the window, no longer centered. I only mention these problems here because they, likewise, disapper when visual effects are disabled.

All these problems are reliably repeatable.

dbarrett@LappyReborn:~$ apt-cache show --installed compiz | egrep "Package|Version"
Package: compiz
Version: 1:0.6.0+git20071008-0ubuntu1.1
Package: compiz
Version: 1:0.6.0+git20071008-0ubuntu1
dbarrett@LappyReborn:~$

[David Barrett (dbarrett)]

Ah, quick clarification and update:

1) If I choose "Normal" desktop effects the "shifts right after 500ms" bug goes away, but the Shift-Alt-Tab bug remains.

2) If I manually set the keybinding as Kjell recommends, *all* problems go away. In other words, Shift-Alt-Tab works, and the Switcher window doesn't jump right after a half-second.

Digging a bit deeper, I noticed that "/apps/metacity/global_keybindings/switch_windows_backward" was set to the string "disabled". Setting it to "<Shift><Alt>Tab" fixes it, but also just clearing the string (ie, setting it to "") fixes it too.

Finally, setting that preference back to "disabled" makes Shift-Alt-Tab stop working (which I guess makes sense), but doesn't recreate the "switcher window jumps right" bug.

So, the upshot is this doesn't really seem like a bug, but rather the Metacity application is misconfigured by default to disable Shift-Alt-Tab. Furthermore, my "switcher window jumps right" bug seems unrelated and (now) unreproducible.

-david

[Kjell Braden (afflux)]

On Mi, 2008-02-20 at 01:33 +0000, David Barrett wrote:
> Not sure if it's related, but I also have a strange problem where when I
> Alt-Tab, the entire switcher window shifts over to the right side of the
> screen about 500ms after appearing. Ie, it appears in the center of the
> screen, and then suddenly jumps over to the right about 25% off the
> right edge of the screen. Similarly, the window text shoots to the left
> edge of the window, no longer centered. I only mention these problems
> here because they, likewise, disapper when visual effects are disabled.

The problem with the shifted application switcher is bug 158877 which is
fixed upstream an needs to be synced into ubuntu.