Can't remove all (last) gnome-panel panels

[LCID Fire]

Binary package hint: gnome-panel

Users are able to right click on panels of gnome-panel and select "Delete This Panel". However when there is only one panel remaining, this option is grayed out. This wouldn't be a problem if gnome-panel was an entry in sessions that could simply be disabled/removed to stop it from starting up, but this isn't the case.

Many users of docks such as AWN have no need for gnome-panel but must resort to dirty hacks to stop it from running (such as renaming /usr/bin/gnome-panel, which causes upgrade problems among others).

The cleanest solution would just be to allow the user to remove any gnome-panel, whether or not it is the last. Ideally this would still allow the Alt+F2 launcher to work which is bundled with gnome-panel, but a simple way to stop gnome-panel from starting would suffice.

[Michael Rooney (mrooney)]

Hi LCID Fire, thanks for using Ubuntu and thanks for taking the time to file this bug report! As far as I know this is not a regression, as it has never been possible to remove the last panel. You can remove panels until you try to do it on the last one, at which point the option will be grayed out as you say. I agree it would be a nice feature and will Confirm the issue and mark it as Wishlist.

There are guides for doing it online however, or just ask in #awn on freenode.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the bug makes no sense, if you don't want to use the software don't run it, changing to an user question rather

[Michael Rooney (mrooney)]

Sebastien, this is a real and perfectly valid issue. You can't just "not use" gnome-panel; it is integrated into the desktop experience and provides no way to remove it from startup since it isn't explicitly there in the first place. This issue is if you don't want to use it, there is no apparent way to do this, although the intuitive way would be to just remove the last panel like any other panel. The bug, as such, is that you can't remove the last panel like any other panel.

Typically you have to resort to a dirty hack or two to stop gnome-panel from starting, and we are quite familiar with this in the AWN world. This is definitely a common issue with users using docks such as AWN who no longer have a need for any panels but lack a simple or clean way to remove them.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

that's not a gnome-panel bug, gnome-panel is a session component and it's only one gconf key to change to not run it, you have the same issue for nautilus too for example, if you don't use something you should just not run it, otherwise you have a software using ressources for nothing and what you suggest would let no easy way to configure it again for example

[Dmitry Tantsur (divius)]

> if you don't use something you should just not run it
I don't run gnome-panel, still it appears. And I cannot uninstall it because it is required by gnome-session.

> it's only one gconf key to change to not run it
And you are the only one who knows it. Why not tell us?

[Vitaliy Kulikov (slonua)]

try this: http://www.adaniels.nl/articles/hide-gnome-panel/

i have another question ..
i have two displays and i'm ok with gnome-panel, but just for display 2.

so, on display 1 i use gnome-do ... it will be nice to use gnome-panel on display 2 only.

but the problem is in Notification Area applet .. when i have applet on both displays active is only on 1st one.
then i remove it from display 1 .. gnome-panel is going crazy .. all time restarting.

well, then i start gnome-panel from terminal in this way

$ gnome-panel --display=:0.1

everything is perfect !!!

could u suggest the place where i can change default display for gnome-panel.

btw: I have Separated X Sreen mode for X server.

[Dmitry Tantsur (divius)]

There is are workaround for AWN users:
1. open gconf-editor
2. find key /desktop/gnome/session/required_components/panel
3. change it to avant-window-navigator

use may also use ubuntu-tweak for it