terminal icon in launcher somehow gets into an odd state

[Thomi Richards]

I have the gnome-terminal application locked to the launcher.

Twice now (on separate days) the launcher icon gets itself into an odd state:

 * Clicking the icon launches a new terminal, even if there are existing terminals running.
 * Right-clicking on the terminal icon to show the quicklist shows me a quicklist with the followiung options:
    * New Terminal
    * Separator
    * A blank line.
    * Separator
    * Unlock from launcher.
 * Terminal windows don't show as "pips" on either the left or the right of the terminal
 * Terminal also doesn't appear in the switcher.

It's as if the launcher thinks the terminal has SKIP_TASKBAR set in it's NET_WM_STATE property, but it doesn't, as xwininfo shows:

$ xwininfo -all

xwininfo: Please select the window about which you
          would like information by clicking the
          mouse in that window.

xwininfo: Window id: 0x3200668 "thomi@perv: ~"

  Root window id: 0x15d (the root window) (has no name)
  Parent window id: 0xe00489 (has no name)
     1 child:
     0x3200669 (has no name): () 1x1+-1+-1 +65+492

  Absolute upper-left X: 66
  Absolute upper-left Y: 493
  Relative upper-left X: 0
  Relative upper-left Y: 0
  Width: 722
  Height: 410
  Depth: 32
  Visual: 0x74
  Visual Class: TrueColor
  Border width: 0
  Class: InputOutput
  Colormap: 0x3200005 (not installed)
  Bit Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Window Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Backing Store State: NotUseful
  Save Under State: no
  Map State: IsViewable
  Override Redirect State: no
  Corners: +66+493 -1132+493 -1132-177 +66-177
  -geometry 80x24+58+464

  Bit gravity: NorthWestGravity
  Window gravity: NorthWestGravity
  Backing-store hint: NotUseful
  Backing-planes to be preserved: 0xffffffff
  Backing pixel: 0
  Save-unders: No

  Someone wants these events:
      EnterWindow
      Exposure
      VisibilityChange
      StructureNotify
      FocusChange
      PropertyChange
  Do not propagate these events:
  Override redirection?: No

  Window manager hints:
      Client accepts input or input focus: Yes
      Initial state is Normal State
      Displayed on desktop 0
      Window type:
          Normal
      Process id: 3461 on host perv
      Frame extents: 1, 1, 29, 1

  Normal window size hints:
      Program supplied minimum size: 38 by 35
      Program supplied base size: 2 by 2
      Program supplied x resize increment: 9
      Program supplied y resize increment: 17
      Program supplied minimum size in resize increments: 4 by 2
      Program supplied base size in resize increments: 0 by 0
      Program supplied window gravity: NorthWestGravity
  No zoom window size hints defined

  No window shape defined
  No border shape defined

...whereas a window that DOES have this flag set gives this information:

$ xwininfo -all

xwininfo: Please select the window about which you
          would like information by clicking the
          mouse in that window.

xwininfo: Window id: 0x560000d "MacSlow's Cairo-Clock"

  Root window id: 0x15d (the root window) (has no name)
  Parent window id: 0xe004b0 (has no name)
     1 child:
     0x560000e (has no name): () 1x1+-1+-1 +270+124

  Absolute upper-left X: 271
  Absolute upper-left Y: 125
  Relative upper-left X: 0
  Relative upper-left Y: 0
  Width: 200
  Height: 200
  Depth: 32
  Visual: 0x74
  Visual Class: TrueColor
  Border width: 0
  Class: InputOutput
  Colormap: 0x560000c (not installed)
  Bit Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Window Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Backing Store State: NotUseful
  Save Under State: no
  Map State: IsViewable
  Override Redirect State: no
  Corners: +271+125 -1449+125 -1449-755 +271-755
  -geometry 200x200+271+125

  Bit gravity: NorthWestGravity
  Window gravity: NorthWestGravity
  Backing-store hint: NotUseful
  Backing-planes to be preserved: 0xffffffff
  Backing pixel: 0
  Save-unders: No

  Someone wants these events:
      KeyPress
      KeyRelease
      ButtonPress
      ButtonRelease
      EnterWindow
      LeaveWindow
      PointerMotion
      Exposure
      VisibilityChange
      StructureNotify
      FocusChange
      PropertyChange
  Do not propagate these events:
  Override redirection?: No

  Window manager hints:
      Client accepts input or input focus: Yes
      Initial state is Normal State
      Displayed on desktop 0
      Window type:
          Normal
      Window state:
          Skip Taskbar
      Process id: 3994 on host perv

  Normal window size hints:
      Program supplied location: 0, 0
      Program supplied minimum size: 32 by 32
      Program supplied maximum size: 1023 by 1023
      Program supplied window gravity: NorthWestGravity
  No zoom window size hints defined

  No window shape defined
  No border shape defined

Restarting unity fixes the problem.

See attached video for a demonstration.

[Thomi Richards (thomir-deactivatedaccount)]

OK, it's not just the terminal icon - it's also just happened to me with firefox.

[Nekhelesh Ramananthan (nik90)]

Can you confirm if this is happening with Unity 5.4 as well. I sometimes experienced this before but not anymore.