[openbox] Issues with Openbox 3.4

[Dana Jansens]

On 6/10/07, Matt Manzel <mmanzel at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dana Jansens wrote:
> >> ** Tilda (tilda.sf.net)
> >> When tilda is activated, it no longer takes the focus like it is
> >> supposed to.
> >
> > Tilda has been broken and it hasn't gotten any better.  It actually
> > doesn't run for me now.  I'm not sure why.  It won't run in Xnest on
> > its own either.  So I can't comment on this, but I'm curious about
> > what it's doing wrong - no other programs have trouble taking focus.
>
> It doesn't run for me, either, unless I change some settings. In order
> to persuade it to stop crashing I had to specify the shell I wanted to
> use in the "Run custom command" box. It is not the most elegant
> application. It seems like it would have been easier/simpler/more useful
> if they just made a generic sliding dock that could swallow any application.

I did manage to get tilda to not crash, and I see what you're talking
about. It happens because it's calling _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW with
source=application and timestamp=0.  The source=application bit is
wrong, but it's like that because GTK is really busted in that regard
and hardcodes it to only be that.  The timestamp is just laziness? Or
maybe following the old spec.  I've made Openbox be more lenient,
letting tilda get focus, and - in the process - letting applications
very easily steal focus.  This kinda defeats the purpose of focus
stealing prevention, but IDK what else to do since I haven't seen a
single application actually follow the EWMH correctly with these
hints.

Bottom line is.. Tilda will get focus in the next release, and old/bad
applications can easily steal focus away while you are typing.  I hate
this, but yeah, I don't know what else to do.

> And thanks Dana and peter for the help and addressing my questions. Some
> of the fixes to focus handling are just a bit jarring at first because
> things behave differently than before. I'm sure I'll get used to it, though.

There's probably still things to do to make everything play nice. Yay
for nothing really following specs properly :)