Subject: FVWM: GNOME2/fvwm integration

From: Tessa Lau <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2003 10:06:34 -0400

I'm installing Debian unstable and the latest GNOME2 desktop on a
friend's system, and I'm trying to convince him to see the light and
switch from sawfish to fvwm2.  However I'm running into a few bugs with
the GNOME2 integration.  I'm using a freshly built fvwm 2.5.7.

I switch to fvwm by killing sawfish and running fvwm2, then saving my
session.  The first time after I log out and log back in with fvwm, the
GNOME menu panel, which is always at the top of the screen, has been
relocated to the bottom of the screen.  The bottom edge panel has been
relocated to the top of the screen.  The menu panel cannot be moved.  If
I move the bottom edge panel down to the bottom of the screen where it
belongs, it gets hidden behind the menu panel, and is lost forever.

If I switch back to sawfish, the next time I log in the panels are in
the right place.

A second bug is that when using fvwm, and the workspace applet in the
GNOME panel, I always have 4 workspaces.  I would like to only have one
workspace.  But if I change the number of workspaces in the applet, it
always gets reset to 4 when I log in again.

Are these known bugs?

Thanks,
--Tessa

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From: Olivier Chapuis <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 08:03:09 +0200

> belongs, it gets hidden behind the menu panel, and is lost forever.

Is this problem occur only the first time you log back?

> always gets reset to 4 when I log in again.

Add

EWMHNumberOfDesktops 1 0

to your fvwm config.

Regards, Olivier

---

From: Tessa Lau <[email-masked]>
Date: 07 Jul 2003 08:43:14 -0400

> Is this problem occur only the first time you log back?

No.  It happens every other time.  I logged out and logged in six
times.  On attempts #1, 3, and 5, the menu panel was on the bottom.  On
attempts #2, 4, and 6, the menu panel was on the top.  It flipped from
one end of the screen to the other every time I logged in.

> EWMHNumberOfDesktops 1 0

This works wonderfully, thanks!

--Tessa

---

From: Olivier Chapuis <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2003 22:44:23 +0200

> belongs, it gets hidden behind the menu panel, and is lost forever.

I hope this is fixed now in the current cvs. You may try the next
snapshot:

fvwm-snap-20030717.tar.gz at ftp://ftp.fvwm.org/pub/fvwm/devel/snapshots/

this snap should appear soon (<= 24 hours).

Regards, Olivier

---

From: Tessa Lau <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 20:44:18 -0400

> I hope this is fixed now in the current cvs. You may try the next

I tried that snapshot but it's still not fixed.  The behavior is somewhat
different, though.

When I log out and log back in with the new fvwm, the menu panel is now
about 100 pixels below the top of the screen --- and it cannot be moved.
My edge panel is obscured beneath the menu panel; I know this because
when I delete the menu panel, the edge panel is right there underneath.

Each time I log out/log in, the two panels are still in that same place.

http://tlau.org/panel.png is a screenshot.  You can see smudges along
the lower edge of the menu panel --- these are the icons of the edge
panel underneath.

--Tessa

---

From: Olivier Chapuis <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 23:00:41 +0200

> the lower edge of the menu panel --- these are the icons of the edge

I cannot reproduce all these problems. May be you should:

- Use the "next" snapshot (optional but there is more session fixes).
- Double check that you do not have one of the following style:
       NoPPosition, NoUSPosition, FixedPPosition, FixedUSPosition,
       FixedPosition
  which can match your panels in your fvwm config file(s).
- Remove the menu panel via gnome (left mouse button on the menu panel).
- Move your edge panel to the bottom via gnome (preference). 
- Readd the menu panel
- Put back your bottom panel to the edge
- Now the 2 panels should be placed correctly ...
- save your session when you logout

If you have still some problem can you send me the following files:

- ~/.gnome2/session
- the most recent ~/.fs-* file
- xprop > menu_panel (type this command and after you get a cross, click
on the menu panel)
- xprop > edge_panel (idem)

Regards, Olivier

---

From: Tessa Lau <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 09:15:49 -0400

The 7/23 snapshot is somewhat better but still not fixed.  The menu
panel is now correctly placed at the top of the screen.  However, the
edge panel also starts out underneath the menu panel at the top of the
screen, with a few rows of pixels barely visible underneath the meun
panel.  I am able to click on those few pixels and move it down to the
bottom of the screen where it belongs.

However, when I log out and log back in, the edge panel is back up at
the top of the screen.  I repeated this several times, and each time the
edge panel starts at the top of the screen.
 
> - Use the "next" snapshot (optional but there is more session fixes).

I got the 7/23 snapshot.

>        NoPPosition, NoUSPosition, FixedPPosition, FixedUSPosition,

I commented out everything referencing "Position" in
/etc/X11/fvwm/system.fvwm2rc and ~/.fvwm/*, before logging in with the
newly installed fvwm snapshot.

> - save your session when you logout

Did this, see above.

> - xprop > edge_panel (idem)

I'll attach these files to this email.  Thanks for looking into this.
If there's anything else I can do to debug, I'm happy to help.

--Tessa

---

From: Olivier Chapuis <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 18:14:08 +0200

> bottom of the screen where it belongs.

Ok, if I well understand when you use gnome to "move" your edge
panel it is not placed correctly.

What I do: I right click on a panel and create an edge panel.  Then I
right click on this edge panel and open the properties (gnome)
dialog. With this dialog I can place my edge panel at 12 different
positions on the screen (top-left, middle-left, bottom-left,
left-bottom, middle-bottom, ...etc.). When I try all these positions
the edge panel does not interfere with the menu panel (and my bottom
panel). I use gnome-2.0.
 
If I well understand, when you do the same operation your edge
panel interfere with your menu panel when you place at the different
"top" positions (5 possibilities). Can you confirm this? What
version of gnome do you use?

If this is the case this is a gnome-panel bug. fvwm respects the
position the gnome-panel ask for.

However, what may happen is that your version of GNOME use a new
method to move resize a window (via _NET hints) which is not yet
implemented in fvwm and that the replacement method used by the
gnome panel when a window manager does not support this method
is broken.

We will implement this method soon and I will ask you to test
it when a snapshot will contain the "fix".

Thanks, Olivier

---

From: Tessa Lau <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 13:22:17 -0400

> panel it is not placed correctly.

No.  The panel is not placed correctly at login.  Let me describe the
problem in more detail.

I usually use a single edge panel at the top of the screen (since I
have all these problems with the menu panel, I don't use it).  Starting
from that configuration, I can create a menu panel:

-- right-click on the edge panel and select properties
(the "top" position is depressed)
-- I select the "bottom" position
(the edge panel is now at the bottom of my screen)
-- I right click on the edge panel, select New Panel -> Menu Panel
(a menu panel appears at the top of my screen)
(I now have a menu panel at the top, and an edge panel at the bottom)
-- From the menu panel, select Actions -> Log out
(I have a GNOME preference set to always save my session on logout)
-- Log in

When I log in again, the menu panel is at the top of the screen, and the
edge panel is underneath it, with only a few pixels visible.

-- I right click on the edge panel (hard because it's mostly obscured by
the menu panel)
(when I do that, the edge panel comes to the front, obscuring the menu
panel)
-- Select "Properties"

In the "Panel Properties" dialog that comes up, the "bottom" position is
depressed, as in this screenshot:  http://tlau.org/panel2.png
Yet the panel is clearly not at the bottom, it's near the top.

If I log out and log in again, the same thing happens; the two panels are
placed on top of each other at the top of the screen.

> version of gnome do you use?

I have only one possibility for the "top" position, as you can see in
the panel2.png screenshot.

I have GNOME panel version 2.2.2 (right click on the panel, select
"About panels").

I can move the edge panel to any of four positions: top, left, right,
and bottom.  If I use the properties dialog to move the panel around,
the panel never overlaps with the menu panel.  It's only on login that
the two panels are placed incorrectly.

Hope that helps.  Let me know if you want me to describe anything else
in more detail.

--Tessa