gnome-panel mix with unity after upgrade from 11.04 to 11.10

[Raphael Camus]

Hi,

Recently I upgraded from Ubuntu 10.04 to 11.10. Note that I choosed to use ligthdm instead of gdm.

THE BUG=> I have gnome-panel installed so I tried to login using "Gnome classic". Problem is that I do not have the application bar (the one with close, minimize/maximize buttons) neither I can resize the windows cause I only have their contents. Unity however works fine.

I have Ubuntu running on another PC and it is working just fine. Note that on that one I had to installe gnome-panel as it was not already installed.

Thanks for your help.
---
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
Package: metacity 1:2.34.1-1ubuntu4
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=fr:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8
 LC_MESSAGES=fr_FR.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
Tags: oneiric
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic i686
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-10-17 (7 days ago)
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lp lpadmin plugdev sambashare www-data

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Valezan (ssuzan)]

Hi,
Maybe the same bug. After upgrading from 11.04 to 11.10 by the Internet :
1 if I start a Unity session, everything works properly,
2 if I log in Gnome classic, I have a gnome desktop but with the Unity Launcher on the left and some troubles,
3 and finally, if I log in Gnome, I juste have... Unity So I have to run "gnome-shell -- replace" to get a Gnome-shell environment. After that, the session is working properly but I have to do this one each logon (adding the command to the “start menu” does not change anything). Regards

[Valezan (ssuzan)]

Hi,
I created a new user on my system to make a test and miraculously, the three different graphical environments (Gnome classic, Gnome and Unity) work perfectly! So it mean that I have no hardware or driver problem but a huge problem of configuration. Unable to find a comprehensive list of all folders and files that I should remove from my “home” to find a correct graphical configuration (I tried ...), I just deleted all my configurations files. Now everything works fine.
Regards

[Raphael Camus (raphael-camus)]

Good to know that it can only be a configuration problem. It would be better to know which config file/folder is faulty. I'll try to determine that when I have time, maybe tomorrow

[Valezan (ssuzan)]

If this can help you Raphael, here are some tests I did and didn't work:
1. Remove (from another root session) files “.Gnome”, “.Gnome2”, “.Gconf”, “.Gconfd”, “.Metacity” from my home: not enough, the problem persists.

2. In command line, execute:
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get remove unity
sudo apt-get remove compiz
sudo apt-get remove metacity
sudo apt-get install compiz
sudo compiz --replace
sudo apt-get install metacity
sudo apt-get install unity
sudo unity &
Also not sufficient either...

I continue to follow this bug because it affects another session on my computer and I would prefer deleted some files / folders rather than, as I did yesterday, all my configuration settings.
Good luck and congratulations to those who, like you, devote time to the community.

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

The central (and possibly only) element of this bug as it is described by Raphael Camus is the absence of window borders--windows cannot be resized, moved, or maximized/minimized. That indicates that the problem is with the window manager. The problem occurs in GNOME Classic, which uses metacity as its window manager, and it does not occur in 3D Unity, which uses compiz as its window manager. So this is a bug in metacity. If an affected system has the same problem in Unity 2D, which also uses metacity, and does not have the problem in GNOME (not GNOME Classic, but GNOME, installable via the package called gnome-shell), which also uses compiz, that would provide further confirmation.

Valezan's problem description sounds completely different from this. Therefore, I am assuming it is a different problem. So in addition to changing the affected package from gnome-panel to metacity, I am also setting this bug back from Confirmed to New.

@Valezan, if you believe you really are experiencing this bug, please explain.

@Raphael Camus, if you are sure this bug should have Confirmed status, then please feel free to set it back to Confirmed, but please explain in detail why you think it should have that status.

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

@Raphael Camus
Unless you disagree with the above analysis, then assuming you still have a system that is affected by this bug, please provide more information about the metacity setup on the affected system by opening a Terminal window on it and running "apport-collect 877735" (without the quotes).

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

@Raphael Camus
Also, you indicated that you upgraded from Ubuntu 10.04 to Ubuntu 11.10. But a direct upgrade from 10.04 to 11.10 is not supported. Did you upgrade from 10.04 to 10.10, and then to 11.04, and then to 11.10? Or did you upgrade using some other manner? Or are you actually not running Ubuntu 11.10?

[Valezan (ssuzan)]

@Eliah Kagan
I'm agree with your analysis it must be two different problems. I posted too quickly, sorry.

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

@Valezan
No problem. Have you filed a bug about this (different) problem that is affecting you? (If you do so, please read https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs carefully first.) I'm not sure what package *your* bug is in, so you might want to ask and see if anybody knows what package to file it against (you can post a question about this at https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+addquestion -- make sure that it's clear that you are asking what package to report it against, rather than asking whether or not it is a bug, or the first inclination of many responders will be simply to tell you to file a bug without giving any other info).

[Raphael Camus (raphael-camus)]

Hi,

1-I confirm the bug still exist, but it may be only a configuration issue on my side.
2-After several tries, I have isolated the config folder that is causing the problem: ~/.local/share/applications . Means that if I put back all my config files, I get the bug back. If then I delete that specific folder, the problem disapears (after logout/login). I can see that on this specific folder I have some .desktop files. Note that I have re-arranged alacarte menu entries for that user prior upgrade. Other users on the same box, and another user on another box for which I did not rearange alacarte do not have the issue.
3-I have upgraded from 11.04 to 11.10 (and not from 10.04). Sorry for the confusion.
4-After my inputs, do you still need me to run "apport-collect 877735" ? If so, I'll do that tomorrow. It is late now in France, I need to sleep

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

Thanks, that is useful information. And yes, it would still be helpful for you to run "apport-collect 877735". In addition, can you attach an archive of your ~/.local/share/applications folder (the version with which the problem does occur)? All this can certainly be provided tomorrow--there is no need for you to rush. Once you do provide all this information, you can change the bug's status back from Incomplete to New.

[Valezan (ssuzan)]

@Eliah Kagan
No, I haven't filed a bug about my problem and I will not do it, I will rather continue tracking forums to try to find which file/folder was at the origin of my trouble (because I still have the problem on another session of my computer). Regards

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

@Valezan
After you continue investigating the matter, it would be useful (whether or not you ind a solution) to report it as a bug -- it probably is one. (Of course, you might choose not to file a big, which is your prerogative -- there exists no obligation to do so.)

[Raphael Camus (raphael-camus)]

apport information

[Raphael Camus (raphael-camus)]

Hi,

I have ran "apport-collect 877735" (but dunno where the data is gone to) and attached is my applications folder content. Hope this will help.

[Valezan (ssuzan)]

Hi,
Today, I think after running “unity –replace”, I have the same trouble as describe by Raphael Camus. In my case, it was not even necessary to delete the ~/.local/share/applications folder, deleting the metacity.desktop file was sufficient.
Hope this may help.

[Valezan (ssuzan)]

Well, to delete “metacity.desktop” file only, solved the problem for Gnome classic, but when I connect with Unity, no dashboard and no launcher. I had to delete also “gnome-*.desktop” and “compiz.desktop” to find both Gnome and Unity functional.