thunderbird missing window decoration

[Ben Howard]

After updating my Beta-2 on Tuesday Sept 28, Thunderbird's UI went to hell.

Specifically:
1. When Global Menu Bar integration is enabled, the window lacks decoration (window border, buttons in upper left, title bar, etc) if you double click on the title bar (i.e. to make it a smaller window). After double clicking on the title bar, the window is unmovable and unresponsive.

2. If you disable the Global Menu Bar integration plugin, the window is responsive for resize but lack decoration

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: thunderbird 7.0+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-11.18-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-11-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: True
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: CONEXANT Analog [CONEXANT Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: ben 11741 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ben 11741 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: ben 11741 F...m pulseaudio
BuildID: 20110925021328
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xd4320000 irq 52'
   Mixer name : 'Conexant CX20590'
   Components : 'HDA:14f1506e,17aa21cf,00100000'
   Controls : 8
   Simple ctrls : 5
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xd3000000 irq 17'
   Mixer name : 'Nvidia GPU 14 HDMI/DP'
   Components : 'HDA:10de0014,10de0101,00100100'
   Controls : 16
   Simple ctrls : 4
Card29.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:29 'ThinkPadEC'/'ThinkPad Console Audio Control at EC reg 0x30, fw unknown'
   Mixer name : 'ThinkPad EC (unknown)'
   Components : ''
   Controls : 1
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card29.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'Console',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
Channel: release
Date: Thu Sep 29 08:59:04 2011
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
IncompatibleExtensions: Google Calendar Tab - ID=googlecalendartab@momo, Version=3.8, minVersion=3.1, maxVersion=7.0a1, Location=app-profile, Type=extension, Active=Yes
IpRoute:
 default via 10.0.0.1 dev wlan0 proto static
 10.0.0.0/24 dev wlan0 proto kernel scope link src 10.0.0.11
 169.254.0.0/16 dev wlan0 scope link metric 1000
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=7.0/20110925021328 (Running)
PulseSinks: Error: command ['pacmd', 'list-sinks'] failed with exit code 1: Daemon not responding.
PulseSources: Error: command ['pacmd', 'list-sources'] failed with exit code 1: Daemon not responding.
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: no
RunningIncompatibleAddons: True
SourcePackage: thunderbird
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 05/13/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8BET44WW (1.24 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 4270CTO
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr8BET44WW(1.24):bd05/13/2011:svnLENOVO:pn4270CTO:pvrThinkPadW520:rvnLENOVO:rn4270CTO:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 4270CTO
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad W520
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[arm-c (arickmcniel)]

I have had this issue on at least two different programs where the window looses the decorations (title bar).

a. Thunderbird "New Message Window" or opening a message in a new window.

b. The second program that exhibited this issue was Compiz Configurations Settings Manager (CSSM). It too lost window decorations.

In both cases, when the application window (new message / CSSM / etc...) were maximized to full screen, the window controls appeared in the Global Menu complete with close buttons.

Because this has appeared in two separate programs that probably don't share the same code base, I suspect that the issue lies somewhere else.

[arm-c (arickmcniel)]

Believe this primarily has to do with Global Menu integration. When Thunderbird is not maximized, compose email and open message in new window receive decorations as they are supposed to do.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[David Schwarz (david-schwarz)]

I've seen exactly this behavior with Thunderbird. I'd add that, at least for me, the Alt-FN hotkeys still work to minimize/maximize/restore/move the window.

I also see Eclipse and Firefox lose and occasionally regain their decorators, but have not yet been able to pinpoint exactly what causes the transition.

[David Schwarz (david-schwarz)]

Add gedit to my list of undecorated windows.

[Andrew Golding (andy-chicagobikepolo)]

I'm seeing this in software-update, screenshot, emacs, and xterm. Additionally, gnome-terminal does not want to render to the foreground making it unusable. This started happening today following an update.

[Andrew Golding (andy-chicagobikepolo)]

Installing nvidia-173* packages seem to solve this problem. I had artifacts from nvidia-96 and the nvidia-provided 280 drivers, and going with the ubuntu-provided nvidia-173 left me with proper window decorations.

[Garry (s61kiwi)]

I have the same problem with Intel graphics. Gnucash, Thunderbird and sometimes Chromium, although if I go into "Preferences" < "Personal Stuff" and then deselect and reselect "Use system title bar and borders" the window boarder will come back in Chromium. From post #6 I see Gedit was affected for this user, however Gedit is fine on my system. Puzzling.

[David Schwarz (david-schwarz)]

This fixed itself for me yesterday with one of the updates.

[Ben Howard (darkmuggle-deactivatedaccount)]

This fixed itself after update and reboot.

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

Since this bug was Confirmed and subsequently comments https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/thunderbird/+bug/862497/comments/10 and https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/thunderbird/+bug/862497/comments/11 by separate users indicated that it is fixed as of an update, I am marking this bug Fix Released.

If anyone is still experiencing this bug, please post with details.

[Alex Stapleton (alexs-prol)]

This bug is *not* fixed. I experience this regularly with Thunderbird 8.0+build1-0ubuntu0.11.10.1 on Ubuntu 11.10 Kernel 3.0.0-14-generic x86_64

Compiz 1:0.9.6+bzr20110929-0ubuntu6
Unity 4.24.0-0ubuntu2b1
xorg 1:7.6+7ubuntu7

Thunderbird regularly loses all window decoration, but global menus do still work. However, getting the window to actually take focus properly only works with alt-tab. Clicking causes the GUI elements to react, but the window does not move to top and the global menu doesn't enable.

Creating a new tab, and then dragging it off of the tab bar to make a new window works correctly and the new window has proper decoration. The old window can then be closed with ctrl-w.

[Haneef Mubarak (haneefmubarak)]

I second that, but for me, the new tab fix doesn't work. However, you could do:

gtk-window-decorator --replace

in a terminal if you need to.

[Eivind Kjørstad (eivindk)]

This bug is not fixed. I experience this precise issue with Thunderbird even after having applied all released updates. Other windows are normal, but Thunderbird lacks window-decorations.