Using Alt-tab to quickly switch between two windows will occasionally switch to the window under the mouse

[Larry Hastings]

Binary package hint: compiz

I'm using the Compiz static window switcher.

I frequently use Alt-Tab to switch between my editor and a terminal window. Since those are the top two windows, I often hit Alt-Tab and release it immediately, before the list-of-window-thumbnails window appears, knowing that I will switch immediately from the editor to the terminal or back again.

However, now and then Compiz will switch instead to a third window, which is always the window directly under the mouse cursor. It doesn't matter where that window is in the window stack; it can be buried deep beneath other windows. All that matters is that the mouse is over it. When this happens, Gnome acts as if I Alt-Tabbed to that window, raising it if need be.

I assure you I'm not accidentally brushing against a mouse button; I frequently experience this behavior when using an external keyboard, my hands nowhere near any mouse.

There's an option in the static window switcher, "Allow Mouse Selection". Turning that on or off seems to have no effect. (It was worth a shot.)

Goodness knows what the problem is. My pet theory is that it's a race condition in the window switcher (duh) and there's some code getting used that's supposed to be for x-mouse behavior.

[Larry Hastings (larry-hastings)]

Sorry to forget to mention local details: I am currently seeing this behavior under 10.04 beta, and also saw it in 9.10. Both were the x86-64 build. I'm using a Lenovo T61p with an nVidia graphics chipset and the binary nVidia driver.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thanks for the report, it has been some time without any response or feedback in this bug report and we are wondering if this is still an issue for you with the latest release of Ubuntu the Natty Narwhal, May you please test with that version and comment back if you're still having or not the issue? Please have a look at http://www.ubuntu.com/download to know how to install that version.Thanks in advance.

[Larry Hastings (larry-hastings)]

I'm normally a heavy user, but I've been moving house for the past few weeks so I haven't had a chance to spend a lot of time with Unity. If you give me another month I'll let you know.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for compiz (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]