After an evaluation, GNOME has moved from Bugzilla to GitLab. Learn more about GitLab.
No new issues can be reported in GNOME Bugzilla anymore.
To report an issue in a GNOME project, go to GNOME GitLab.
Do not go to GNOME Gitlab for: Bluefish, Doxygen, GnuCash, GStreamer, java-gnome, LDTP, NetworkManager, Tomboy.
Bug 776116 - Notifications don't get seen on the lock screen if you wake the computer by typing
Notifications don't get seen on the lock screen if you wake the computer by t...
Status: RESOLVED OBSOLETE
Product: gnome-shell
Classification: Core
Component: message-tray
3.22.x
Other Linux
: Normal normal
: ---
Assigned To: gnome-shell-maint
gnome-shell-maint
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2016-12-14 23:32 UTC by Nate Graham
Modified: 2021-07-05 14:40 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: 3.21/3.22



Description Nate Graham 2016-12-14 23:32:29 UTC
Calendar notifications are only useful if they persist on screen and force you to notice them and explicitly dismiss them. Otherwise you can very easily miss them if you happened to be looking away, or in the bathroom, or your computer was asleep when the notification came in.
Comment 1 Allan Day 2016-12-15 16:02:51 UTC
I don't see why calendar notifications are special. How are they any more important than other notifications?
Comment 2 Nate Graham 2016-12-15 16:37:46 UTC
The consequences to missing a calendar notification can be much more severe than missing another notification. I missed an appointment yesterday because a calendar notification came in while I was in the bathroom for 30 seconds. Had it stayed on screen, I would have seen it when I returned.

FWIW, calendar notifications are sticky in macOS for just this reason; most aren't, but calendar notifications are special.
Comment 3 Debarshi Ray 2016-12-15 16:39:28 UTC
Did you really intend to mark this as RESOLVED FIXED?
Comment 4 Nate Graham 2016-12-15 16:40:04 UTC
Oops, I did not!
Comment 5 Allan Day 2016-12-15 16:50:56 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #2)
> The consequences to missing a calendar notification can be much more severe
> than missing another notification.

It is possible for applications to set a notification as urgent, in which case they have to been explicitly dismissed. If it is the case that calendar notifications should be treated in this way, then this is a bug with the calendar app itself.

> I missed an appointment yesterday because
> a calendar notification came in while I was in the bathroom for 30 seconds.
> Had it stayed on screen, I would have seen it when I returned.
...

Theoretically, this shouldn't have happened - notifications don't hide until you interact with the computer, precisely so you do notice them if you leave the machine for a short while. Do you have any idea what went wrong?
Comment 6 Florian Müllner 2016-12-15 16:57:02 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #2)
> I missed an appointment yesterday because a calendar notification came 
> in while I was in the bathroom for 30 seconds.
> Had it stayed on screen, I would have seen it when I returned.

Mmh, that is odd because notifications are not supposed to time out while there is no user activity. So unless some cat or toddler is involved, this sounds like a bug that affects all notifications.


> FWIW, calendar notifications are sticky in macOS for just this reason; most
> aren't, but calendar notifications are special.

If on the other hand you really think that calendar notifications should be treated differently, then it's up to the calendar application to make it urgent - gnome-shell doesn't really know whether a notification is an appointment or not (other than keeping a list of calendar applications and checking whether a notification was requested from one of them) ...
Comment 7 Nate Graham 2016-12-15 16:59:57 UTC
Oh, I think I know what happened. I put the computer into suspend when I left, to lock the screen. Upon returning, I hit a few keys on the keyboard to wake it up, then entered my password, then hit the enter key. This probably counts as "interacting with the computer" and resulted in the notification disappearing while I was still at the lock screen, before I could see it.

Should we track that bug here?


I've filed a request for gnome-calendar to treat event alarms as urgent: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=776145
Comment 8 Nate Graham 2016-12-15 17:01:12 UTC
Also, I do have a toddler and a baby... ;)
Comment 9 Allan Day 2016-12-15 21:41:33 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #7)
> Oh, I think I know what happened. I put the computer into suspend when I
> left, to lock the screen. Upon returning, I hit a few keys on the keyboard
> to wake it up, then entered my password, then hit the enter key. This
> probably counts as "interacting with the computer" and resulted in the
> notification disappearing while I was still at the lock screen, before I
> could see it.
...

The lock screen is supposed to display notifications that have arrived while the screen is locked. One issue that might have occurred in this case is that, if you start typing your password while the screen is blanked, the screen shield raises as soon as you start typing, and you never get to see the notifications.
Comment 10 Nate Graham 2016-12-15 22:29:31 UTC
Yes, that's probably what happened. I didn't start typing my actual password, I just banged randomly on the keyboard. And yeah, the actual lock screen is visible for only a moment before is slides up and reveals the password field.

Perhaps any notifications that arrived while the screen was locked should automatically become urgent/sticky to ensure that the user gets the chance to see them.
Comment 11 Allan Day 2016-12-22 10:35:46 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #10)
> Yes, that's probably what happened. I didn't start typing my actual
> password, I just banged randomly on the keyboard. And yeah, the actual lock
> screen is visible for only a moment before is slides up and reveals the
> password field.
...

Thanks. I'm renaming the bug to reflect this. The special treatment of calendar notifications can be handled in bug 776145.
Comment 12 GNOME Infrastructure Team 2021-07-05 14:40:22 UTC
GNOME is going to shut down bugzilla.gnome.org in favor of  gitlab.gnome.org.
As part of that, we are mass-closing older open tickets in bugzilla.gnome.org
which have not seen updates for a longer time (resources are unfortunately
quite limited so not every ticket can get handled).

If you can still reproduce the situation described in this ticket in a recent
and supported software version, then please follow
  https://wiki.gnome.org/GettingInTouch/BugReportingGuidelines
and create a new ticket at
  https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/

Thank you for your understanding and your help.