Firefox loses window decorations in GNOME Classic and MATE with Compiz
| Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Compiz |
Undecided
|
Unassigned | ||
| | ubuntu-mate |
Medium
|
Martin Wimpress | ||
| | compiz (Ubuntu) |
Undecided
|
Unassigned | ||
Bug Description
Running Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS 64 bit in Gnome fallback with compiz. Firefox randomly looses window decoration (borders) and becomes unresponsive to keyboard input. The only remedy I have found to fix this problem is to run compiz --replace. Firefox is the only application to exhibit this behavior. I have seen this identical behavior on two different systems, one running 12.04.1 64 bit and one running 12.04.1 running 32 bit.
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: firefox 16.0.1+
ProcVersionSign
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-32-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelMo
AddonCompatChec
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu14
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/
/dev/snd/
/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: chuck 4022 F...m pulseaudio
BuildID: 20121010234852
Card0.Amixer.info:
Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xd8320000 irq 54'
Mixer name : 'Conexant CX20590'
Components : 'HDA:14f1506e,
Controls : 21
Simple ctrls : 11
Card1.Amixer.info:
Card hw:1 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xd6000000 irq 17'
Mixer name : 'Nvidia GPU 11 HDMI/DP'
Components : 'HDA:10de0011,
Controls : 24
Simple ctrls : 4
Card29.Amixer.info:
Card hw:29 'ThinkPadEC'
Mixer name : 'ThinkPad EC (unknown)'
Components : ''
Controls : 1
Simple ctrls : 1
Card29.
Simple mixer control 'Console',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Channel: Unavailable
Date: Wed Oct 17 20:33:09 2012
DefaultProfileP
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IfupdownConfig:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
IpRoute:
default via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0 proto static
169.254.0.0/16 dev eth0 scope link metric 1000
172.16.246.0/24 dev vmnet1 proto kernel scope link src 172.16.246.1
192.168.1.0/24 dev eth0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.1.118 metric 1
192.168.12.0/24 dev vmnet8 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.12.1
MostRecentCrashID: bp-197210d1-
ProcEnviron:
LANGUAGE=
TERM=xterm
PATH=(custom, user)
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
Profile1Extensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile1Incompa
Profile1Locales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile1PrefSou
Profile1Themes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile2Extensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile2Incompa
Profile2Locales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile2Plugins:
Default Plugin - [HomeDir]
Adobe Reader 9.1 - [HomeDir]
Profile2PrefSou
Profile2Themes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profiles:
Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=
Profile1 - LastVersion=
Profile2 - LastVersion=
RelatedPackageV
google-talkplugin 3.9.1.0-1
rhythmbox-mozilla 2.96-0ubuntu4.2
totem-mozilla 3.0.1-0ubuntu21.1
icedtea-6-plugin 1.2-2ubuntu1.2
browser-plugin-vlc 2.0.0-1
RunningIncompat
SourcePackage: firefox
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 09/12/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8BET59WW (1.39 )
dmi.board.
dmi.board.name: 4270CTO
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:
dmi.product.name: 4270CTO
dmi.product.
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
---
.proc.driver.
.proc.driver.
.proc.driver.
NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module 304.48 Sun Sep 9 20:22:29 PDT 2012
GCC version: gcc version 4.6.3 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.6.3-1ubuntu5)
.proc.driver.
Your system is not currently configured to drive a VGA console
on the primary VGA device. The NVIDIA Linux graphics driver
requires the use of a text-mode VGA console. Use of other console
drivers including, but not limited to, vesafb, may result in
corruption and stability problems, and is not supported.
.tmp.unity.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu15
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,composite
CompositorRunning: compiz
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: precise
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
NVIDIA Corporation GF108 [Quadro 1000M] [10de:0dfa] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21cf]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release i386 (20120817.3)
JockeyStatus:
xorg:nvidia_
xorg:nvidia_
xorg:nvidia_
xorg:nvidia_
MachineType: LENOVO 4282A34
MarkForUpload: True
NonfreeKernelMo
Package: compiz 1:0.9.7.
PackageArchitec
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=
ProcVersionSign
Tags: third-party-
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-33-
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo
dmi.bios.date: 09/27/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8BET52WW (1.32 )
dmi.board.
dmi.board.name: 4282A34
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:
dmi.product.name: 4282A34
dmi.product.
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.7.
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.39-0ubuntu1
version.
version.
version.
version.
version.
version.
version.
version.
version.
Related branches
- Marco Trevisan (Treviño): Approve on 2016-02-19
- Ubuntu Sponsors Team: Pending requested 2016-01-19
-
Diff: 9 lines (+2/-0)1 file modifieddebian/mate.ini (+2/-0)
| Charlie Meyer (cemeyer2-illinois) wrote : | #1 |
| affects: | firefox (Ubuntu) → compiz (Ubuntu) |
| Charlie Meyer (cemeyer2-illinois) wrote : | #3 |
I have noticed that this bug is triggered when a hyperlink from some other program is clicked (like instant messenger, etc) and launches in firefox. This external link loading always causes firefox to loose its compiz window decoration.
| tags: | added: apport-collected compiz-0.9 needs-reassignment regression-update third-party-packages ubuntu |
| description: | updated |
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| tags: | removed: regression-update |
| Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote : Re: Firefox randomly loses window decoration in Gnome Classic (Compiz) | #30 |
Please have a look in /var/crash for any files that might be related to gtk-window-
If there are any, please do this on the most recent one:
ubuntu-bug <crashfilename>
| summary: |
- Firefox randomly looses window decoration + Firefox randomly loses window decoration in Gnome Classic (Compiz) |
| Changed in compiz: | |
| status: | New → Confirmed |
| Charlie Meyer (cemeyer2-illinois) wrote : | #31 |
there were no files in /var/crash even after experiencing the loss of window decoration in firefox (again triggered by clicking a hyperlink from outside firefox that launched the already running browser)
| Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton) wrote : | #32 |
I've seen this bug on 12.10 too.
| Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote : | #33 |
Charlie,
Unfortunately we can't proceed without some details of what has crashed and where. If there are no helpful files in /var/crash then let's start with what has crashed...
Next time the problem occurs please:
1. Switch to a virtual terminal: Ctrl+Alt+F1 and log in
2. Run these commands:
pidof gtk-window-
pidof compiz
Do they both return a result?
| Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote : | #34 |
To recover after that you can run:
sudo restart lightdm
| Changed in compiz: | |
| status: | Confirmed → Incomplete |
| Changed in compiz (Ubuntu): | |
| status: | Confirmed → Incomplete |
| Charlie Meyer (cemeyer2-illinois) wrote : | #35 |
both return a result:
chuck@sepang:~$ pidof gtk-window-
4210
chuck@sepang:~$ pidof compiz
13693
also, as noted before, this bug only surfaces when clicking a link from an external application that launches in firefox (such as from pidgin)
| Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote : | #36 |
Charlie,
Please make sure the window decorations are missing before running the pidof commands. When you do this, one of them should fail to return anything.
| Charlie Meyer (cemeyer2-illinois) wrote : | #37 |
Even with the bug showing:
chuck@sepang:~$ pidof gtk-window-
4210
chuck@sepang:~$ pidof compiz
22830
so neither has crashed, the window decoration is only gone from firefox, not from other windows, and compiz still works properly
| Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote : | #38 |
OK that's a strange one. If you run:
ps auxw
does it show the start time of either process to be recent? (i.e. it crashed and quickly restarted)?
| Charlie Meyer (cemeyer2-illinois) wrote : | #39 |
firefox lost window decoration at 00:57 CST on my computer's clock, and here is what was shown:
chuck@sepang:~$ date
Wed Nov 21 00:58:38 CST 2012
chuck@sepang:~$ ps auxw | grep compiz
chuck 745 0.0 0.0 13588 924 pts/3 S+ 00:57 0:00 grep --color=auto compiz
chuck 4209 0.0 0.0 4400 616 ? Ss Nov14 0:00 /bin/sh -c /usr/bin/
chuck 25116 3.7 0.4 449604 144424 ? Sl Nov20 3:49 compiz --replace
chuck@sepang:~$ ps auxw | grep gtk-window-
chuck 750 0.0 0.0 13588 924 pts/3 S+ 00:58 0:00 grep --color=auto gtk-window-
chuck 4210 0.0 0.0 175384 17492 ? S Nov14 0:54 /usr/bin/
chuck@sepang:~$ uptime
00:59:07 up 6 days, 8:19, 5 users, load average: 0.77, 0.60, 0.63
aka nothing crashed at all
| Changed in compiz: | |
| status: | Incomplete → New |
| status: | New → Confirmed |
| Changed in compiz (Ubuntu): | |
| status: | Incomplete → Confirmed |
| Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote : | #40 |
Some more things worth trying:
* Disable/remove the flash plugin; or
* When the decoration is lost:
1. Click on the Firefox window.
2. Alt+Space> Minimise
3. Alt+Tab to the minimized window to restore it.
| Charlie Meyer (cemeyer2-illinois) wrote : | #41 |
minimizing then restoring the window makes the window decoration reappear
| Charlie Meyer (cemeyer2-illinois) wrote : | #42 |
is there any update on the status of this bug? It still persists even with the latest updates
| Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton) wrote : | #43 |
I've seen this bug lots recently, but always with maximized firefox windows. However, just now I managed to reproduce it with a none-maximized window. The window accepts both keyboard and mouse input but has no decorations and cannot be moved with alt-dragging. It is almost as if compiz has simply "lost" the window or thinks it has closed.
| Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton) wrote : | #44 |
Note this is XFCE not Gnome classic. I have also seen the bug happen in Unity, but it was a long time ago and I have no idea if it still happens there.
| Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton) wrote : | #45 |
Also I just remembered I'm using 1:0.9.8.
| Jim McMahon (jim-madbongo) wrote : | #46 |
I updated my 12.04 64-bit installation a few days ago and I'm still seeing disappearing firefox window decorations. I'm using gnome fallback with compiz. It only happens when I click on a link from within another application like thunderbird or tomboy. It does not seem to matter if firefox is maximized or not. Workaround, as described above, is to minimize and then unminimize firefox from the bottom gnome panel. Nothing in /var/crash.
| Dan (dan-harris) wrote : | #47 |
Reading through all of this I've had exactly this same bug since 11.04 I think, or it may have been a later release. Anyhow I'm now running a fully updated 12.10 x86-64 bit release, and the issue s still here. I run in the Gnome fall-back session with Cairo Dock on a dual monitor setup. Not sure if the latter is in any way relevant, but it might be.
Further to the information supplied so far, I also sometimes see another (apparent) side effect of the FF window losing its window decoration. Without the decoration, even when this window is the last one clicked on it somehow is not in the foreground. I can switch tabs, but Cairo Dock appears in the foreground over it, and anything typed continues to appear in another full screen window on the other monitor, usually Gnome Terminal in my case. Does anyone else see this behaviour?
It also doesn't seem to happen every time I click on a link in another app. It seems fairly random, sometimes happening every time, other times not for many such click-throughs.
While I'm not a programmer so unused to debugging such things, I am an experiences SysAdmin and am happy to help in any way I can to diagnose and fix this rather annoying bug.
Many Thanks and Best Regards,
Dan.
| Dan (dan-harris) wrote : | #48 |
Just to elaborate on my last comment, when FF loses it window decoration and won't come to the foreground, it is the last active foreground window that continues to receive the keyboard input. If that happens to be something like a terminal or text editor, you can see it happening. If it's a window that wont accept keyboard input, you obviously wont. In both instances things like <ALT><SPACE> seem to work on that other window as usual. As soon as I minimise that window, FF seems to regain its foreground status and you can type in to in normally.
| Timothée Manaud (timothee) wrote : | #49 |
I'm able to reproduce this problem with the following steps:
- start FF
- minimize FF
- open a link from another software (Purple or Thunderbird)
- maximize FF from the task bar, the decorator is missing.
Workaround:
- select FF with the missing decorator, ALT+SPACE then Minimize, then ALT+TAB to return
May I provide anything else (logs) to help?
| Doug Barton (dougb) wrote : | #50 |
I see the same exact behavior as timothee.
If I unminimize the window before clicking a link in another app, no problems. It's the 'unminimize as a result of being called up by another app' behavior that triggers the bug.
I also see this with thunderbird if it is minimized and I click a "mailto" link on a web page. I do not see it with any other apps, so the behavior seems to be peculiar to mozilla-based stuff.
I just upgraded to xubuntu 13.04, installed compiz, same problem. Also, the problem persists if using gtk-window-
Workarounds posted in previous generations of ubuntu and compiz (such as using the compiz workarounds plugin and enabling or disabling legacy fullscreen support, pushing f11 in firefox, etc.) have no effect on this bug.
| Doug Barton (dougb) wrote : | #51 |
Any news on this? Problem persists in 13.10
| Charlie Meyer (charlie-7) wrote : | #52 |
This is still present in the RC build of 14.04
| hariprasad (hariprasad) wrote : | #53 |
Confirmed for Ubuntu 14.04, Compiz. Workaroud is to restart Firefox. One way how to loose Firefox window decoration and block keyborad is to invoke open new tab from another application. I.e. invoke testing page from NetBeans. It happens randomly, not always.
| hariprasad (hariprasad) wrote : | #54 |
Confirmed workaround Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) and Timothée. It is much more easier to minimize and maximize Firefox than to do restart.
| Minh (mkngo87) wrote : | #55 |
I can confirm Timothée's bug reproduction. I am on Linux Mint 16.
| hariprasad (hariprasad) wrote : | #56 |
I can confirm, that bug still endures.
How to reproduce:
-- Open Firefox with common content as it was the last time (history is on to remember previous opened tabs).
-- Minimize Firfox Window
-- Begin work with another programme, who is able call Firefox and open a new tab. I.e. Eclipse, Netbeans etc...
-- In Netbeans create web based project with default Hello World .html file.
-- In Netbeans set default Web Browser on Firefox.
-- Right click on .html (.jsp etc) file -> Run File to launch it to browser
-- try it a few times
Sometimes it will be Right, sometimes not. Sometimes Firefox not reacts on input to Window, sometimes the Window is badly dispayed - it is not on the top etc. My opinion is, that there is some problem in multithreading (swithing context).
| Martin Wimpress (flexiondotorg) wrote : | #57 |
This also affects Ubuntu MATE 15.10 Beta 2.
How to reproduce:
* Open Firefox with common content as it was the last time (history is on to remember previous opened tabs).
* Minimize Firfox Window
* Use CRTL + ALT + t to open a terminal
* Execute 'firefox http://
* Firefox will will restore but will not be missing window decorations.
Also described here:
| Changed in ubuntu-mate: | |
| status: | New → Confirmed |
| Martin Wimpress (flexiondotorg) wrote : | #58 |
The above should read:
* Firefox will restore but will now be missing window decorations.
| Lysenko Denis (pharmasolin) wrote : | #59 |
There is no bug in 15.04 on Unity 7, i were trying to reproduce like this:
https:/
| fcole90 (fcole90) wrote : | #60 |
Thank you for taking the time to report this bug. We have tried to recreate this on the latest release of Ubuntu and cannot reproduce it. This bug is being marked as Invalid. If you believe the problem to still exist in the latest version of Ubuntu please comment on why that is the case and change the bug status to NEW.
| Changed in compiz: | |
| status: | Confirmed → Invalid |
| Changed in compiz (Ubuntu): | |
| status: | Confirmed → Invalid |
| Sorokin Alexei (xrevan86) wrote : | #61 |
fcole90, this bug reproduces everywhere except for Unity.
At least, known to exist in combination with MATE, Xfce, and GNOME Flashback.
| Changed in compiz: | |
| status: | Invalid → Confirmed |
| Martin Wimpress (flexiondotorg) wrote : | #62 |
This still affects Ubuntu MATE 15.10 release candidate.
How to reproduce:
* Use MATE Tweak to change the Window Manager to Compiz.
* Open Firefox with common content as it was the last time (history is on to remember previous opened tabs).
* Minimize Firfox Window
* Use CRTL + ALT + t to open a terminal
* Execute 'firefox http://
* Firefox will will restore but will not be missing window decorations.
Also described here:
| Changed in compiz (Ubuntu): | |
| status: | Invalid → Confirmed |
| Martin Wimpress (flexiondotorg) wrote : | #63 |
Doh! The above should read:
* Firefox will restore but will *now* be missing window decorations.
The window decorations are not lost when using the Marco or Metacity window managers.
| summary: |
- Firefox randomly loses window decoration in Gnome Classic (Compiz) + Firefox loses window decorations in GNOME Classic and MATE with Compiz |
| Changed in ubuntu-mate: | |
| status: | Confirmed → Triaged |
| Changed in ubuntu-mate: | |
| importance: | Undecided → Medium |
| Changed in ubuntu-mate: | |
| assignee: | nobody → Ryszard Bołba (ryszard-n) |
| hariprasad (hariprasad) wrote : | #64 |
I can confirm on Ubuntu 15.04 Compiz problem is still there.
| nussba_tm (nussba.tm) wrote : | #65 |
CCSM > Utility > Workarounds > "Keep previews of minimized windows" > Enable
- Xubuntu 14.04
| Martin Wimpress (flexiondotorg) wrote : | #66 |
@nussba_tm Thank you for the feedback. I confirm this fixes the issue on Ubuntu MATE 15.10 and 16.04 :-)
| Martin Wimpress (flexiondotorg) wrote : | #67 |
I've submitted the following merge proposal - https:/
| Martin Wimpress (flexiondotorg) wrote : | #68 |
Based on feedback, a new merge proposal has been submitted - https:/
| Changed in ubuntu-mate: | |
| assignee: | Ryszard Bołba (ryszard-n) → Martin Wimpress (flexiondotorg) |
| Changed in ubuntu-mate: | |
| status: | Triaged → In Progress |
| Alkis Georgopoulos (alkisg) wrote : | #69 |
I'm still seeing this in Ubuntu 16.04 fully updated (2016-02-18) with gnome-flashback and compiz.
The minimize with alt+space/maximize workaround is still valid.
Hopefully this will be fixed for 16.04!
| Changed in compiz (Ubuntu): | |
| status: | Confirmed → Fix Committed |
| Changed in ubuntu-mate: | |
| status: | In Progress → Fix Committed |
| Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote : | #70 |
This bug was fixed in the package compiz - 1:0.9.12.
---------------
compiz (1:0.9.
[ Alberts Muktupāvels ]
* Avoid GtkStyleContext warnings with GTK+ 3.20+.
* Remove GWDSettingsXPro
* gtk-window-
[ Martin Wimpress ]
* mate.ini: Enable 'Keep Minimzed Windows' by default for the MATE
profile (LP: #1067951)
[ Sam Spilsbury <email address hidden> ]
* Fix broken tests
-- Marco Trevisan (Treviño) <mail@3v1n0.net> Fri, 11 Mar 2016 08:26:45 +0000
| Changed in compiz (Ubuntu): | |
| status: | Fix Committed → Fix Released |
| Changed in ubuntu-mate: | |
| status: | Fix Committed → Fix Released |
| Changed in compiz: | |
| status: | Confirmed → Fix Released |
| Photon (michael-kogan) wrote : | #71 |
I hope, somebody will read this comment though the bug is already closed.
I experience the same bug in Manjaro Linux Xfce with Xfce + Compiz 0.9.13.1. Looking at the latest comment it seems to me that the fix is only for Mate, but not for Xfce (only mate.ini has been edited for the fix by Martin). So I assume that the bug is still present in Xfce and would like to request a reopening of this bug. Also, please point me at what exactly has been changed to implement the fix in Mate.
Thanks!


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