Indicators are not part of the MATE desktop. In Debian, you have to install the packages manually. The mate-indicator-applet package is the panel applet itself, and the various indicators have names starting with ayatana-indicator* ( e.g. ayatana-indicator-datetime for time and calendar ).
Something in your panel is getting focus. A broken applet? A transparent icon? I dont't know. Technically, it should be possible to list the panel elements and check. I do observe these frames, but around certain clearly visible objects in the panel.
This is clearly some old behaviour present in previous versions, the tests have shown this. Are you using the same gtk theme after upgrade? The theme may be the source of changes, because it controls the visual style and color of these frames.
Has hardware been ruled out? Has Omnimaxus installed on a different machine and obtained the same result? I don't recall seeing anyone duplicate his/her result. I could be wrong about that.
What machine is this happening on (Make, Model, etc.)?
Hi again. Reinstalled MATE in a virtual machine. Looked up how to change "GTK themes" in Ubuntu MATE when I realized you were talking about the same thing where the theme chooser in MATE is concerned. I am here to let you know that I already tried that earlier. Still the same result. So, I'm not sure what else to say here. Also, as a polite reminder, this is happening on a fresh install and not an upgrade. Thanks, though; I appreciate the effort.
Hi - I've tried this on my actual PC, too - it's a custom build. I tried it as a fresh install and also in a live image environment. Same result. Also, other people have reported seeing the same thing happen on their PCs, too. So it's not just me. It appears to me as though this is truly something that needs to be fixed on a programming level, which admittedly is beyond the scope of my abilities. The Ubuntu MATE team will just need to fix this. I've already filed a bug report. I've already e-mailed the project leader. I've reported it on this forum. I've included pictures. I've done all I can. Now it's up to the Ubuntu MATE team to do the right thing and fix this. Until then, I'll continue using Linux Mint (although I'd prefer to use Ubuntu MATE). Thanks.
Different themes do produce different results. As I said before, your GTK theme controls the visual style and color of the focus frames.
The examples below are from Ubuntu MATE 22.04.
TraditionalGreen theme — solid frame around the applet.
I understand. But my point is, there was no frame at all, no matter what theme was picked. This was never a thing with Ubuntu MATE until recently. It's gotta be a bug. Not a new design thing. A bug. And it needs to be fixed. "When" is another story, and one I'll leave to the Ubuntu MATE team to take care of. Hopefully soon.
I will second @Omnimaxus's observation that this is a new problem. I've never seen any kind of box outline pop-up, permanent or otherwise, until my upgrade to UM 22.04.4 LTS .
I was on UM 20.04.5 LTS until I did that upgrade, and never observed that behaviour, at any time, before. I had 3 different full installson separate disks using the UM 20.04.5 LTS. They all behaved the same, so I don't think it had anything to do with any installation time tweaks that might have been made for each of the 3 installs (one for MariaDB, one for a limited web server, and my Desktop).
This problem is related to the indicator applet and exists for years. I can reproduce it in Ubuntu MATE 18.04, for example. I have chosen the TraditionalGreen theme for illustration purposes.
is that on a frozen UM 18 which is NOT updated with security updates, or
is that one which was unknowingly "contaminated" with new code introduced by those same security updates ?
If many of us who would have maintained a "frozen" UM 18 at one point (I did not advance to 20.04 until 22.04 was released), we would not, and have not, seen such behaviour before now !
Ubuntu receives security updates throughout its lifecycle. For example, the ones delivered after 18.04.2 and before 18.04.3 are included into 18.04.3. So, what is the question about? The .iso is from year 2019, it for sure differs from the initial 18.04 image.
If this really bothers you, why don't you re-create your previous install and check? @Omnimaxus claims he did not see problems in 22.04, you do see problems in 22.04. That's a perfect situation, where you both can compare your setups. But, I am afraid, what has been seen cannot be unseen.
I believe the larger issue here is how come most of us apparently have not seen this behavior until only recently. I did not see it on 22.04 (but did not stick around for the point releases; at which point this issue may have emerged). I did not see it on the original release of 24.04 (with the many issues with the installer and so on). Only was it on 24.04.1 that I saw the boundary lines either around the icons, or in blank spaces on the panel. Same for the brightening of application icons (e.g., Firefox) that'd happen when I clicked on one of the applets. All of that did not happen for me until 24.04.1. And I am still using the same PC as I did when I tried 24.04 before. No boundary lines. No brightening of the icons. Nothing. Normal behavior. Except for the other buggy behavior documented elsewhere on this forum by other people (e.g., the installer unexpectedly quitting). I sincerely hope someone from the Ubuntu MATE team is monitoring this topic, at least, and has it earmarked for further investigation. Thanks.
Unfortunately, once I migrate, I only keep the previous version as a failsafe. I don't keep ISOs from before, so I don't know
which maintenance release it was, or
which tweaks/customizations I had done.
I only got more disciplined about that with the install of 20.04 and prep for the 22.04.
Regarding my only starting to experience at 22.04 (as infrequent and unpredictable as it might be),
I don't know the dot version, but the ISO was burned on May22, 2020, which according to Launchpad makes that the first ISO release, and I regularly updated the kernel via use of Synaptic
and @Omnimaxus only starting to experience at 24.04, I cannot answer to that.
I can only share my experience and provide whatever details requested for my current installation (having accepted UM 22.04.4 as workable and sufficient, that I have purged any previous backups of 20.04 I previously had).
The fact that it is only now showing up, on both of 22.04 and 24.04 seems to suggest a new change that has been applied to both current and previous releases at the same time! That must represent a significant clue as to the timing and origin of the change.
I have switched over to Linux Mint MATE. Really would've liked to use Ubuntu, but it wasn't meant to be (least at this time). No issues whatsoever with the boundary lines, too. I will check back here later and see if Ubuntu MATE is back to "normal." Thanks to all.
After encountering bugs on Linux Mint MATE (such as the Xapps icons going away at random and the panel apps getting their order mixed up again and again by the system), I had enough and went back to my original Linux distribution (Zorin OS) that got me going on distrohopping on and off. MATE as a desktop environment needs some serious fixing. That's for sure.
They weren't failing outright. They were not misbehaving. It's just as I described in my post. Icons on the top panel disappearing without any apparent cause, erratic behavior by the icons, and so on. It was distracting and confusing. Nothing stayed the same. For example, I'd line up my icons on the top panel the way I wanted them. I locked them in place.
Then I'd leave and come back later. When I logged on, everything would be out of order, but still be locked down. Weird. And the networking applet would disappear, too. Same for the whole Xapps applet appearing twice on the same panel. This whole thing makes for a disorienting and frustrating user experience. So back to Zorin I went.
