window list goes blank with compiz

[Benson Margulies]

Binary package hint: gnome-panel

hardy. compiz. expo turned on, 4 desktops.

From time to time, the window list goes blank. The buttons are still there, you can click on them, but their contents are not drawn.

I don't have a repro recipe, but it happens to me constantly.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

compiz configuration issue

[Benson Margulies (bimargulies)]

I don't understand how this is configuration. Nothing else suffers
from a similiar problem, and when I ran xubuntu I never saw anything
like it. Only the gnome window list ever gets hit.

On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 4:56 AM, Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> wrote:
> compiz configuration issue
>
> ** Changed in: compiz (Ubuntu)
> Sourcepackagename: gnome-panel => compiz
> Importance: Undecided => Low
>
> --
> window list goes blank with compiz
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/261716
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Nanley Chery (nanoman)]

This happens to me daily and is very annoying. I haven't quite pinpointed the reason, but my gnome panel is set to 50pix, and "expand" is disabled (so i have double stacked window list).

[Nanley Chery (nanoman)]

I have been able to reproduce this by switching between workspaces rapidly. The panel must not be expanded, and one of those workspaces must have a larger panel than others. For more detail, see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/204657/comments/2 .

[Travis Pew (travisp)]

I don't really notice this when switching between workspaces.

However, other compiz features, such as "Group and Tab Windows" cause the blanking of the window list to be permanent until something forces a reload of the list (such as a new window):

1) Select two windows (super+s default)
2) Group them (super+g)
3) Make a tab group (super+t)
4) Change tabs (super+right_arrow or super+left_arrow)

I have an Nvidia 9800gtx+ with Nvidia 177.82 drivers installed.
It only happens when the gnome panel "expand" preference is disabled.

[jhaiduce (jhaiduce)]

I see this blanking constantly, often but not always triggered by switching workspaces. I also find that when I switch workspaces or close windows, the window list takes longer to reflect the change when compiz is running. The problem seems to go away if I select the "Expand" option on the panel containing the window list.

To reproduce:

1) Turn off the "Expand" option on the panel containing the window list
2) Switch workspaces, and the window list will take longer than usual to reflect the change. At some point the window list will blank as well.

I have an integrated NVidia GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 with the Nvidia 177.82 driver.

[Derek White (d-man97)]

AMD Athlon XP 1800+ 32-bit
ATI Radeon 9550 (ati/radeon x.org driver)

I have been getting this throughout 8.04 & 8.10 and it seems to be one of those problems where threads are "racing" each other to complete...

I say this because the blank window list buttons usually show up when I have multiple apps open, then open firefox. The "Starting..." fake-window list item goes away (but the empty space is still there, the panel doesn't contract), then firefox comes up, and the window list never finishes updating.

To fix it, I Ctrl-Alt-Shift+right/left arrow then bring the app back to the original workspace and the panel then updates.

Also, when opening firefox dialog window's this usually happens.

All in all, it only happens with firefox for me.

This happens with/without compiz/XAA/EXA/emerald...

[fermulator (fermulator)]

Confirmed.

 - Ubuntu 8.10
 - ati/radeon x.org driver (primary CRT, secondary TV using xrandr commands)
 - compiz enabled (but I don't use "grouping" of windows")
 - don't use "multiple desktops" either, I've actually limited the workspace to "one"

I did notice though that if you put the system to sleep (S3), and resume, the panel stops updating the window list until you "killall gnome-panel". (Opening new windows, closing them ... nothing but "killall gnome-panel" seems to revive the updating window list)

[Derek White (d-man97)]

This is still a problem in 9.04.
Still the same ways to fix: Cause a resize in the panel containing the Window List applet.

Is this an Ubuntu problem? If not, was it ever sent upstream?
Anyone hear of people in other distros having the same problem - that we can link our bug to?

Anything to help the progress along...

[fermulator (fermulator)]

Do we have any solid way to reproduce this bug?

I've been using 9.04 for a while now, and for whatever reason the bug hasn't exposed itself for at least a month (maybe 2 .. since my post on 2009-04-21)

[jhaiduce (jhaiduce)]

You can't reproduce it with the default gnome panel setup. In order to reproduce the bug, the panel containing the window list must have its "Expand" property turned off. Once you do that, the bug appears sporadically.

[Derek_ (derek-name)]

This happens to me. It happens sporadically all day. I haven't been able to identify a surefire method of reproducing it, though rotating the cube quickly between two cube faces can usually get it to happen. Other non-cube-related things trigger it too, seemingly anything that changes the window list. A reliable recovery, i.e. to get the labels to reappear, has been to right-click to the panel's properties dialog and just click Close. It does seem to be a timing issue with the window labels being slow to appear. Maybe something that is waiting for them gives up.

I'm on 8.04, but unfortunately I see it's still happening in 8.10 and 9.04.

[jhfhlkjlj (fdsuufijjejejejej-deactivatedaccount)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. We are sorry that we do not always have the capacity to look at all reported bugs in a timely manner. There have been many changes in Ubuntu since that time you reported the bug and your problem may have been fixed with some of the updates. It would help us a lot if you could test it on a currently supported Ubuntu version. When you test it and it is still an issue, kindly upload the updated logs by running apport-collect <bug #> and any other logs that are relevant for this particular issue.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for compiz (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]