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#1 2016-07-16 16:13:42

coiley
Member
Registered: 2016-07-16
Posts: 4

Xfwm4 gets into a failed state (can't clickthrough, move windows etc)

So after starting xfce after bootup -- and occasionally just at random -- xfwm4 will be in this state where I can't clickthrough to the nonactive window, and I can't move windows. Almost like not having a window manager running, except that (a) titlebars are drawn correctly, and (b) the xfwm4 process is running fine.

Reloading it with `xfwm4 --replace` doesn't help - it reloads successfully, but remains in the same state. I need to log out and back in again, and then works fine.

Turning compositing off makes no difference.

The issue started on upgrade to xubuntu 16.04. Running Xfce 4.12.2; xfwm4 4.12.3-1ubuntu2.

Any ideas?

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#2 2016-07-16 18:50:25

ToZ
Administrator
From: Canada
Registered: 2011-06-02
Posts: 10,950

Re: Xfwm4 gets into a failed state (can't clickthrough, move windows etc)

Hello and welcome.

Try clearing your saved sessions cache (Settings Manager > Session and Startup > Session > Clear saved sessions, and log out and back in again (don't save session on logout).

If it still happens, look at ~/.cache/upstart/startxfce4.log when the issue happens and look to see if there are any xfwm4 messages.


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#3 2016-07-16 19:24:20

coiley
Member
Registered: 2016-07-16
Posts: 4

Re: Xfwm4 gets into a failed state (can't clickthrough, move windows etc)

Hi ToZ. Thanks for the reply!

Unfortunately, no luck with clearing session cache, and I didn't have session saving turned on anyway. (Tried nuking ~/.cache/sessions as well, with no luck).

The startxfce4.log.* files had a few lines from xfwm4:

startxfce4.log.1:(xfwm4:30731): xfwm4-WARNING **: Error waiting on vblank with DRI: Invalid argument
startxfce4.log.1:(xfwm4:30898): xfwm4-WARNING **: Error waiting on vblank with DRI: Invalid argument
startxfce4.log.1:(xfwm4:30927): xfwm4-WARNING **: Error waiting on vblank with DRI: Invalid argument
startxfce4.log.1:(xfwm4:31778): xfwm4-WARNING **: Error waiting on vblank with DRI: Invalid argument
startxfce4.log.1:(xfwm4:31778): xfwm4-WARNING **: output size (3840x1440) and logical screen size (3920x1440) do not match
startxfce4.log.3:(xfwm4:4845): xfwm4-WARNING **: output size (3840x1440) and logical screen size (3920x1440) do not match
startxfce4.log.3:(xfwm4:4845): xfwm4-WARNING **: Error waiting on vblank with DRI: Invalid argument
startxfce4.log.3:(xfwm4:4845): xfwm4-WARNING **: Error opening /dev/dri/card0: Permission denied
startxfce4.log.4:(xfwm4:2650): xfwm4-WARNING **: Error waiting on vblank with DRI: Invalid argument
startxfce4.log.5:(xfwm4:6150): Gdk-WARNING **: /build/gtk+2.0-KsZKkB/gtk+2.0-2.24.30/gdk/x11/gdkproperty-x11.c:325 invalid X atom: 396
startxfce4.log.6:(xfwm4:6150): xfwm4-WARNING **: XSync timeout for client "*Untitled 3 - Mousepad" (0x58006d1)
startxfce4.log.7:(xfwm4:2942): xfwm4-WARNING **: Error waiting on vblank with DRI: Invalid argument
startxfce4.log.7:(xfwm4:6150): xfwm4-WARNING **: Error waiting on vblank with DRI: Invalid argument
startxfce4.log.7:(xfwm4:6150): xfwm4-WARNING **: output size (3840x1440) and logical screen size (3920x1440) do not match
startxfce4.log.7:(xfwm4:6150): xfwm4-WARNING **: Error opening /dev/dri/card0: Permission denied

Not sure if any of those might be relevant. There aren't any timestamps, so it's hard to correlate them with when the problem happens. I don't think any of them do, sadly. Pretty sure the `Error waiting on vblank with DRI: Invalid argument` ones are from when I restarted xfwm when the problem was happening -- but experimenting now, that error also shows up when I restart xfwm when the problem *isn't* happening, so it's a red herring.

(Off-topic, but I didn't realise until now that everything I copy to the clipboard ends up written to disk in those logs, interesting...)

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#4 2016-07-16 21:30:18

ToZ
Administrator
From: Canada
Registered: 2011-06-02
Posts: 10,950

Re: Xfwm4 gets into a failed state (can't clickthrough, move windows etc)

One way to do this is to run the following in a terminal window:

tail -f ~/.cache/upstart/startxfce4,log

...and continue using the system. This will display the contents of that file in a "live" fashion. When the issue happens, look at the terminal window.

`Error waiting on vblank with DRI: Invalid argument`

Do you have Settings Manager > Window Manager Tweaks > Compositor > "Synchronize drawing to the vertical blank" selected? If so, try de-selecting it.

(Off-topic, but I didn't realise until now that everything I copy to the clipboard ends up written to disk in those logs, interesting...)

Which clipboard? Clipman? This shouldn't be happening - you should file a bug report against the package in launchpad.


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#5 2016-07-16 22:27:52

coiley
Member
Registered: 2016-07-16
Posts: 4

Re: Xfwm4 gets into a failed state (can't clickthrough, move windows etc)

> ...and continue using the system. This will display the contents of that file in a "live" fashion. When the issue happens, look at the terminal window.

`tail -f` looks very useful, thanks! Trouble is, while it's consistently in that state on bootup, it's happens very rarely at other times. What I've done is disable autologin, so next bootup I'll switch to a vtty and tail-follow that file, and then log in to xfce, see what shows up...

>  "Synchronize drawing to the vertical blank" selected? If so, try de-selecting it.

Deselecting that fixed the error, thanks. (Doesn't affect the main issue though)

> Which clipboard? Clipman? This shouldn't be happening - you should file a bug report against the package in launchpad.

Figured this one out: turns out the culprit was Pushbullet-Indicator (an indicator applet that lets you easily send files to and from phones), specifically a feature called 'universal copy & paste'. And not only was clipboard contents getting logged to that file, it was getting sent to Pushbullet. Eurgh. Gotten rid of it now, of course, but I shudder to think of how many passwords I've copied and pasted while I've had that thing installed...

Last edited by coiley (2016-07-16 22:28:20)

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#6 2016-07-17 19:06:48

coiley
Member
Registered: 2016-07-16
Posts: 4

Re: Xfwm4 gets into a failed state (can't clickthrough, move windows etc)

OK, quick update: the problem is not correlated with any error output (or any output at all) in startxfce4.log. Nor .xsession-errors, nor anything else. In fact, I've now realised it's not an xfwm4 bug at all. I downloaded metacity and openbox, and when in the problem state tried switching to those -- which worked, but both other window managers showed similar symptoms.

I'm now pretty sure it's a problem with... my mouse! After some increasingly desperate & random trial and error, turns out I can fix the buggy state by disabling and re-enabling my mouse in mouse and touchpad settings. And I can exactly replicate the symptoms by continuously holding down button 8 -- i.e. thumb1. I have no idea why thumb1 has this odd effect on window management, and as far I can see it's not documented anywhere, but shrug.

I don't think it's purely a hardware problem, since logging out and back in again (ie restarting X), or disabling and re-enabling the mouse, gets it out of that state. The fix here is probably to disable button 8 in xorg.conf. In any case, it's definitely not an xfce problem.

Thanks @ToZ for all your suggestions smile

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