active/inactive window decorations are wrong, do not update (only fglrx)

[Ed Lin]

Binary package hint: compiz

When using Compiz in standalone mode and with fglrx (installed with jockey) window decoration do not correctly reflect the activity status of windows. Most windows have the active decoration, some launch with inactive decoration even though they have focus, it appears completely random. No matter what I try, moving, minimizing, the decorations do not update or change. Switching back to radeon restores expected behavior.

I've set up Compiz following this to the point:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompizStandalone (including issues & workarounds)

The really odd thing: the themes Radiance and Ambient are not affected, all other (default) themes are.

Reproducible in the sense that I installed twice, once with the Ubuntu desktop iso the other time with mini.iso -> cli system -> apt-get manually all necessary packages and I got exactly the same result.

compiz (1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2) natty

[David Raid (davidraid)]

I noticed the same problem and reported it in Unity.

It's really irritating, and oddly some windows sometimes randomly begin working as expected. CCSM and sometimes Rhythmbox, with the window controls working normally (Prelight and pressed changes).

https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/777969

[Jonathan Meek (shroudedcloud)]

No window works as it should for me (unless maximized in Unity because the Unity panel uses different code to the non-maximized windows.)

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

Could you now test in Oneiric and see if the issue happens with all the themes, a few selected themes or is fixed?

[Jonathan Meek (shroudedcloud)]

The situation appears to be worse in Oneiric for me. I'm using Ambiance and updated to the FGLRX driver to test this. Now, the widow title bar is not updating at all. I opened Nautilus to the Home folder and switched to a new folder: no update. I minimized and restored the window: no update. (Which, if I remember, Compiz recently switched to NOT de-mapping the window on minimize, so that is why the "workaround" for updating the title bar that worked in Natty is not working in Oneiric.)

I used the Ubuntu theme switcher, the title bars updated... But all the issues persist after the theme switch caused that one and only update. (To Radiance)

[Yannick Le Guen (leguen-yannick)]

This bug remains present after the last updates on Oneiric Beta 1.

I'm using Emerald for window decorations to avoid this issue.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Yannick Le Guen (leguen-yannick)]

The issue remains present with the last updates, and Emerald is no longer in the repositories...
So I can no longer use Unity or every other compiz-based environment.

[Jonathan Meek (shroudedcloud)]

A temporary stop-gap is to use Unity 2D. However this is a usability issue that has persisted for two cycles and needs some eyes one it.

[David Raid (davidraid)]

Great, so now we're stuck with Unity 2D.

I'm shocked at the loss of Emerald in the repos. I realize it is not actively maintained anymore, but show me another window decorator that has the same capabilities! I was using it to work around this problem in Natty and before Natty because nothing else allows anti-aliased rounded windows.

[Thomas Howard (thomas-howard-4)]

I am experiencing this bug to some extent too in 11.10, and also experienced it to a greater extent in 11.04.

In 11.10 it seems to mainly affect Firefox, Nautilus and Clementine, and seems to take longer before the bug afflicts Pidgin windows.

I am using a Radeon 6790 card if it helps at all, and I cannot use the open source drivers in any recent Linux distribution I have tried because I get this bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/xserver-xorg-driver-ati/+bug/840140

[Jonathan Meek (shroudedcloud)]

Can someone please mark this as effecting Unity-window-decorator? I can't figure it out right now >.< But I'm afraid if I don't leave this comment, I'll forget again.

[Neil Rodgers (neilr1971)]

This bug started for me on 11.04 while using fglrx. Im on 11.10 and it's still there. Never had it in 10.10 when I started using Ubuntu even while using fglrx. I personally think this bug has something to do with compiz because I dont experience it in Unity2d and while using a different decorator such as emerald the bug is still there.

[new_user (megalinuxgeek)]

I also am affected by this bug, with the fglrx driver from Jockey and the latest from AMD's website. On multiple themes (both default and not default).

[Anders L. (vithiri)]

I can confirm that this bug is still here in Precise Alpha 2, fully updated as of today, using the fglrx drivers from the Ubuntu repositories.

[Łukasz Zemczak (sil2100)]

Is this bug still present as of compiz 1:0.9.7.0~bzr2995-0ubuntu4 in precise? Since I remember encountering it previously, but on the latest package the problem does not seem to be reproducible on my system (also using fglrx). On the other hand, I was encountering this bug while using lp:compiz-core revision 3013 (currently latest), so maybe it got fixed by some of the ubuntu package patches?

[Łukasz Zemczak (sil2100)]

Ok, I'm able to reproduce it now on my system. I'll try to find out why it suddenly started working yesterday as well.

[Jonathan Meek (shroudedcloud)]

I'll try to reproduce on my Radeon system. But it might take me a day or two since I'm in a place with a daily internet cap. Will update you when I've done it.

[Jonathan Meek (shroudedcloud)]

Just checked: is still an issue. Also, I assume you're running FGLRX as well? I noticed that LightDM didn't use my wallpaper for its background after I enabled the driver. That happen to you or should I look into my system?

[Łukasz Zemczak (sil2100)]

Thanks for the info. Yes, I'm running fglrx and I can easily reproduce the problem now. So I'm looking into possibilities of what is causing this bug and to why it's only fglrx specific. This might take a bit though.

As for LightDM, I'm still using GDM on my system, so I can't really help here. Never had any background image problems when enabling fglrx on GDM.

[Jonathan Meek (shroudedcloud)]

OK, yes, you wouldn't know anything if you were running LightDM. The wallpaper feature I'm speaking of is specific to the unity-greeter for LightDM. Thanks for the input.

[Łukasz Zemczak (sil2100)]

Ok, I have some leads as to this bug. For now it seems it's somehow related to XChangeProperty() and PropertyNotify events in the decorator codes (both in gwd and in compiz). There might be something that fglrx does funny (or buggily) - but I'll know for sure tomorrow in the morning.

[void (void-sp)]

You might want to take a look at bug #770283 - it seems like the same bug to me.

Other bugs that might be the same:
bug #879156
bug #876573

[Łukasz Zemczak (sil2100)]

I'll try reproducing the problem on the open radeon driver later on too.

I checked again and It seems the problem lies somewhere else. Since it seems even though draws are made to the pixmap by the gtk-window-decorator, sometimes the changes aren't forwarded to compiz at all. Damage events don't help with redrawing. Even with NotifyProperty events sent the pixmap displayed is the same. I'm still looking into why, and why only on fglrx (or only on radeon cards).

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 770283, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.