It is an long standing bug that java programs come with empty grey windows when run in non-reparenting window managers, such as awesome, xmonad, ratpoison, dwm, e17, etc. (reference links below). An old timer workaround does not work anymore, which was to use legacy Motif-based integration exporting the following env var: $ export AWT_TOOLKIT=MToolkit This workaround is not support anymore and actually it has the opposite effect in some applications, such as on java applets on firefox (all grey applet canvas). On amd64 this workaround causes segfault. Debian ppl came up with fix patch that is being used on some other distros as well, like arch. Maybe we should take a look at it and see if it would work for gentoo (I believe so). The real problem is actually upstream, which had it reported several times and never fixed it for java 1.5 and 1.6 (1.7 is fixed). Sun java has a hard coded list of non-reparenting window managers and if the wm name is not on this list, it assumes it is reparenting one and the result is grey area. This debian patch reads an env var (i.e. _JAVA_AWT_WM_NONREPARENTING=1) to use the appropriate behavior. Debian bug report and patch: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=508650 Arch's: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/15674 Awesome wiki: http://awesome.naquadah.org/wiki/Problems_with_Java Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Login on any non-reparenting window managers, such as awesome, xmonad, ratpoison, dwm, e17, etc. 2. Start any graphical java app Actual Results: An entire blank (grey) window is displayed. Expected Results: Application windows should be displayed instead of blank (grey) area.
Bump. Everyone uses kde or gnome these days?
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 339741 ***
