update-manager is hard to find when it autoappears

[njh]

Binary package hint: update-manager

I have update-manager set to appear whenever updates are available. But the window appears on the workspace behind the currently open windows and it often results in me having to go through each workspace clicking the window list button to see where the window is.

I think the simplest effective fix would be to make the window list button zoom to the correct workspace, as it does for most windows.

Description: Ubuntu 9.04
Release: 9.04
update-manager:
  Installed: 1:0.111.9
  Candidate: 1:0.111.9
  Version table:
 *** 1:0.111.9 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:0.111.7 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/main Packages

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

Thanks for your bugreport.

Isn't it blinking in the taskbar for you?

[njh (njh-njhurst)]

It is not that it is hard to know when it is there, it is that it is hard to find on the desktop. Clicking on the blinking in the taskbar only brings the window to the foreground if you are on the right workspace. So the only way to find it is to systematically go through all workspaces and click on each blinking one.

[stacktracer (stacktracer)]

I find this annoying, too. It used to be that an icon would appear in the Notification Area, and clicking that icon would bring up the Update Manager window on your current workspace. I liked that way better.

My workaround is to right-click the pulsing [Update Manager] button in the window list, select "Always on Visible Workspace", and then left-click the button. It bugs me that this takes 3 clicks, but it's better than hunting through my many workspaces.

I have considered using devilspie to automatically set the "Always on Visible Workspace" flag for the Update Manager window whenever it comes up ... but I don't like the idea that I have to install something extra, and figure out its non-trivial config-file syntax, to get basic, non-obnoxious behavior.

[stacktracer (stacktracer)]

From http://linuxowns.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/fixing-some-ubuntu-904-annoyances/

1. Run gconf-editor.
2. Navigate to “apps -> update-notifier” and untag the box next to “auto-launch”.

Puts the icon back in the Notification Area. Yay!

[njh (njh-njhurst)]

thanks for that stacktracer. This is still just a workaround, I think my preferred behaviour would be for the clicking the blinking in the taskbar to bring the window/workspace to the front.

[stacktracer (stacktracer)]

njh -- Agreed.