The WM_STATE_DEMANDS_ATTENTION is set for applications which want to notify the user about an update, for example Pidgin does set it when a new message arrive. The gnome-panel flashes the task a few time in the panel in such a case and leaves it with blue background after. This is not redrawn though, if something is moved over it and gnome-panel redraws this part after, it's normal again (but only the redrawn part, the other part is still blue). Happens for me often and looks always a bit strange and wrong.
Created attachment 154351 [details] screenshot showing drawing bug Look at "Buddy-Liste" in the panel. (Btw., I mixed it up, it's not blue but gray.)
az@macbook ~ $ emerge --info Portage 2.1.4.4 (default-linux/x86/2007.0, gcc-4.1.2, glibc-2.6.1-r0, 2.6.24-gentoo i686) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.24-gentoo i686 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7400 @ 2.16GHz Timestamp of tree: Thu, 15 May 2008 14:36:02 +0000 distcc 2.18.3 i686-pc-linux-gnu (protocols 1 and 2) (default port 3632) [disabled] app-shells/bash: 3.2_p33 dev-java/java-config: 1.3.7, 2.1.6 dev-lang/python: 2.4.4-r9 dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r6 sys-apps/baselayout: 1.12.11.1 sys-apps/sandbox: 1.2.18.1-r2 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.61-r1 sys-devel/automake: 1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r2, 1.10.1 sys-devel/binutils: 2.18-r1 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.4.0-r4 sys-devel/libtool: 1.5.26 virtual/os-headers: 2.6.23-r3 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86" CBUILD="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-O2 -march=nocona -pipe -ggdb" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/3.5/env /usr/kde/3.5/share/config /usr/kde/3.5/shutdown /usr/share/config" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/php/apache2-php5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cgi-php5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cli-php5/ext-active/ /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/terminfo /etc/texmf/web2c /etc/udev/rules.d" CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=nocona -pipe -ggdb" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="distlocks metadata-transfer parallel-fetch sandbox sfperms splitdebug unmerge-orphans userfetch" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/download/gentoo-mirror/ ftp:///ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/gentoo/ ftp://ftp6.uni-erlangen.de/pub/mirrors/gentoo ftp://vlaai.snt.ipv6.utwente.nl/pub/os/linux/gentoo/ ftp://mirror.nutsmaas.nl/gentoo/" LANG="en_US.UTF-8" LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8" LINGUAS="de" MAKEOPTS="-j3" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/portage/local/private" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="7zip X a52 aac acl acpi alsa amarok amr amuled apm applet async asyncns atm automount avahi bash-completion berkdb bluetooth bonjour bookmarks bzip2 cairo cdr cli cracklib crypt cups d dbus dedicated deskbar dga dhcp divx dri dv dvd dvdr dvdread dvi eap-tls enblend encode evo exif extra-algorithms fasttrack ffmpeg flac ftp galago gd gdbm german gif glib glitz gmedia gnome gnutella gnutls gphoto2 gpm gsf gtk h323 hal haskell hddtemp hfs iconv icu id3 id3tag ieee1394 imlib injection inkjar ipv6 irda isdnlog isight jabber java javascript jit jpeg jpeg2k kde kig-scripting kqemu latex lcms libnotify lirc lm_sensors lua lzo macbook mad madwifi maps midi mmap mmx mng mozdevelop mp2 mp3 mp4 mpeg mtp mudflap musicbrainz nautilus ncurses net network networking networkmanager njb nls nptl nptlonly nsplugin ntfs ogg opengl openmp oss pam pascal pch pcre pdf perl pidgin plotutils pmu png pnm posix postgres postscript ps pth pulseaudio python qt3support qt4 quicktime rar rc5 rdesktop readline real realmedia reflection reiser4 reiserfs rtc samba screen sdl sdl-image sdl-sound sdlaudio server session sftp sharedmem sift slp smp solver sourceview speex spell spl sse sse2 ssl ssse3 startup-notification subversion svg tetex theora threads threadsafe tiff timidity tk trayicon truetype unicode unzip usb v4l2 valgrind vcd video vorbis weak-algorithms wifi win32codecs wma wmp wxwindows x264 x86 xanim xattr xcomposite xext xine xml xmlreader xorg xrandr xscreensaver xulrunner xv xvid zip zlib zsh-completion" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1 emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse synaptics evdev wacom" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LINGUAS="de" LIRC_DEVICES="inputlirc macmini" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="i810 vesa" Unset: CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LDFLAGS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS
hum, we probably need more infos about the theme and engine you are using. One strange thing is that you're not supposed to be able to put something over the panels so the application or the WM you are using is probably buggy for not respecting the WM hints anyway.
I am using Metacity with default settings. To reproduce the bug, I tried to get a tooltip over the part (and a tooltip message window is (and should be) over the panel).
How much CPU and memory are being consumed when you are able to reproduce it? I can only reproduce when, for example, some swap is being used and a lot of CPU is being consumed
The procedure I described to reproduce the bug works always. In general, you have to try to get a window (for example a tooltip) over the greyed task. I think it only works when it has already stopped flashing because while flashing, it redraws always the whole thing. However, the bug also occurs in other situations, for example when some new tasks occurs in the list and the system is lagging a lot because of huge load. I saw the bug firstly in such a situation and then tried to reproduce it later. I think the bug is more or less clear: Gnome-Panel redraws the part of the task in the panel when it has to redraw it (when another window was over this part) but just draws it with default color. It does not remember at this point that the tasks should be drawn in dark grey.
(In reply to comment #6) > The procedure I described to reproduce the bug works always. In general, you > have to try to get a window (for example a tooltip) over the greyed task. I > think it only works when it has already stopped flashing because while > flashing, it redraws always the whole thing. > How can I get it stop flashing? I always get it flashing, then, I can only reproduce when my system is under heavy load Thanks for info :-)
(In reply to comment #7) > How can I get it stop flashing? I always get it flashing, then, I can only > reproduce when my system is under heavy load Thanks for info :-) I don't know if it is always like this, but in most (all?) situations, the tasks flashes for a while (some seconds) and then keeps staying dark gray.
(In reply to comment #8) > (In reply to comment #7) > > How can I get it stop flashing? I always get it flashing, then, I can only > > reproduce when my system is under heavy load Thanks for info :-) > > I don't know if it is always like this, but in most (all?) situations, the > tasks flashes for a while (some seconds) and then keeps staying dark gray. > I have just tried and, even waiting for flash to stop, I am not able to reproduce :-/ (I have tried with Clearlooks and Industrial), Have you tried with a new created user account?
I used to see this bug sometimes, but it has indeed been a while since I've actually seen it. Let's just assume this bug is fixed :) Please don't hesitate to reopen this bug if you can still reproduce with newer versions of gnome-panel. Thanks
