SUMMARY Using a program that uses EWMH to activate the "sticky" property does not work. Examples of these programs are xdotool or wmctrl. This should instead activate the "shown on all desktops" property of plasma STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. `xdotool getactivewindow windowstate --add STICKY` 2. Move to another virtual desktop OBSERVED RESULT The currently active window remains on it's desktop. EXPECTED RESULT The window should show on the old and the new virtual desktop. SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS KDE Plasma Version: 5.25.5 KDE Frameworks Version: 5.98.0 Qt Version: 5.15.6 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
According to the EWMH spec, sticky windows are something different "A window manager which implements a large desktop typically offers a way for the user to make certain windows 'stick to the glass', i.e. these windows will stay at the same position on the screen when the viewport is moved." large desktop is defined as "The window manager may offer to arrange the managed windows on a desktop that is larger than the root window. The screen functions as a viewport on this large desktop. Different policies regarding the positioning of the viewport on the desktop can be implemented: The window manager may only allow the viewport position to change in increments of the screen size (paging) or it may allow arbitrary positions (scrolling)." i.e. if I understand correctly, STICKY is about window position, not virtual desktops. If that's correct, then it's not a bug because kwin does not implement large desktops iiuc
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That's interesting, as both xdotool and bspwm man pages as well as wikipedia list "sticky" as the property that should make windows be shown on all virtual desktops: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Window_Manager_Hints bspwm man page: ``` sticky Stays in the focused desktop of its monitor. ``` xdotool man page: ``` STICKY - makes the window appear on all workspaces ``` So it seems "sticky" has at least come to mean "show window on all virtual desktops". I also wonder if the behaviour on large desktops isn't similar enough that it means that same thing (i.e. I always want this window to be visible even if I move the viewport/switch virtual desktops).
kwin doesn't implement STICKY. If you want a window to be shown on all virtual desktops, send a _NET_WM_DESKTOP client message with 0xFFFFFFFF as indicated in the EWMH spec.