Comment 8 for bug 1371928

I hit the transparent main image window issue in gimp again today after not having seen it for a long while.

Though I'm running 16.04 now, this issue goes back to Ubuntu 12.04 - at least - for me. I 'believe' the bug and proposed fix in compiz the nvidia folks ran down mid 2015 - and referenced in this thread - greatly reduced how often I see windowing issues and the severity thereof. In any case I've seen issue much less often over the past couple years.

Random info...

- Today I downloaded and installed the "CompizConfig Settings Manager" using the Ubuntu Software installer. Scrolling down there was a section called "Effects" where I deselected Animations as others herein suggested. Gimp has been working fine since. (Immediately turning the animation effects back on did not bring the gimp transparent image issue back...)

- Prior to turning off the compiz animation effects, my usual work around of starting gimp passing two images was working OK. Namely: 'gimp tinyBogusTransparentWindow.jpg myRealImage.jpg' The second image window shows up OK. You can also open multiple images via a right click in the transparent window to get image windows you can see.

- I too run with many windows up. Often 30-40 - mostly xterm windows. Like others the problem usually shows up only after having been running for a long time - 19 days this time. Reboots, log out & in fixes the issue.

- I also usually see other effects once compiz is messed up though they are less dramatic then with gimp. The cursor sometimes doesn't show up as it should in the firefox search window when firefox starts. Sometimes an extra click in a window is needed for window focus to shift.

- When I see the issue with a transparent window in gimp, I can sometimes get a first image window I can see if I just try starting gimp repeatedly - which hints a race condition.

-Intel® Core™ i3-4130 in-built graphics. Two physical displays.

I'll update should I see issues again now that I have the compiz animation effects off.