firefox covers unity launcher

Bug #803831 reported by Avery
This bug report is a duplicate of:  Bug #906231: Unity rendered behind windows. Edit Remove
80
This bug affects 17 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Unity
Invalid
Undecided
Unassigned
unity (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

When firefox is open and unity launcher set to "autohide," firefox prevents launcher from appearing when cursor is moved to the left side of the screen. The launcher also does not appear when the Ubuntu logo in the upper left-hand corner is clicked.

This behavior occurs both with firefox maximized, and when the window is unmaximized and on the left side of the monitor. When an unmaximized firefox window is moved away from the left side of the monitor, the launcher behaves normally.

Firefox must be minimized for

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: firefox 5.0+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.11.04.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Jun 30 06:45:33 2011
FirefoxPackages:
 firefox 5.0+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.11.04.2
 flashplugin-installer N/A
 adobe-flashplugin 10.3.181.34-0natty1
 icedtea-plugin 1.1~20110420-0ubuntu1.1
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: firefox
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-05-01 (60 days ago)

Revision history for this message
Avery (docaltmed) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Walter Garcia-Fontes (walter-garcia) wrote :

Thanks for reporting this and helping in making Ubuntu better.

I have reassigned the report to Unity, as it seems more a Unity problem than a Firefox problem. When you say "and when the window is unmaximized and on the left side of the monitor." are you keeping the Firefox window large enough to cover all the Unity launcher? I ask this because I had a similar issue and the Unity launcher was actually unhiding but behind the Firefox window and I could not see it.

affects: firefox (Ubuntu) → unity (Ubuntu)
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Avery (docaltmed) wrote :

That may be what is happening, it is hard to tell. Thanks for moving it on; I wasn't sure if it was a FF problem, as I had recently upgraded.

Revision history for this message
Avery (docaltmed) wrote :

I see that this bug is marked as incomplete. Is there additional information that I can add to assist?

Revision history for this message
Walter Garcia-Fontes (walter-garcia) wrote :

If you can reproduce it consistently, and you can provide step by step description for somebody else to reproduce it, then it could be moved to "confirmed".

Changed in unity:
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
James Haigh (james.r.haigh) wrote :

So far, I have only seen this bug in Firefox.

Sometimes Firefox appears above Unity Launcher and Unity Dash. I have attached a screenshot of an example.

Steps to reproduce:
* Start a Guest session for default settings.
* Launch Firefox and open several windows and tabs.
* Kill Firefox to simulate a crash. (killall -iw firefox-bin)
* Relaunch Firefox. If you don't see the 'Restore Session' window with the message "Well, this is embarrassing." then repeat the previous step, maybe with even more windows and tabs open this time.
(Notice that up to this point Unity is still on top.)
* Click 'Restore'.
At this point all Firefox windows are above Unity.

On my user login with addons, plugins, non-default settings and other applications running, sometimes other bugs are triggered after clicking 'Restore' after a crash, such as Global Menu integration not working on some but not all Firefox windows (also shown in the screenshot), and some but not all maximised Firefox windows being displaced down and right. However, I have not yet managed to reproduce these in the Guest session yet.

James.

Changed in unity:
status: Incomplete → Confirmed
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
James Haigh (james.r.haigh) wrote :

Link to attachment is broken.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/803831/+attachment/2277884/+files/Unity%20Firefox%20Bugs.png

> Lost something?
> There’s no page with this address in Launchpad.
> If you got here from a link elsewhere on Launchpad, sorry about that. We’ve recorded the problem, and we’ll fix it as soon as we can.
> Otherwise, complain to the maintainers of the page that linked here.
> If this is blocking your work, let us know by asking a question at Launchpad Support. Include the error ID OOPS-2052DT37 in your message.

I will try removing the spaces and reattaching...

Revision history for this message
James Haigh (james.r.haigh) wrote :

I notice that any window brought in front of Firefox also covers Unity. Also the desktop can cover Dash.

I have found 2 ways of stopping the bug once triggered:

1 Quick method if no window has been brought forward since the bug was triggered:
* Click on an empty part of the Unity Panel.
(Move the mouse to the top-left to check.)

2 Method for any case:
* Click on an empty part of the Unity Panel.
(If you move the mouse to the top-left to check at this point, the 2 notices below do not apply.)
* Press Super+D to show the desktop.
* Click on the desktop.
* Click on 'Applications' to bring up Dash. (Notice that Dash is covered by the Desktop; only the white arrow head is visible.)
* Press Super to close Dash. (Notice the Launcher flicker.)
* Press Super+D to revert windows to previous position.
Unity is now on top again!

This workaround makes the bug less annoying and easier to work with until a fix is available. It may also help Unity/Compiz developers understand and fix the bug.

Hope this is useful.
James.

Revision history for this message
Mark Howard (mh-tildemh) wrote :

This isn't just limited to firefox. See Bug #805087 for more examples

Revision history for this message
Walter Garcia-Fontes (walter-garcia) wrote :

I have tried this on Ubuntu 12.04 Beta 1, following the steps in #6 and I cannot reproduce. Are the affected users still seing this bug?

Changed in unity:
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Mario Vukelic (kreuzsakra) wrote :

I cannot test Precise right now, but this problem hasn't occurred for me on 11.10 since at least November 2011, neither with Firefox nor with any other application.

Revision history for this message
Jesse Otto (rootofjesse) wrote :

I also have not seen this in 11.10 for a few months. I briefly booted a live usb of 12.04 beta 1 today and did not notice this behavior.

Revision history for this message
Walter Garcia-Fontes (walter-garcia) wrote :

OK, closing the bug for now, any of the affected users please feel free to reopen (or open a new bug) if the problem resurfaces.

Changed in unity:
status: Incomplete → Invalid
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Pieter v (pvdvegte) wrote :

Upgraded to 12.04 on my MSI Wind U100 and this problem is happening on first opening firefox.
However once I have managed to reveal the launcher by a method such as unmaximizing and moving the window to the right, it will reveal with firefox subsequently maximized again.
So after that launcher will reveal no problem.

Revision history for this message
Efrain Valles (effie-jayx) wrote :

I can confirm this problem still happens in Ubuntu 12.10

Revision history for this message
Omer Akram (om26er) wrote :

for 12.10 see bug 906231

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