Ubuntu
metacity package

Alt-shift-tab behavior has changed without notice

Bug #217989 reported by Asheesh Laroia
16
This bug affects 2 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Metacity
Fix Released
Unknown
metacity (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: metacity

1) Release of Ubuntu:

paulproteus@alchemy:~ $ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu hardy (development branch)
Release: 8.04

2) Version of metacity

paulproteus@alchemy:~ $ apt-cache policy metacity
metacity:
  Installed: 1:2.22.0-0ubuntu4
  Candidate: 1:2.22.0-0ubuntu4
  Version table:
 *** 1:2.22.0-0ubuntu4 0
        500 http://mirrors.acm.jhu.edu hardy/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:2.20.0-0ubuntu3 0
        500 http://mirrors.acm.jhu.edu gutsy/main Packages

3) Problem report

The way things used to work:

3a) Normal Alt-tab behavior: This still works

Pressing and holding Alt, then tapping Tab, brings up a list of window icons with text describing each window. The first icon is selected. With one icon selected, if one presses Shift-Tab, you go backwards in the list. If one presses Tab, one goes forward in the list. Releasing Alt makes the list go away and the selected window come to the foreground.

3b) Normal Alt-Shift-Tab behavior ("normal" being defined as "the way everything except Ubuntu 8.04 does it"):

Pressing and holding Alt, then tapping Shift-Tab, brings up a list of window icons with text describing each window. The last icon is selected. With one icon selected, if one presses Shift-Tab, you go backwards in the list. If one presses Tab, one goes forward in the list. Releasing Alt makes the list go away and the selected window come to the foreground.

4) ABNORMAL Alt-Shift-Tab behavior (ABNORMAL being defined as the new way this happens in Ubuntu 8.04, although it also happens this way in 7.10 if you manually enable the Shift-Tab gconf key):

Pressing and holding Alt, then tapping Shift-Tab, brings up a list of window icons with text describing each window. (So far, so good.)

The last icon is selected. (So far, so good.)

With one icon selected, if one presses Shift-Tab, you go FORWARDS in the list. (Behavior changed EMPHASIZED.)

If one presses Tab, one goes BACKWARD in the list. (Behavior change EMPHASIZED.)

Releasing Alt makes the list go away and the selected window come to the foreground. (That's okay.)

5) This is a serious behavior change. I do also get it using Ubuntu 7.10 after manually enabling alt-shift-tab via gconf <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/150702>.

Note that I am running no compiz, just metacity:

paulproteus@alchemy:~ $ ps aux | grep [m]etac
1000 7594 0.0 0.5 19500 11500 ? S Apr13 1:48 /usr/bin/metacity --sm-client-id=default0
paulproteus@alchemy:~ $ ps aux | grep [c]ompiz
paulproteus@alchemy:~ $

Related branches

lp:ubuntu/lucid/metacity
Revision history for this message
Asheesh Laroia (paulproteus) wrote :

Also GNOME #528337.

Revision history for this message
Asheesh Laroia (paulproteus) wrote :

Actually, I can't reproduce the bug on Debian (with metacity 2.22.0-1).

Therefore I believe this issue is Ubuntu-specific.

Revision history for this message
Matt Ziegelbaum (mziegelbaum) wrote :

Confirming on Ubuntu 8.04 (and I remember it being this way on 7.10 too). For posterity:

ziegs@euler ~ $ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 8.04
Release: 8.04

ziegs@euler ~ $ apt-cache policy metacity
metacity:
  Installed: 1:2.22.0-0ubuntu4
  Candidate: 1:2.22.0-0ubuntu4
  Version table:
 *** 1:2.22.0-0ubuntu4 0
        500 http://mirrors.acm.jhu.edu hardy/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Revision history for this message
Asheesh Laroia (paulproteus) wrote :

Simple bug summary:

<paulproteus> Alt-shift-tab always moves me backwards in my Debian machine.
<paulproteus> No matter if I started by pressing Alt-Tab or Alt-Shift-Tab.
<paulproteus> On Ubuntu Hardy, it moves me forwards if I started by pressing Alt-Shift-Tab.
<paulproteus> That freaks me out.

Revision history for this message
Asheesh Laroia (paulproteus) wrote :

Matt Ziegelbaum tells me he can report this bug on a fresh new account in a Hardy system, also.

Revision history for this message
David N. Welton (davidnwelton) wrote :

I don't know if it's related, but I have the following problem on hardy, that I did not have before:

I have always overridden shift-alt-tab to lower the selected window, with alt-tab raising it. shift-alt-tab no longer functions - it only gives me the task switcher popup, even though I set this, unset it, and reset it in my preferences. alt-tab continues to work as I would expect from my customization.

Thanks,
Dave

Revision history for this message
Pedro Villavicencio (pedro) wrote :

Actually that works fine for me Alt+Shift+Tab moves me forward in the list and Alt+Tab backwards, same behavior with trunk and it works fine with intrepid can you test with it? thanks you.

Changed in metacity:
importance: Undecided → Low
status: New → Incomplete
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in metacity:
status: Unknown → New
Revision history for this message
Chris H. (ahmshaegar) wrote :

I'd like to confirm this exact behavior in Intrepid. I installed Intrepid 32-bit from the regular install CD with the graphical installer. Of note: I did not install on a clean partition; rather, I had Intrepid delete all the relevant directories and use my existing home folder. I would think that a clean install of Intrepid would still exhibit this behavior.

Please let me know if I have left anything out.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package metacity - 1:2.25.8-0ubuntu1

---------------
metacity (1:2.25.8-0ubuntu1) jaunty; urgency=low

  * New upstream release
    - Ignore mouse button modifier if it's missing (Thomas)
      (LP: #258054, LP: #266929)
    - Merge screen and window keybindings files; fix minor alt-tab bug
      in the process (Thomas) (LP: #217989)
  * debian/control.in:
    - Build-dep and Depend on zenity for dialogs
  * debian/rules:
    - Bump shlibs to 2.25.8

 -- Pedro Fragoso <email address hidden> Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:17:25 +0000

Changed in metacity:
status: Incomplete → Fix Released
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in metacity:
status: New → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
AlexGenaud (alexgenaud) wrote :

Alt-shift-tab always goes forward (regardless of shift) for me (on three computers) in 9.04 and 9.10.

To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.
Subscribing...

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.