Disabling 'below' display does not reposition windows properly

[Bryce Harrington]

[Problem]
In a multihead config with one monitor above the other, if the lower monitor is disabled the windows on that screen aren't moved to the still-active display.

[Test Case]
0. Attach laptop (LVDS1) to an external display (VGA1).
1. In the GNOME display properties applet, set the LVDS1 beneath VGA1.
2. Move to the lower left desktop (ctrl+alt+down)
3. Open one gnome terminal window on each monitor.
4. In the upper (VGA1) gnome terminal window type:
    xrandr --output LVDS1 --off
   (Alternatively, bring up the gnome display properties applet and shut the laptop display off there)
5. With the LVDS turned off, count the number of gnome terminal windows visible on VGA1
6. Using either xrandr or gnome, re-enable LVDS1 to the above/below arrangement
7. With the LVDS re-enabled, count the number of gnome terminals visible on VGA1 and LVDS1

Expected: 2, then 1/1
Actual:
   Gnome Classic (No Effects): 2, then 1/1
   Gnome Classic (With Effects): 2, then 1/1
   Unity2D: 2, then 1/1
   Unity: 1, then 1/1

Other findings...
A. On Unity, with LVDS1 off the missing gnome terminal window is inaccessible. It can be recovered in various ways, but it's fairly confusing.

B. If step #2 is skipped and the test performed in the upper left desktop, Unity will place the lower windows into the lower left desktop.

C. On Unity, repeated testing of this seems to scramble the window positions to some extent. The same effect does not appear to occur with metacity; windows generally get placed back where they'd been before.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: unity 5.8.0-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-22.35-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-22-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.0-0ubuntu4
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,vpswitch,snap,mousepoll,resize,place,move,wall,grid,regex,imgpng,session,gnomecompat,animation,fade,workarounds,scale,expo,ezoom]
Date: Thu Apr 5 05:27:33 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Beta i386 (20110921.2)
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2011-11-22 (135 days ago)

[Andrea Azzarone (azzar1)]

Can you still reproduce this bug?

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Ayup.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for Unity because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Christopher Townsend (townsend)]

Hey Bryce,

Hmm, I followed the exact instructions and cannot reproduce this on 15.04 or 14.04.

You reported this bug on 12.04 and on 2014-12-01, you confirmed it still occurs, but it's not clear to me if you meant it still occurs on 12.04 or some newer version of Ubuntu.

Could you clarify which version you still see this in?

[Christopher Townsend (townsend)]

BTW, this is most likely a Compiz issue, so I'm changing the project/package to reflect that.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for Compiz because there has been no activity for 60 days.]