Bug 81585

Summary: kstart can make a window show up on the wrong desktop
Product: [Unmaintained] kstart Reporter: Kjetil Kjernsmo <kjetil>
Component: generalAssignee: Lubos Lunak <l.lunak>
Status: RESOLVED NOT A BUG    
Severity: normal    
Priority: NOR    
Version First Reported In: unspecified   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Debian testing   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Kjetil Kjernsmo 2004-05-14 16:51:53 UTC 
Version:            (using KDE KDE 3.2.2)
Installed from:    Debian testing/unstable Packages
Compiler:          gcc version 3.3.3 (Debian 20040401) 
OS:                Linux

If I go 
kstart --desktop 4 --activate kmail --check

to have kmail check for any new mail, kmail will do its thing okay, but if I subsequently try to open a new window in some other application in a different desktop, that new window will also appear in desktop 4. I would expect to see the other application open any new windows in the same desktop that it is sitting in itself. 

I first reported this as Debian bug #230833, 
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=230833
but what a horrible bug report I wrote there... :-) I thought that it might be Debian-specific, but now I've tested on RHEL3, with KDE 3.2.2 RPMs, and it was there too. 

To add some more details on what I'm seeing: I've bound this command to a key on my keyboard, so I use it to tell KMail to check mail. If, for example, I hit the key to check my mail, read whatever message comes in and then go to Firebird and open a Find widget to search in a page, that Find box will open in Desktop 4, and I must manually move it to the Desktop I keep my Firebird in for it to be usable. 

Actually, I started using Konqi after 3.2, it's just an example, it will affect KDE and non-KDE applications equally. It also affects new applications launched from e.g. Kicker. 

It is unclear to me what role --window plays in this. My interpretation of what --help is saying is that the option is not recommended, but I may have misunderstood this completely. But since it does correctly give KMail focus and correctly tells it to check mail, surely, it can't be relevant?
Comment 1 Lubos Lunak 2004-05-17 15:11:23 UTC 
No, in fact it's not recommended to omit the --window option, and that's why you have the problem.
Comment 2 Kjetil Kjernsmo 2004-05-17 16:40:19 UTC 
Huh?

But I mean, the docs say:
  --window <regexp>     A regular expression matching the window title.
                        If you do not specify one, then the very first window
                        to appear will be taken. NOT RECOMMENDED!

I'm not a native English speaker (but I guess I'm representative for a sizeable audience), but as far as I can see, it can't be interpreted any other way that one is strongly discouraged from using the --window option... 

Now, AFAICS (still not native English), the "NOT RECOMMENDED" sentence doesn't really parse... :-) It lacks a subject, i.e. it doesn't answer the question "what is not recommended?" If it isn't recommended to omit it, it should say that: "This option is strongly recommended" would be a lot clearer.  

I hope you can clarify. 

Should this be in a separate bug?
Comment 3 Lubos Lunak 2004-05-17 16:47:13 UTC 
I read it as "--window option is this and that. If you don't specify it, it'll do that. It's not recommended not to specify it", but you're probably right about it being a bit unclear, I'll change it.