Automatic launcher color is ugly - contrasts with the wallpaper too much

[Sven Romeike]

After i logged into Unity I experienced a really disturbing recolor of the Launcher and the Dash. I currently have a very dark Wallpaper on my Desktop and the color that Unity chooses for the Launcher and Dash does not seem to look right.

reproduce this with:

1) choose a rather dark wallpaper
2) open some programms with bright background like nautilus or libreoffice to get a better effect on the dash
3) open the dash

It doesnt work with all dark wallpapers i

The color in the launcher is permanent and it feels like its coloring parts that were not supposed to be colored solid. It looks much like https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/824886 but I submitted a new one because the old bug was allready fixed in 2011.

It looks great on most wallpapers but really weird on mine. So I think to solve this issue the effect should be made optional and be added to the system settings if it is not a bug.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: unity 5.8.0-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-20.33-generic 3.2.12
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-20-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 1.95-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,vpswitch,snap,mousepoll,resize,place,move,wall,grid,regex,imgpng,session,gnomecompat,animation,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,workarounds,scale,expo,ezoom,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Wed Mar 28 13:11:32 2012
DistUpgraded: 2012-03-14 16:18:51,803 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: precise
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard: NVIDIA Corporation G92 [GeForce 9800 GTX] [10de:0612] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
MachineType: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD MS-7395
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=de:en
 TERM=xterm
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-20-generic root=UUID=56d23492-5b0c-4d10-9428-c7f00aa1231f ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-03-14 (13 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 11/06/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: V1.4
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: MS-7395
dmi.board.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrV1.4:bd11/06/2008:svnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:pnMS-7395:pvr1.0:rvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:rnMS-7395:rvr1.0:cvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:ct3:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: MS-7395
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.7.2-0ubuntu4
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu35
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.32-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 8.0.2-0ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 8.0.2-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.11.4-0ubuntu7
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.0-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20111219.aacbd629-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.17.0-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20111201+b5534a1-1build2

[Sven Romeike (lun4tic)]

the wallpaper i used is some random "Jolene Blalock" Wallpaper from Google Image Search (set to bigger than 1600x1200)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Sven Romeike (lun4tic)]

Now I also have the weird color with the standard Unity Wallpaper. It also keeps persistent after resetting Unity and Compiz

[Sven Romeike (lun4tic)]

fixed for the standard wallpaper in todays updates but still exist for darker wallpapers

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

You can customize the launcher color in CCSM if you look in the Unity section. However the custom color feature has outstanding bugs causing it to not always be used.

See also:
  bug 972429
  bug 996645

[Adolfo Jayme Barrientos (fitojb)]

Generally, the automatic color that notify-osd chooses is much better, in comparison to Unity's auto-colorization, which is more "washed-out".

[Seth Johnson (sethj)]

I cannot reproduce this on the latest version of Ubuntu (15.10). Using a mostly black wallpaper and Unity changes its colour to a dark blue/black that looks just fine.

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug. We have tried to recreate this on the latest release of Ubuntu and cannot reproduce it. This bug is being marked as Invalid. If you believe the problem to still exist in the latest version of Ubuntu please comment on why that is the case and change the bug status to NEW.