Re: raise-frame doesn't work in Fedora Core 4

[Chong Yidong <cyd@stupidchicken.com>]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

>>   Rationale: XSetInputFocus is not sufficient, since the window may be
>>   hidden on another virtual desktop ( in that case XSetInputFocus
>>   fails with a BadWindow error )
>
> I don't understand: AFAICT the OP's problem is that `raise-frame' does not
> actually raise the frame.  But `raise-frame' calls XRaiseWindow, which seems
> like it should raise the frame, don't you think?
> XSetInputFocus seems unrelated (especially since `raise-frame' doesn't call
> it AFAIK).
>
> In other words, to me it seems that if `raise-frame' requires this
> _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW footwork to work, it's a bug either in the WM or in the
> wm-spec: `XRaiseWindow' should do just what it says, i.e. raise the window.
> But maybe there's a rationale for this, so it's just a misfeature needed for
> some odd reason.  In that case I'd be interested to hear what's the reason
> (and if the reason has to do with input-focus, I'll need more info to
> understand what's the relationship with raise-frame).

If you really want to know the answer, the logical thing is to ask at
wm-spec-list@gnome.org (to post to that list you need to subscribe at
wm-spec-list-request@gnome.org, or subscribe to the no-traffic list
post-only@gnome.org).  If you want to summarize the situation and ask
the folks there, that'd be great.

(Though my money is on "misfeature needed for some odd reason"; I
think we should just apply the patch if it demonstrably works,
especially since it shouldn't have any harmful effects.)