When nautilus opens it is not the active window

[Chris]

When opening the nautilus file browser, it opens maximized, but it does not become the active window. This means that in Unity, if the user tries to use the window buttons, or file menu, it will be for the application underneath nautilus. This can cause confusion for the user, and can cause them to do things such as close an application by mistake, when they are attempting to close the file browser.

Other applications seem to work correctly, in that as soon as they open, they take focus.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: nautilus 1:3.4.1-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.37-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri May 4 21:13:08 2012
GsettingsChanges:
 org.gnome.nautilus.window-state geometry '800x550+0+24'
 org.gnome.nautilus.window-state maximized true
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: nautilus
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
modified.conffile..etc.xdg.autostart.nautilus.autostart.desktop: [modified]
mtime.conffile..etc.xdg.autostart.nautilus.autostart.desktop: 2012-04-28T11:33:46.212747

[Javier López (javier-lopez)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. I could reproduce it with Ubuntu 12.04 in the amd64 and the i368 architectures. Please answer these questions:

* Is this reproducible?
* If so, what specific steps should we take to recreate this bug?

This will help us to find and resolve the problem.

---
Ubuntu Bug Squad volunteer triager
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

[Javier López (javier-lopez)]

I meant:

I could *not* reproduce it with Ubuntu 12.04 in the amd64 and the i368 architectures.
---
Ubuntu Bug Squad volunteer triager
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

[Chris (fishbulb1022)]

Hello,

It looks like it may not be all applications that cause this problem, but I was able to reproduce it with Chrome and Libre Office. Perhaps they are using something non-standard to draw their windows? In any case, to reproduce:

1) Open Chrome and maximize it.

2) Open a new instance of Nautilus.

3) Try to use to menus, or window buttons.

Here's a video of me demonstrating the issue: http://youtu.be/4RH-_2mRR1E

You'll notice I had to try it twice, the second time I made sure to actually click on the Chrome window first, where as the first time I had only clicked on the launcher to bring it up from the minimized state. Coincidentally, when making the video, I noticed the problem also occurs when recordMyDesktop is the active window.

[Javier López (javier-lopez)]

Thanks for the response (and the video!) I can confirm it, however I believe that the problem must be in the nautilus lack of focus instead of libreoffice, or chrome, I was able to see the same performance with firefox, however coudn't reproduce it with the «software center» . Summarizing I'd say that the steps to reproduce it would be:

1.- Open LibreOffice/Firefox in a precise installation
2.- Open Nautilus
3.- See how nautilus doesn't take the focus

---
Ubuntu Bug Squad volunteer triager
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

[Pascalio (pascalio432)]

A few more steps:

I could reproduce the bug with firefox, Software center and with absolutely any application I tried, under a certain condition, and it's interesting.
Try this:
- launch firefox and do absolutely nothing with the window.
- open nautilus : no bug, it works.
- Close nautilus, back to firefox.
- Click any dummy place on the firefox window
- Open nautilus: here is the bug. Now
- close nautilus again, back to firefox.
- The focus is on the window but don't click anywhere.
- Open nautilus: no bug, it works fine.
You can repeat it as many time you want I guess with any application. Therefore, it looks like windows can either just have the focus, and then nautilus can get it too; or they can clutch at their focus if you've started clicking, interacting with them (not with their menus though), and then normal applications can grab the focus from each other anyway, but nautilus can't – maybe because it has a special role, being a process that is always running in the background and hence starting it only brings up a window but does not actually starts anything. In other words, it looks like there are two sorts of “having the focus” in Unity, and nautilus is not adapted to it. But it's only an intuition... As for the LibreOffice windows, they seem to directly pass on to the 2nd “clutching focus” without the need to interact with them.
Hope this will help !