Ubuntu
gnome-session package

unable to set custom window manager

Asked by Toni Ruottu

I use mostly vanilla Ubuntu except for the window manager. I changed to xmonad by setting the WINDOW_MANAGER environment variable in ~/.profile. This used to work great, but once I upgraded to Jaunty it stopped working completely. I think the variable is interpreted by gnome-wm, because it's manual page mentions this. Is this a bug in Jaunty or does Jaunty provide some alternative way of choosing a user specific windows manager for the default Gnome environment.

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Ubuntu gnome-session Edit question
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Toni Ruottu
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This question was originally filed as bug #348480.

Revision history for this message
Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson) said : 		#1

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue and helping to make Ubuntu better. Examining the information you have given us, this does not appear to be a bug report so we are closing it and converting it to a question in the support tracker. We appreciate the difficulties you are facing, but it would make more sense to raise problems you are having in the support tracker at https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu if you are uncertain if they are bugs. For help on reporting bugs, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs .

Revision history for this message
Toni Ruottu (toni-ruottu) said : 		#2

This is not a bug in ubuntu-session. I already discussed it in real time with a gnome-session developer. It is Ubuntu specific. I also cannot help myself thinking about this as a bug, because it worked perfectly before upgrading to Jaunty. Converting this bug into a question feels more like an attempt to make the bug statistics look better, than improving the odds on getting the actual problem fixed. Worst thing with this change is that there is nothing indicating regression. And fighting regression between Ubuntu releases is probably one of the hardest task Ubuntu will ever face.

Revision history for this message
Toni Ruottu (toni-ruottu) said : 		#3

Upgraded another system into Jaunty and didn't experience a problem. So I'm happy after all. My other system is probably just broken. btw. I still think this is a bug, it is just a nonexisting one. :-)