Bug 484902

Summary: Regression: "Switch to Screen" shortcuts stopped working after upgrade to Plasma 6.0
Product: [Plasma] kwin Reporter: goo
Component: multi-screenAssignee: KWin default assignee <kwin-bugs-null>
Status: RESOLVED FIXED    
Severity: normal CC: chermnykh2001, kde, nate, ngoonee.talk
Priority: NOR    
Version: 6.0.3   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Other   
OS: Linux   
See Also: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=482865
Latest Commit: https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/commit/354a71855e04ee28311410e1b6d2a69cddcbcdbc Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description goo 2024-04-02 05:26:20 UTC 
SUMMARY
After upgrading to Plasma 6.0, "Switch to Screen" shortcuts stopped working. Although this seems to be intentional as per https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/5102, I find the way that the setting "active screen follows mouse" has been dropped and forcibly enabled to be unfair to the user.
I have been using switch to screen shortcuts since the inception of Plasma 5.0 and after upgrading to Plasma 6.0 discovered that this functionality got removed. Apparently there has been some consensus "to drop "active mouse screen" option and stick with last interacted screen approach instead" in the late Plasma 5.0 times but I have not been able to find any discussion about the reasoning that brought to the demise of this functionality.

I can't believe that the developers of KDE Plasma, whose main focus has always been on configurability, unconditionally dropped such a feature in front of old time users just to alleviate complaints from users who inadvertently disabled "active screen follows mouse" or that were unaware of its consequences. If this is actually the case, then IMHO there is something wrong with the way that this setting has been implemented in the UI or the lack of a clear warning about its consequences and not something wrong with the feature itself as I find the ability to have the screen focus independent from the mouse a key feature for multi-screen workstations and have always been fond of it.

Take i.e. multiple Konsole windows (but obviously it can be any application) open on different sceens. With "Active Screen Follows Mouse" disabled, "Separate Sreen Focus" enabled and "Switch To screen" shortcuts configured you can quickly switch between multiple Konsole windows on different screens without having to resort to the task switcher and hence without having to remember how many times to type TAB in alt+tab to switch to that particular konsole window you were on before. You just type the shortcut corresponding to the screen that particular window is on. This is especially useful when you have three or more monitors and when you can interact with application windows without the mouse. These can be Konsole windows, browser windows with Vivium extension enabled or whatever.

Luckily the option itself has not been dropped, so adding "ActiveMouseScreen=0" in [Windows] group in kwinrc actually re-enables "Switch to Screen" shortcuts but I am afraid that this feature will be definitely dropped in Plasma 6.1. I really hope not so.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. In Window Management kcm, under Window Behavior, select "Separate Sreen Focus" 
2. In Shortcuts kcm, under KWin, add Meta+F2 as a shortcut to "Switch to Screen 1" to actually switch to your second monitor.
3. Press Meta+F2

OBSERVED RESULT
The focus will not be switched to your second monitor and a popup appears: "The window manager is configured to consider the screen with the mouse on it as active one.
Therefore it is not possible to switch to a screen explicitly. "

EXPECTED RESULT
The focus should be switched to "Screen 1".

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma:  Fedora 39
KDE Plasma Version:  6.0.3
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.0.0
Qt Version: 6.6.2
Comment 1 David Edmundson 2024-04-02 10:44:01 UTC 
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 482865 ***
Comment 2 ngoonee.talk 2024-04-11 00:16:41 UTC 
I'm the bug reporter for the duplicate bug, and setting ActiveMouseScreen to false in kwinrc doesn't seem to make a difference for me in 6.0.3. Somehow my KDE Identity has been blocked from gitlab (don't think I've even used it before) so I can't add a comment to the merge request linked in this report.
Comment 3 goo 2024-04-18 11:05:38 UTC 
(In reply to ngoonee.talk from comment #2)
> I'm the bug reporter for the duplicate bug, and setting ActiveMouseScreen to
> false in kwinrc doesn't seem to make a difference for me in 6.0.3. Somehow
> my KDE Identity has been blocked from gitlab (don't think I've even used it
> before) so I can't add a comment to the merge request linked in this report.

I'm on 6.0.4 and Switch to Screen shortcuts are still working for me both on X11 and Wayland with ActiveMouseScreen set to false in the Windows section of kwinrc.

I added a comment on the merge request: https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/5102#note_924384
Maybe you could add a comment to Nate's blog post (https://pointieststick.com/2024/02/09/this-week-in-kde-inching-closer/) where he states that most people don't need this functionality (arguably not!) even if it breaks switch to screen shortcuts, apparently.

This is the relevant section of my kwinrc:
[Windows]
ActiveMouseScreen=false
BorderlessMaximizedWindows=true
CenterSnapZone=25
FocusStealingPreventionLevel=2
NextFocusPrefersMouse=true
Placement=Smart
SeparateScreenFocus=true
SnapOnlyWhenOverlapping=true
Comment 4 Bug Janitor Service 2024-04-19 14:37:47 UTC 
A possibly relevant merge request was started @ https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/5625
Comment 5 Bug Janitor Service 2024-04-19 14:37:49 UTC 
A possibly relevant merge request was started @ https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/5625
Comment 6 Zamundaaa 2024-04-29 14:24:26 UTC 
Git commit 354a71855e04ee28311410e1b6d2a69cddcbcdbc by Xaver Hugl.
Committed on 29/04/2024 at 14:13.
Pushed by zamundaaa into branch 'master'.

workspace: unify active screen modes

Instead of the active screen being purely defined by the mouse position,
or purely defined by the active window and keyboard shortcuts, this changes
it to make the active screen all about the last user interaction. This should
work for most workflows without needing a setting to choose between two flawed
approaches.
Related: bug 482865

M  +0    -3    src/kwin.kcfg
M  +2    -0    src/main_x11.cpp
M  +0    -11   src/options.cpp
M  +0    -9    src/options.h
M  +1    -1    src/pointer_input.cpp
M  +1    -1    src/tablet_input.cpp
M  +1    -1    src/touch_input.cpp
M  +7    -34   src/useractions.cpp
M  +0    -31   src/workspace.cpp
M  +0    -3    src/workspace.h

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/commit/354a71855e04ee28311410e1b6d2a69cddcbcdbc
Comment 7 Zamundaaa 2024-04-29 14:24:42 UTC 
Git commit 354a71855e04ee28311410e1b6d2a69cddcbcdbc by Xaver Hugl.
Committed on 29/04/2024 at 14:13.
Pushed by zamundaaa into branch 'master'.

workspace: unify active screen modes

Instead of the active screen being purely defined by the mouse position,
or purely defined by the active window and keyboard shortcuts, this changes
it to make the active screen all about the last user interaction. This should
work for most workflows without needing a setting to choose between two flawed
approaches.
Related: bug 482865

M  +0    -3    src/kwin.kcfg
M  +2    -0    src/main_x11.cpp
M  +0    -11   src/options.cpp
M  +0    -9    src/options.h
M  +1    -1    src/pointer_input.cpp
M  +1    -1    src/tablet_input.cpp
M  +1    -1    src/touch_input.cpp
M  +7    -34   src/useractions.cpp
M  +0    -31   src/workspace.cpp
M  +0    -3    src/workspace.h

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/commit/354a71855e04ee28311410e1b6d2a69cddcbcdbc