Re: [RFC] _NET_WORKAREA and Xinerama

[Havoc Pennington <hp redhat com>]

On Mon, Mar 03, 2003 at 08:40:47PM +0100, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> 
> Implementing both xinerama and wm-spec support for windowmaker, I found
> that _NET_WORKAREA is almost impossible to implement since it assumes
> the desktop is rectangular. Mine is not. Xinerama allows for 2 or more
> screens of different sizes to be used, I for example run one at
> 2048x1536 and one at 1600x1200. _NET_WORKAREA is unable to communicate
> this geometry.

See also thread starting here:
 http://mail.gnome.org/archives/wm-spec-list/2002-September/msg00011.html

(this is one of the more popular metacity bugs to report, 
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=86682)

We really need to solve this.

> I propose:
> 
> _NET_WORKAREA_XINERAMA
> _NET_WORKAREA_XINERAMA, x, y, w, h CARDINAL
> [#desktops][#xineheads][4]/32

We also need to specify _NET_WM_STRUT in relation to xinerama, so we
know how to compute the work area.

My initial feeling is that we should just keep it really simple;
_NET_WM_STRUT/_NET_WORKAREA are left as entire-screen, and we add
_NET_WM_STRUT_XINERAMA/_NET_WORKAREA_XINERAMA.

However, the problem with that is the dreaded "corner panel"
which requires a more complex solution of some kind.