Tasks in GNOME taskbar blink at random, breaks Alt-Tab switching

[Kevin Otte]

At what seems like random times, tasks in the taskbar will turn bold and begin
blinking. When this happens, it is no longer possible to use Alt-Tab to switch
away from the currently focused window. A mouse click to focus the blinking
application is required.

I am not certain if I have selected the correct package as this problem persists
even when I remove the taskbar and use the Window Selector applet (the
applications turn bold in that list as well).

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thanks for your bug. This animation is a notice that a window require your
attention (ie: a message coming on an IM). It doesn't break alt-tab for me and
that's the first bug we get about it though. What version of Ubuntu do you use?
With what application do you have this issue?

[Kevin Otte (nivex)]

This is only started happening since I upgraded to Ubuntu 5.10.

I have seen this happen with nearly every application, but most notably:
- Mozilla Firefox
- Mozilla Thunderbird
- GNOME Terminal
- XMMS

It is unfortunately one of those dreaded "intermittent" bugs. I have yet to
nail down a procedure to reproduce the conditions.

[Daniel Holbach (dholbach)]

So this doesn't happen all the time?

[Sandis Neilands (sandis-deactivatedaccount)]

Hi!

Try this:
1) Open XMMS.
2) Add multiple songs.
3) Don't minimize XMMS.
4) When next song starts you should notice an "interesting side-effect" :)
5) Clicking on/moving XMMS doesn't help, it's gone mad.
6) Minimize/unminimize XMMS several times - the blinking should stop.

Now I don't know, how exactly this blinking "feature" works, but is there a way
to turn it off or configure it? I tried irc and forums, but unfortunately didn't
get any solution. Feel free to send me email if you don't want to spam bugzilla.

And should i file a bug against XMMS (in Malone?)? Because now it seems that
programs are not aware of this feature and they don't know what events will turn
blinking on/off.

Sandis

[Daniel Holbach (dholbach)]

What am I supposed to overserve? There is nothing blinking or behaving in a
strange way. Since 'xmms' is in main, you could file the bug in Bugzilla as
well, if we can isolate the issue.

[Sandis Neilands (sandis-deactivatedaccount)]

(In reply to comment #5)
> What am I supposed to overserve? There is nothing blinking or behaving in a
> strange way. Since 'xmms' is in main, you could file the bug in Bugzilla as
> well, if we can isolate the issue.

I'm sorry, I have one step missing in my description - playlist editor should be
open, but not focused. Then you should see what I see - blinking xmms's taskbar
item. Haven't tried this in dapper though.

I also opened bug (#20549) for this issue.

[Daniel Holbach (dholbach)]

Could you try again in Dapper? I'm quite sure it's fixed.

[Kevin Otte (nivex)]

I still see this behaviour once every few weeks, usually only with gnome-terminal nowadays. I'm content to write it off as gremlins at this point as it is no longer interfering with my workflow.

[Daniel Holbach (dholbach)]

Ok, closing the bug - thanks for following up.