--scale and --panning options do not resize the mouse area accordingly

[Unas]

I just installed Xubuntu 11.10 Oneiric on my netbook, a MSI Wind U100.
On my previous OS (Jolicloud 1.0, derived from Ubuntu Jaunty), I used an applet relying on xrandr to expand the screen resolution when needed.
Indeed, my screen is 1024*600, and some programs and dialogs are higher than 600px. So when needed I used xrandr to resize it to 1024*768 with panning.

On Oneiric, however, this no longer works.
I can still run xrandr, and the display is resized correctly, but the area in which I can move the mouse stays the same 1024*600 box.

1) When using panning mode

I start panning mode with the following command :
xrandr --fb 1024x768 --output LVDS1 --mode 1024x600 --panning 1024x768 --scale 1x1

In that case, the display is resized (all windows become higher than the screen, etc).
However, I cannot pan to the bottom : my mouse cursor cannot go lower than the lower bound of my screen, so I can only pan by 1 or 2 pixels.

2) When using scale mode

I start scale mode with the following command :
xrandr --output LVDS1 --mode 1024x600 --scale 1.28x1.28 --fb 0x0 --panning 0x0

In that case, the display is resized so that a 1311x768 display fits on my screen.
However, I cannot move the cursor on the whole screen : it cannot go lower than the "virtual" 600px (actually 469 after resize), nor more to the right than the "virtual" 1024px (actually 800).

This basically makes xrandr unusable, which can be a real problem on such small screens.

Also, this bug isn't specific to Ubuntu : I found other bug reports elsewhere.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=118999
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=126484
From my research, it looks like it was introduced in libxrandr 1.3.1.
Also, this bug was apparently already reported for Ubuntu but on an incorrect package, and I don't know how to move it.
See it declared as a compiz bug here : https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/866065 , but I'm not running Compiz on Xubuntu.

Feel free to ask more information about my system if you think it might help.

Thanks.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[dsvilko (dsvilko)]

I can confirm this behavior.
xrandr --panning option resizes my desktop correctly but only allows 1 pixel panning in each direction.
I was really hoping to get this working on my Asus eeepc 701.

[hlb (hoolabaloooo)]

yup, same for me on Oneiric 64 bit, e.g. intel mobile graphics.

same behaviour shows up both in unity and gnome shell, no difference at all.

iirc, in one of the latest updates for 11.04 the problem went away (*on 11.04*) and I was able to "pan" as I needed, opposed to what was happening on fedora etc. Therefore seems a regression to me.

please fix this soon, it's quite important for small displays (and a need on the job...)

thanks

[Ryan Sutton (oldmansutton)]

I was one of the ones who had commented in bug 866065, and any other thread I'm finding (and there are QUITE a few, as this is affecting many people) Here's hoping somebody looks into THIS one, because the scale function of xrandr is a MUST on my netbook. I'm running the Unity/Gnome desktop on my version of Oneiric 32 bit. It worked perfectly in 11.04, and hasn't ever since I upgraded to 11.10.

[hlb (hoolabaloooo)]

excuse me, would you please at the very least set an importance level?

this bug is not only unassigned; for what I can understand, it's stalling and going completely unnoticed, since the "confirmation".

[Zack Evans (zevans23)]

Confirmed on Kubuntu oneiric.

[Zack Evans (zevans23)]

hlb: Marking as dupe of bug 881046 which is confirmed, assigned, and has an upstream bug.