49802 - Mozilla overrides window manager placement prefs, randomly misplacing windows offscreen

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Core :: XUL, defect, P3)

Description

[mjw]

From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux 2.2.14-5.0 i686; en-US; m18) Gecko/20000818
BuildID:    2000081808

I am using sawfish with my window placement preferences set to manual.  After
the initial browser window, Mozilla ignores this and places its windows on its
own, often very badly, such as with only 6x6 pixels of the upper left corner of
the window showing in the lower right of my screen.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
Run the latest Helix Gnome updates.  Run Mozilla.  Do File/New Navigator Window.

Actual Results:

Expected Results:

Comment 1

[Jeffrey Baker]

I had this problem too, and it is actually a GNOME problem.  The problem is that
Sawfish and GNOME are saving the size of the last window mapped by Mozilla.  The
problem is that the last window mapped by Mozilla might have been a very small
dialog, such as the "Find in page" dialog.  Next time Mozilla is launched, it is
the same size as the Find in page dialog!

The solution was to use the sawfish control panel to disable some of the
remember-window-size-and-position preferences.  I honestly don't remember which
ones.  Just fiddle with them.

You might also have to go into your .sawfish or .gnome directories and delete
the alread-saved size preference for Mozilla windows.

Comment 2

[mjw]

Okay, here is what worked for me:

In Gnome Control Center, under Sawfish window manager/Placement, select Ignore
program-specified window placements.  This fixed the problem with windows
getting shoved in the lower right hand corner, but doesn't fix the problem with
windows created from File/New Navigator Window getting placed automatically
rather than interactively.

Comment 3

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

over to toolkit

Comment 4

[Peter Trudelle]

Is this also the cause of the giant Profile Manager windows I sometimes get?  cc
pavlov for input.

Comment 5

[Damian Kramer]

I don't think this is related to Gnome. It happens to me and I don't use Gnome
at all. Besides, it's only started to happen on recent builds. I'm using Window
Maker, and I can't find anything in the config that allows me to ignore
application defined placement.

Comment 6

[Peter Trudelle]

mjw's workaround caused the Gnome panel to come up in the middle of my screen.  

Comment 7

[Peter Trudelle]

-> dr

Comment 8

[Dan Rosen]

I agree with Damian: I don't believe this is a Gnome problem, since I've used
Mozilla with Gnome just about forever and have only had this problem recently.
This could potentially be a regression of a different bug with some more
information... Investigating.

Comment 9

[Dan Rosen]

*** Bug 50136 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 10

[Dan Rosen]

*** Bug 50248 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 11

[Dan Rosen]

nsbeta3+, since bug 50248 was. also pp for linux, and nominating dogfood since
it's awful confusing when your windows exist but you can't see them. still
investigating for regressions...

Comment 12

[leger]

yes. This is confusing and causing lost of dups. [dogfood+]

Comment 13

[Dan Rosen]

Can't find any closed bugs this could be a regression of; investigating.

Comment 14

[tenthumbs]

If I run either WindowMaker or icewm and set the appropriate preferences to
manual placement then apps like xterm or xv behave nicely and allow me to
position them. Mozilla does not. It puts itself wherever it wants. If I do a
Ctrl-N to open a new browser, that window open exactly on top of the previous
one.

If I run fvwm2 or mwm and set the appropriate options, then all apps, including
Mozilla behave properly. With there two window managers, Mozilla's browser,
mail, composer, view source, and view info windows all behave nicely.

The best part, though, is that 4.75 behaves *exactly* the same way on the four
managers. If there's a bug here, and I think there is, then it is icredibly
ancient.

Comment 15

[Dan Rosen]

fix checked in: LoadPositionAndSizeFromXUL takes booleans for whether we want
position or size loaded independently, so taking advantage of that in
nsXULWindow.cpp. nobody else ought to be using this function anyway.

Comment 16

[John Morrison]

verified fixed. on XP_UNIX we do not now override the window manager placement.