The Activities top left button reacts to a mouse-up (e.g. drag and drop) instead of a click

[user 76543456789]

Honestly I have no idea which package this is in and I could not identify it by following the wiki page for identifying packages. I had no luck with the ubuntu-bug command either. Feel free to migrate at your discretion.

The Activities menu/button at the top left in the desktop menu(?) bar seems to listen to left-mouse-up instead of a full click with the mouse.

If I want to e.g. select all my files on the desktop by click-and-dragging a selection box and then end the selection at the top left of the screen I will then also activate the Activities button if I release the mouse button over it.

I expect most button-like UI controls to only trigger on complete mouse clicks: mouse down, mouse up.

Pretty much the *only* exception to this expectation -- that I can think of -- is when a click is initiated on one menu item and finishes on a menu item that is its peer.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. The issue you are reporting is an upstream one and it would be nice if somebody having it could send the bug to the developers of the software by following the instructions at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME. If you have done so, please tell us the number of the upstream bug (or the link), so we can add a bugwatch that will inform us about its status. Thanks in advance.

[João Pedro Seara (jpseara)]

Sebastien,

This issue is very annoying in 22.04 indeed. I didn't notice this in 20.04 at all. Seems to be a re-occurrence.

Here is the link to the upstream bug:

https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/4897

Someone kindly attach it to this bug's header.

Thanks.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

This bug was reported against artful. Was the behaviour wrong the whole time or is upstream talking about a more recent regression?

Also this is fixed in gnome-shell 42.1:

  https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/5181
  https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/merge_requests/2281

So it's possible comment #4 is about that instead.

Generally in GUI design correct behaviour is for a button to only act on mouse-press-and-then-release. Not just press and not just release.

[João Pedro Seara (jpseara)]

Daniel, I am reporting it in Jammy.

This is definitely a regression in the sense that we're now having a problem that we didn't before. This bug is defined as an "opinion" where it should definitely be a "bug", IMO.

Please check the attached video where I clearly compare 20.04 vs 22.04.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

OK, no problem. This really isn't the right place to talk about a new bug in 22.04 when this bug is from 17.10, but since that release is unsupported now we can commandeer the bug.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

The bug is now open for 22.10, but closed for 20.04.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

I was hopeful that this would fix it:

  https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/commit/23b4eb459

but it doesn't. The bug remains.

[João Pedro Seara (jpseara)]

Hello, Daniel.

Yep, I didn't want to open a duplicate.

By the way, the current workaround for this is to disable Wayland:

1. sudo vi /etc/gdm3/custom.conf
2. WaylandEnable=false
3. Reboot

EDIT: As per Daniel van Vugt, the best way to disable Wayland is just by clicking the config wheel in the login prompt and select "Ubuntu on Xorg". Thanks Daniel!

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

You don't need to disable Wayland completely, just select 'Ubuntu on Xorg' on the login screen and your choice will be remembered for future logins.

[João Pedro Seara (jpseara)]

Daniel,

I have corrected my last post. Thanks!