GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment Troubleshooting Guide

Chapter 3 Window and Session Management Problems

This section provides information about how to deal with window and session management problems in the GNOME 2.0 Desktop.

3.1 Window Manager Crashes

Problem  

The Metacity window manager crashes, and the frames disappear from all windows.

Solution  

Session manager automatically restarts the window manager. If this does not happen, log out and then log back in. 

3.2 Logging Out Without a Panel

Problem  

How do I log out if all my panels have disappeared? 

Solution  

  1. Right-click on the desktop background to open the desktop background menu.

  2. Select the menu item New Terminal.

  3. Enter the following command in the new terminal: gnome-session-save --kill

  4. If you still cannot log out, then run the following command: pkill gnome-session

3.3 Applications Do Not Restore Properly

Problem  

When I logged out, I selected Save current setup, but some applications did not restore properly the next time I logged in.

Solution  

The following applications have the following known problems:

  • Terminal does not restore.

  • Gedit restores to the upper left corner of the screen.

There are plans to fix these problems in a future release.

3.4 Unexpected Window Behavior

Problem 

Some of my application windows appear above all desktop environment windows and do not restore properly or appear in the GNOME window list. 

Solution 

By default, many applications which are based on MainSoft libraries ignore the window manager and attempt to manage their own windows. Rational Rose and XML Professional Publisher are known to have this problem. To tell MainSoft-based applications to behave correctly, you must set the MWWM environment variable as follows:

MWWM=allwm

3.5 Unexpected Swing Behavior

Problem  

Swing components prior to those included in JavaTM 2 Platform Standard Edition V1.4 do not position, resize, or refresh consistently

Solution  

Perform the following steps:

  1. Upgrade to Java 2 Platform Standard Edition V1.4 or later.

  2. Ensure that your application is configured to use the Java 1.4 JVM.