GtkFileChooser dialog size randomly broken

[jcinacio]

At different applications that use the GtkFileChooser (gedit open/save as, firefox browse for upload, etc) the file chooser dialog will most of the times come up with a minimum size.

repeatedly opening the dialog will, however, make it show with a bigger (default?) size at random times.

small dialog: http://img252.imageshack.us/my.php?image=filedialoggedit1kg3.png
big dialog: http://img129.imageshack.us/my.php?image=filedialoggedit2ic0.png

$ uname -a
Linux inacio-desktop 2.6.27-7-generic #1 SMP Tue Oct 14 18:40:44 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

$ cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu intrepid (development branch) \n \l

$ dpkg -l | grep gtk2
ii gtk2-engines 1:2.16.0-0ubuntu1 theme engines for GTK+ 2.x
ii gtk2-engines-murrine 0.60.1 cairo-based gtk+-2.0 theme engine
ii gtk2-engines-pixbuf 2.14.3-0ubuntu3 Pixbuf-based theme for GTK+ 2.x
ii libgtk2-perl 1:1.183-1 Perl interface to the 2.x series of the Gimp
ii libgtk2.0-0 2.14.3-0ubuntu3 The GTK+ graphical user interface library
ii libgtk2.0-bin 2.14.3-0ubuntu3 The programs for the GTK+ graphical user int
ii libgtk2.0-cil 2.12.1-1ubuntu2 CLI binding for the GTK+ toolkit 2.12
ii libgtk2.0-common 2.14.3-0ubuntu3 Common files for the GTK+ graphical user int
ii libgtk2.0-dev 2.14.3-0ubuntu3 Development files for the GTK+ library
ii libgtk2.0-doc 2.14.3-0ubuntu3 Documentation for the GTK+ graphical user in
ii libwxgtk2.6-0 2.6.3.2.2-2ubuntu5 wxWidgets Cross-platform C++ GUI toolkit (GT
ii python-gtk2 2.13.0-0ubuntu8 Python bindings for the GTK+ widget set
ii python-wxgtk2.6 2.6.3.2.2-2ubuntu5 wxWidgets Cross-platform C++ GUI toolkit (wx
ii scim-gtk2-immodule 1.4.7-3ubuntu10 GTK+2 input method module with SCIM as backe

[Pascal De Vuyst (pascal-devuyst)]

It is a bad idea to provide links to imageshack for screenshots, please attach the screenshots to this bug report by clicking "Add a comment/attachment". In this way they can still be opened in a few months from now.

[John S (jcspray)]

I'm also seeing this on Intrepid in all applications using GtkFileChooser, screenshot attached.

libgtk2.0-0 2.14.4-0ubuntu1

[John S (jcspray)]

This looks like a likely upstream culprit:

http://svn.gnome.org/viewvc/gtk%2B/trunk/gtk/gtkfilechooserdialog.c?r1=20972&r2=21162

[zpon (zpon-dk)]

I noticed this when I dist-upgraded to intrepid beta, and can confirm it

[Andrew (andrew-rw-robinson)]

I also have been experiencing this since the upgrade to Intrepid. Never had the problem in Hardy. I did a fresh install of Intrepid (went from 386 to amd64)

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

looks like bug http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=558776 which is known upstream, linking the report, thanks.

[Anakin Starkiller (sunrider)]

I can confirm this bug. Dunno if it is related to compiz or not...

[Bogdan Harjoc (harjoc-gmail)]

Not related to compiz (I am running plain metacity here).
Any known workarounds ? I only see the bug in some pygtk app.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

this has been fixed upstream, thanks you.

[mon (javiermon-deactivatedaccount)]

Is this fix going to be backported to intrepid?

thanks

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the change needs to get jaunty testing and then can be considered, intrepid is not a lts and the issue is only cosmetic though so it's low importance there

[jcinacio (jcinacio)]

The fact that dialog sizes are sometimes big may be only cosmetic, but when they are too small to be useful and need constant resizing i would certainly hope for things to get fixed sooner rather than later...

just my 2 cents

[Hongli Lai (honglilai)]

I think the bug fix should be backported to Intrepid. Although it is cosmetic, the dialog is as good as unusable unless the user resizes it. On top of that, this bug is something that users encounter multiple times on a daily basis.

Would an Ubuntu packager accept a donation to get this fix backported?

[Hongli Lai (honglilai)]

By the way, I think this qualifies as a regression. I experience this problem on a clean Ubuntu 8.10 install.

In the mean while, people are making a huge fuss about this at http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7r9dg/what_use_is_a_file_chooser_dialogue_when_the_area/
This Reddit post attracted *329* comments, 90% of them negative comments against GTK.

[Hongli Lai (honglilai)]

Very strange. The file dialog in Firefox instantly resized to a correct size. Apparently GTK saved this size so all my other GTK applications' file dialogs now appear to have the correct size. The only annoyance left is that I can see the file dialog resizing, but this is a minor issue.

directhex, I don't know whether your patch works but you solved my problem anyways. :) Email me your Paypal account and I'll give you a donation.

[Hongli Lai (honglilai)]

It seems I spoke too soon. The file dialog's size reverts to being small after closing Firefox. The behavior is strange:

1. Start Firefox.
2. Open file dialog in Firefox. This has the correct size.
3. Start gedit.
4. Open file dialog in Gedit. This has the correct size.

5. Close Firefox.
6. Close gedit.
7. Start gedit.
8. Open file dialog in Gedit. This has the incorrect size.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the issue is not a money one, the patch is a good backport candidate but the desktop team has lot to do so it might take some time, you are welcome to work on the backport and request sponsoring though

[Scott Wehrenberg (wehren)]

The patch directhex pulled worked perfectly for me. For those not inclined to build from source themselves, but that are incline to install packages from some random dude on the internet, you can grab them here:

http://clients.mindvolt.com/gtk/

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the issue is fixed in jaunty now

[Rory McCann (rorymcc)]

I can confirm this bug in Hardy too.

Good to see that it's fixed in Jaunty. I think this should be backported to intrepid since it significatly affects the usability of saving and opening a file.

[Rory McCann (rorymcc)]

Actually I have no idea if this bug is present in Hardy. I meant to say that I can confirm this bug in Intrepid.

[Hongli Lai (honglilai)]

Hardy does not have this bug.

[Victor Vargas (kamus)]

I can confirm this bug too in Intrepid, for now the only solution is upgrade to Jaunty.

[kikoune (kikoune)]

Samething in Intrepid. A backport of the fix would be nice. However, directhex patch worked for me after rebuilding libgtk.