Bug 309045

Summary:	kmix causes plasma system tray to flicker when a new pulse stream is opened or closed
Product:	[Applications] kmix	Reporter:	JR <zorael>
Component:	KMix Panel Docking	Assignee:	Christian Esken <esken>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED
Severity:	normal	CC:	Admc, artsheff, endri.hysenaj, jason_ca, kde180133, m.lehrberg, nhdaimyo, pasnox, rdieter, rushpl, shallpion, s_chriscollins, zorael
Priority:	NOR
Version:	4.2
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Ubuntu
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:	4.10
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments:	kmix debug output plasma-desktop debug output dbus-monitor output patch to fix flickering system tray for kmix 4.9.3

Description JR 2012-10-26 13:11:09 UTC

Kubuntu 12.10, KDE 4.9.2 from Canonical universe repos. kwin --version reports v4.2.

When a new stream is registered, kmix causes the plasma system tray to flicker and momentarily resize to accomodate for a new tray icon. It is very noticeable when you're using programs that use the pulse ALSA wrapper/plugin for notification sounds, as most of these open up a stream for each individual little pop and immediately close them afterwards.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Ensure kwin is running in the tray
2. In a terminal, run 'speaker-test -twav -c2' (Ctrl+C to break) from alsa-utils (and other distro equavilents)
Actual Results:  
3. At the beginning and end of each sound snippet the speaker-test tool plays, the system tray flickers and resizes momentarily.
4. Quitting kmix completely stops the behavior

Expected Results:  
3. System tray keeps displaying its current icons, including kmix's, without visual oddities

* This happens even with all system tray icons set to Always Show.
* Another common scenario where it's very prevalent is when Skype plays its sound notifications
* It doesn't seem to be limited to the ALSA plugin as it also happens when you open up Amarok and start playing a song -- but only the very first time, as the stream then stays open throughout the program session. It does happen again upon closing the program when the stream is unregistered.

Comment 1 JR 2012-10-26 13:17:28 UTC

Created attachment 74810 [details]
kmix debug output

Comment 2 JR 2012-10-26 13:17:47 UTC

Created attachment 74811 [details]
plasma-desktop debug output

Comment 3 JR 2012-10-26 13:22:08 UTC

>kwin --version
That's supposed to be kmix --version, naturally. :>

Comment 4 JR 2012-10-26 13:26:42 UTC

Created attachment 74812 [details]
dbus-monitor output

Comment 5 Jason 2012-10-28 23:40:48 UTC

I guess quiet similar issue here - systray flickering all the time, whenever some system sound is produced or track changes in Clementine or a notification appears. 4.9.2, Arch Linux packages.

Comment 6 Christian Esken 2012-10-30 19:28:48 UTC

This should be fixed in the upcoming KDE4.10. If anybody has the ability to test trunk, please dos so and report back here.

Comment 7 nick 2012-11-01 22:53:32 UTC

This bug also affects me, I can't / don't-know-how to "test trunk" ... but one half-solution is to remove the volume widget from the tray area via the Kmix settings. This solution would've been fine for me, but it causes the mixer to launch on startup, which is extremely annoying as well. If anyone can help me get a sane solution going I'd be most grateful.

Comment 8 Joachim Wilke 2012-11-03 11:12:37 UTC

I tested 91495f from kmix git. This fixes the issue.

Comment 9 nick 2012-11-03 21:28:41 UTC

I can also now confirm that 91495f from kmix git fixes the issue. Too bad it won't be in kubuntu for another 6 years.

Comment 10 Jason 2012-11-05 11:47:32 UTC

Kmix from GIT also solves the problem for me.

Comment 11 Jekyll Wu 2012-11-05 12:27:38 UTC

*** Bug 306992 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 12 Admc 2012-11-10 13:26:11 UTC

I can confirm it's fixed in git. Why it didn't landed in KDE 4.9.3 update?

Comment 13 Christian Esken 2012-11-12 22:28:15 UTC

*** Bug 309299 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 14 Christian Esken 2012-11-12 22:28:47 UTC

*** Bug 309181 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 15 S. Christian Collins 2012-11-20 08:31:05 UTC

Created attachment 75373 [details]
patch to fix flickering system tray for kmix 4.9.3

I applied the changes made in kmix revision d1344b63 to the kmix 4.9.3 sources, and it fixed the system tray flickering. For those of you wanting to patch kmix 4.9.3 for yourselves, I have attached the appropriate patches. For you Kubuntu 64-bit users out there, I made a patched kmix .deb file: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8126161/kmix_4.9.3-scc1_amd64.deb
Use at your own risk, of course.

Comment 16 Myriam Schweingruber 2012-11-20 11:50:40 UTC

*** Bug 310305 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 17 S. Christian Collins 2013-01-16 00:06:39 UTC

The 4.9.3 patch also works for kmix 4.9.5, FYI. Here is the version 4.9.5 64-bit .deb package for Kubuntu: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8126161/kmix_4.9.5-scc1_amd64.deb

Comment 18 P Shao 2013-01-16 02:37:18 UTC

The patch works perfectly on kde-4.9.5 in arch linux x86_64. Thanks.