Workspace Switcher scaling issue on Ubuntu MATE 21.10 - diagnosis and temporary fix

Support & Help Requests
,
#1

After UG to 21.10 Mate the workspace switcher shrank in size making it difficult to use. Each box is now about 6mm wide. They were about 12mm wide before UG.

#2

Welcome to Ubuntu MATE community!

Please add details - screenshot of relevant problem, which window manager do you use (Marco, Compton, Compiz), which graphics card, which screen resolutions do you have, how many monitors.

#3

after

wmctrl -m
Name: Metacity (Marco)
Class: N/A
PID: N/A
Window manager's "showing the desktop" mode: OFF
Graphics - Mesa Intel® UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)
Dell G5 5590 Laptop - screen resolution 1920 x 1080

#4

before
The Workspace Switcher before UG.

#5

This seems to be issue of some underneath library - see

and

I also see that aspect ratio for Workspace Switcher is wrong.
The positive moment is that Ubuntu MATE 20.04 LTS does not have this problem.
So you can reinstall the 20.04 LTS version if this functionality is essential for you.

Other possible way to fix is to downgrade the WNCK library on 21.10 using the below commands:

cd /tmp
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/libw/libwnck3/gir1.2-wnck-3.0_3.36.0-1_amd64.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/libw/libwnck3/libwnck-3-0_3.36.0-1_amd64.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/libw/libwnck3/libwnck-3-common_3.36.0-1_all.deb

sudo apt-get install ./*wnck*.deb

and then pin these packages by using the following long command:

cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/pin-wnck
Package: gir1.2-wnck-3.0
Pin: version 3.36.0-1
Pin-Priority: 1337

Package: libwnck-3-0
Pin: version 3.36.0-1
Pin-Priority: 1337

Package: libwnck-3-common
Pin: version 3.36.0-1
Pin-Priority: 1337
EOF

and then reboot.

To revert the pin use sudo rm /etc/apt/preferences.d/pin-wnck followed by sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade.

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Misproportioned Workspace Switcher applet
#6

Thanks, as long as this is a recognized issue I'll work with it as there are some other changes in 21.10 that are more important, and hope that a fix will soon be forthcoming. Main thing was to make sure it wasn't something I caused.

Really appreciate the quick response and work around.

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#7

Thank you for this. I have subscribed to the bug you linked to and followed these instructions. How likely is it this will be completely fixed during the 21.10 lifecycle and this will need a revert? If it does, how difficult will it be to unpin these files?

Thanks.

#8

To revert the pin use sudo rm /etc/apt/preferences.d/pin-wnck followed by sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade. Not sure about release cycle. Fresh installation of Ubuntu MATE 20.04 LTS is the best solution IMHO.

3 Likes
#9

I upgraded to 22.04 from 20.04 yesterday and this issue is also there.

#10

Is this issue NOT going to be resolved in 21.10?
If NOT, will it be resolved in 22.04?

#11

I encountered this issue in Ubuntu-MATE 24.04 LTS (daily-ISO) with mate1.26.2 and 1.27.1

I never experienced this bug on 22.04 LTS which also used mate 1.26.2 so it is not in mate itself ...
possibly this libwnck regression bug ?

Anyway, I filed a bug here:

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