Re: Support for WM spec

[Sasha_Vasko osca state mo us]

> Sasha_Vasko osca state mo us writes:
>
> > > The WM spec needs to be clear about what setting both _NET_WM_ICONS
> > > and an Icon pixmap or window means.
> > >
> > > If _NET_WM_ICONS and a pixmap are set, it's pretty clear that
> > > _NET_WM_ICONS is the preferred information.
> > >
> > > But it's conceivable that if _NET_WM_ICONS and a icon window are
> > > set, then the icon is an active icon, and should be preferred
> > > over _NET_WM_ICONS, and the app is just setting _NET_WM_ICONS
> > > for the information of tasklists and suchlike.
> > >
> > > Does there need to be some disambiguation between these, or
> > > can we just pick one interpretation and ignore the other?
> > >
> > > What do window managers do currently?
> >
> > As per ICCCM :
> > (4.1.9)
> > In the Iconic state, the window manager usually will ensure that:
> > If the window's WM_HINTS.icon_window is set, the window it names is
visible.
> > If the window's WM_HINTS.icon_window is not set but the window's
WM_HINTS.icon_pixmap is
> set, the pixmap it names is visible.
> > Otherwise, the window's WM_ICON_NAME string is visible.
>
> Well, that says what to do when icon_window and icon_pixmap are set,
> but (obviously) says nothing about _NET_WM_ICONS.

well, naturally, since ICCCM knew nothing about wm-specs :)

>
> Are you saying that you think icon_window should also always override
> _NET_WM_ICONS?

The idea is that when window manager is gathering hints for any particular
window - it may run into different kinds of such: ICCCM, wm-specs, old
GNOME hints,
Motif to name few. Some of this hints are overlapping - as in case with
icons.
The sane approch here would be to define what hints are overlapping and
provide user
with some means of decision making on what should take precedence. For this
purpose
I'd conside _NET_WM_ICONS and WMHints.icon_pixmap to be overlapping each
other,
yet existing in parallel to WMHints.icon_window. Therefore _NET_WM_ICON is
likely to be treated same as icon_pixmap, and icon_window should
be used in preference to _NET_WM_ICONS as well as icon_pixmap ( if supplyed
by an app
and supported by window manager ).

The rationale behind this is that icon_window allows app to show some
usefull
information even when it is iconifyed. So the fact that it is supplyed in
hints
signals Window manager that yes, indeed, app is willing to do so, please.
And window
manager, being a good citizen, provides app with this added bonus
functionality.

The fact that wording "usually" is employed by ICCCM signals to me
personally,
that app should not count on any particular reaction from window manger (
that's why
it is called "hints" ), and window manager may allow user to choose
different
priorities. But in practice I would expect behaviour of choosing
icon_window over
any pixmap (where supported, of course).

>
> Regards,
>                                         Owen

Cheers
Sasha Vasko