Bug 433074 - Notifications and panels appear on wrong screen
Summary: Notifications and panels appear on wrong screen
Status: RESOLVED NOT A BUG
Alias: None
Product: plasmashell
Classification: Plasma
Component: generic-multiscreen (show other bugs)
Version: 5.21.0
Platform: Neon Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: 1.0
Assignee: Aleix Pol
URL:
Keywords: wayland-only
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2021-02-17 12:19 UTC by Franco Pellegrini
Modified: 2021-03-21 17:57 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:


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Description Franco Pellegrini 2021-02-17 12:19:28 UTC
SUMMARY
Cannot set primary monitor using wayland. There's no such option, like in X11

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. switch to wailand
2. try to setup the main monitor 

OBSERVED RESULT
No configuration to change

EXPECTED RESULT
"primary" checkbox, like with X11

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: KDE neon 5.21
KDE Plasma Version: 5.21.0
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.79.0
Qt Version: 5.15.2
Kernel Version: 5.4.0-65-generic
OS Type: 64-bit
Processors: 6 × Intel® Core™ i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz
Memory: 22.9 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® UHD Graphics 630
Comment 1 Nicolas Fella 2021-02-17 12:26:33 UTC
Wayland has no concept of a "primary screen".

What is it that you want to achieve?
Comment 2 Franco Pellegrini 2021-02-17 12:58:35 UTC
(In reply to Nicolas Fella from comment #1)
> Wayland has no concept of a "primary screen".
> 
> What is it that you want to achieve?

All my notifications appear on the wrong monitor, and all my panels too.
Comment 3 Nate Graham 2021-02-17 22:41:59 UTC
When does this happen? When you plug in a new screen while Plasma is already running? When the screen was already plugged in when the computer was turned on?
Comment 4 Franco Pellegrini 2021-02-17 22:56:45 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #3)
> When does this happen? When you plug in a new screen while Plasma is already
> running? When the screen was already plugged in when the computer was turned
> on?

The monitor was already plugged in. It happens when I logout and login using Wayland. Also trying to reboot and login using Wayland. 
Also, as a second related bug, If I change again from Wayland to X11, it delete my second monitor panels and widgets, and I have to configure create all again.
Comment 5 Nate Graham 2021-02-19 15:32:43 UTC
Thanks for the info.
Comment 6 Gauthier 2021-03-21 09:18:26 UTC
I experience the same issue.

I have one large external monitor + laptop screen. On X11 the primary display is my external monitor where I have two panels and 4 stcky notes (the desktop is in "Desktop" mode).

When login into Wayland all panels *and widgets* appear on the "wrong" screen (i.e. on the laptop screen).

There is no way to move it all back to the other screen easily. I can move it all back manually, through it is tedious, then everything works alright. But then, either: 

- if I unplug my external screen: I got the panels back but no widgets (sticky notes are gone, well in fact they stay in the "2nd screen").

- if I go back to X11, everything is moved in the non primary screen (and if no other screen is plugged in, it looks like it's all gone, it's only until I plug another screen that can see the widget and move them back manually to the primary screen)

I read on a reddit thread from a KDE contributor that the reasoning behind removing the concept of primary screen on wayland is that it only deals with where panels are positioned but that it confused people because people thought it was about window placement. So the concept was removed altogether. I don't know if this is still where thoughts are but this "seems" wrong to me in two ways (IMHO):

- Primary screen deals with panels AND widgets. It basically allows a per-screen set-up and to switch that set-up between screens in tow clicks (tick primary screen, press apply). Genius if you ask me! 
Not having that makes very tedious to re-setup everything each time you have a new screen config (e.g. plug into an unknown screen, add a 3rd screen, etc.)

- That it is confused with the Active Display should be addressed with better UI, not by removing an entirely different function that happens to have a similar sounding name. Now I admit that unless specified otherwise in the Window Management settings, it seems to make sense for windows to open on the primary screen (i.e. for the Active Display setting to follow the Primary Screen setting by default, whereas the behaviour currently  is a bit erratic). This would which partially solved that issue and if then users want a more elaborated behaviour, they look for it in Window Management settings, which seems consistant.
Comment 7 Gauthier 2021-03-21 09:19:37 UTC
(In reply to Nicolas Fella from comment #1)
> Wayland has no concept of a "primary screen".
> 
> What is it that you want to achieve?

Happy to be told if there is now another way to move all panel and widgets into another screen in a few clicks.
Comment 8 Gauthier 2021-03-21 09:28:32 UTC
Reddit reference:
https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/ae8czw/plasma_wayland_works_great_but_how_do_i_set_a/

My config:
Operating System: KDE neon 5.21
KDE Plasma Version: 5.21.3
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.80.0
Qt Version: 5.15.2
Kernel Version: 5.10.17-051017-generic
OS Type: 64-bit
Graphics Platform: Wayland / X11
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i5-8350U CPU @ 1.70GHz
Memory: 15.4 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® UHD Graphics 620

Possible duplicates / related:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=433840
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=425798
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=411681
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=429657
Comment 9 Gauthier 2021-03-21 09:35:35 UTC
And that one:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=432349
Comment 10 Gauthier 2021-03-21 11:47:49 UTC
Sorry don't mean to spam you all by sending gazillion messages, but while I've got my head into this, I've made proposal for a more advanced "per screen widget and panel management settings" if Primary Display function is going to disappear (still it feels that at least for now keeping what Primary Display does would just be easier).

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=434711

I'll shut up now :)
Comment 11 Nate Graham 2021-03-21 16:47:05 UTC
Heh, I'll try to untangle all of these and figure out what's actionable. :)

Back to this particular issue: Notifications appear on whichever monitor has a Notifications Widget applet. So if you move your panel over from one monitor to the one, notifications should move too. Does that satisfy your needs?
Comment 12 Franco Pellegrini 2021-03-21 17:35:43 UTC
I'm using notificaton applet on both monitor
Comment 13 Nate Graham 2021-03-21 17:36:55 UTC
Then the notification system might be getting confused. If you remove it from one of the screens, do the notifications always appear on the one screen that does have a notifications applet?
Comment 14 Franco Pellegrini 2021-03-21 17:41:24 UTC
yes, if there's one, it appear correctly, but all my panels are on the wrong monitor after switching to wayland. Thats the OP report.
Comment 15 Nate Graham 2021-03-21 17:57:53 UTC
Your original report appears to be about there not being a way to set the primary monitor on Wayland, not about panels being on the wrong monitor when switching to Wayland from X11.

So we have two bugs:
1. Panels get confused about what monitor they should be on when switching between X11 and Wayland. That's already basically tracked by Bug 433840.
2. When each screen has a notifications applet, notification positioning is non-determinstic.

Can you file a new bug report for #2? Thanks!

BTW the reqtest for an easy way to move or clone panel setups between screens is tracked by Bug 434711.