Tcl/Tk application can't display window on Ubuntu Natty (Compiz)

[Allison Randal]

I have a Tcl/Tk application that ran just fine on Maverick, Lucid, and before, and has been running just fine on Natty (Unity and Classic) until today. The application is not packaged for Ubuntu, but I'm concerned that if this simple Tcl/Tk application has problems on Natty then others will also. (And, I'm utterly dependent on this application for doing anything--it's my encrypted password database--which turns it into a critical blocker for me.) The change in Natty that caused the problem was made sometime between March 13th (when this netbook was last updated) and March 27th (when I fully updated it again).

The application is Gorilla (https://github.com/zdia/gorilla), and I have reported the issue upstream at: https://github.com/zdia/gorilla/issues/37

To summarise, running the Gorilla application from GNOME Terminal command-line (on either Unity or Classic) results in:
- The screen flashes to the desktop background (no windows, launcher, panel, indicators, or files that are usually on the desktop)
- Then returns to the full desktop display
- The command-line shows that Gorilla is running (does not return to terminal prompt), and 'ps auxww' shows that the application is running
- But, no window is displayed for the application, in any workspace.

Steps to repeat the issue:

- Install the Ubuntu tcl8.5 package
- Download the latest version of Gorilla at https://github.com/downloads/zdia/gorilla/gorilla1534.bin
- Make gorilla1534.bin executable
- Run ./gorilla1534.bin

I suspected this might be a version-default/upgrade issue, as I noticed that /usr/bin/tclsh is currently aliased to /usr/bin/tclsh8.4 (through 3 layers of indirection) instead of /usr/bin/tclsh8.5. But, changing the /usr/bin/tclsh symlink to point at /usr/bin/tclsh8.5 has no effect (the screen still flashes to blank background then back to regular desktop display, and the application runs with no window displayed).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: tcl 8.4.16-2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-7.39-generic 2.6.38
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-7-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Mar 27 13:50:00 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: tcltk-defaults
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-03-26 (1 days ago)

[Allison Randal (allison)]

This appears to be related to LP: #709461

[Allison Randal (allison)]

xwininfo attached.

I should note that the first time I updated Ubuntu this morning, I was getting a Compiz crash everytime I tried to run Gorilla, in addition to all the behavior described above (it was reported right after the desktop display returned). The second time I updated today, the Compiz crash was no longer reported, but otherwise the failure was still the same.

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

Hey Alison,

I'm asking Sam to take a look. Can you confirm it works well under metacity "Ubuntu Classic (No effect)" session?

[Allison Randal (allison)]

Curiously, if I run Gorilla remotely using SSH X11 forwarding, I get the same problem (flash to bare desktop, no window), but if I leave the application running for 2 minutes, suddenly the window appears, disappears, and then appears and stays visible (with a flash to bare desktop every time it appears or disappears).

Will check on metacity...

[Allison Randal (allison)]

Confirmed, the app works just fine under metacity.

[John Doe (jodo-deactivatedaccount)]

I don't think that this is related to unity, more with compiz. Unity isn't installed on my System, I'm using Ubuntu-Classic, and I can reproduce the Bug with ease. It is also happening with other application (gnome-terminal, nautilus, etc).

[Allison Randal (allison)]

Yes, the problem is with Compiz on both Unity and Classic. It's only metacity that avoids the problem.

[John Doe (jodo-deactivatedaccount)]

Ok, that means that the problem is compiz. With metacity it isn't active, so the error does not occur there.

[Slight Slightly (slight--deactivatedaccount)]

Seeing this with "git gui" which is also Tcl/Tk. Compiz appears to crash and re-launch itself. The app is still running but doesn't draw a window. Tested with Metacity and works fine.

[Slight Slightly (slight--deactivatedaccount)]

This is with Compiz in 'classic' mode not Unity by the way.

[Sam Spilsbury (smspillaz)]

Fix commited in lp:~unity-team/compiz/trunk

[Lucian Adrian Grijincu (lucian.grijincu)]

Marked tcltk invalid as the bug as in Unity.

[Allison Randal (allison)]

I believe this is now "Fix Released", since it went into Natty (and I can confirm that the application now works in Natty). I'll change the status, but change back if any concerns.