Alt+mouse move doesn't drag window any more

[Oliver Gerlich]

Under Ubuntu 14.04 beta, in Gnome Flashback Session with Metacity, the Alt hotkey doesn't work anymore for moving windows. In Ubuntu 12.04 pressing Alt key and clicking into a window could be used to move the window; this doesn't work anymore.

The shortcut key can be changed away from Alt to Super (Windows) key, eg. using gnome-tweak-tool (Window -> Window Action Key). Interestingly, when configuring Super key, it actually works when pressing the Super key; but when configuring the Alt key it doesn't work.

The key can also be changed directly in dconf-editor, under org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences.mouse-button-modifier. This allows to set other keys than Alt and Super; and eg. configuring <Ctrl> actually makes the Control key usable as Window Action Key; but again when configuring <Alt> the Alt key cannot be used for window movement.

This also affects the other actions available via the window action key (window resizing, and opening window context menu).

This is with Ubuntu 14.04 beta (x86_64), in Virtualbox, with metacity 1:2.34.13-0ubuntu4.

[Coenraad Loubser (dagelf)]

The Gnome project have changed some default key combinations that have existed for 30+ years. I don't think this is acceptable. For reference, the new key combination is Super+drag. Alt+Tab has been changed to Alt+~. And the list goes on.

I think Ubuntu will do well to maintain the age old defaults. 100 000 users each having to spend an hour trying to figure out why their keys don't work, and having to dig into config files to fix it, is 100 000 man hours wasted doing something really menial.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

For gnome-shell, this has worked for at least the past year. Probably longer.

By "this" I mean selecting gnome-tweak-tool > Windows > Window Action Key = Alt
works.

The fact that Alt is not the default is a different issue. See bug 1713650 instead.