Popup windows doesn't stay on the workspace from where they were created

[littlesandra88]

I'm submitting a…

[x] Bug
[ ] Feature Request
[ ] Documentation Request
[ ] Other (Please describe in detail)

Current Behavior

When an application on a different workspace creates a new window, this window doesn't stay at the same workspace as the application that created it. Instead it shows up on the active workspace and often steal the input focus for keyboard and mouse.

Given i3 is a tiling WM, even small 100x100px popup windows becomes full screen.

Expected Behavior

When an application creates a new window it should stay on the workspace as the application that created it.

Reproduction Instructions

• Put Microsoft Teams in workspace 9
• Switch to workspace 1
• When a meeting is about to start, MS Teams creates a small popup window, that is displayed at workspace 1 instead of workspace 9.

Environment

Output of i3 --moreversion 2>&-:

i3 version: 4.18.2

- Linux Distribution & Version: Fedora 32
- Are you using a compositor (e.g., xcompmgr or compton): No

[i3bot]

I don’t see a link to logs.i3wm.org. Did you follow https://i3wm.org/docs/debugging.html? (In case you actually provided a link to a logfile, please ignore me.)

[orestisfl]

@Airblader I don't seem to find any code that handles this case, I think it is a reasonable default. Have we discussed this in the past?

@littlesandra88 Logs would be useful here to verify that the annoying window is in fact transient for the Teams window. My guess is that it is not because otherwise, it would be set to floating: https://github.com/i3/i3/blob/1d9160f2d247dbaa83fb62f02fd7041dec767fc2/src/manage.c#L478-L479

[Airblader]

I could've sworn we already do this, but I also can't find a code path for it. I definitely think that makes sense, but we should mark the window urgent. I wonder if this would justify a configuration akin to popup_during_fullscreen even, then we could also default it to the existing behavior?

[orestisfl]

I just checked with a dummy program and it seems that we don't implement this.

I'll re-label as an enhancement.

I wonder if this would justify a configuration akin to popup_during_fullscreen even, then we could also default it to the existing behavior?

Since it is quite minor, we can accept a "breaking" change but I am ok with a setting with either behavior as default.

[Airblader]

I'm a bit afraid that some users actually prefer the current behavior (get the pop up wherever you are). Using a for_window rule on urgent windows can help alleviate that, though, so I'm also fine with just changing it.

[hexpwn]

I am having this issue, but it apparently is not related to the current active monitor/workspace. This happens (seemingly randomly) when using Ghidra, for example. Even though I am working on Monitor 1, dialog boxes sometimes appear on Monitor 2 and will keep pop-ing up there (even though all interaction is being done in Monitor 1 until I drag the dialog (e.g a string editing dialog) to Monitor 1 and close it. After a few more uses the dialog, again, appears in Monitor 2 even though no interaction with Monitor 2 was done in the meantime. It is very confusing.

[XoMEX]

Is there any update on this (after 4 years :eyes:)? I run into this issue on a regular basis, as outlined in https://github.com/i3/i3/discussions/6267