GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 580593
Run application text input expansion works incorrectly
Last modified: 2020-11-06 20:20:09 UTC
Please describe the problem: See the original report at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-panel/+bug/365964. Copying the most important parts here. The ubuntu package sun-java6-jdk is used as an example to get "jconsole" and "jcontrol" installed in the system. In default install the "jconsole" command can be found in the application menu and "jcontrol" cannot be found from the application menu. There're no commands starting with "jc" installed in the system. Steps to reproduce: 1. sudo aptitude install sun-java6-jdk 2. press Alt+F2 to start "Run application" dialog of gnome-panel 3. Type "j" and wait for a few seconds (so that the list of icons have been updated) 4. Type "c" the input now reads "jc[on]" where the part between brackets is selected (This is correct, possible choices are jconsole and jcontrol) 5. Type "o" Actual results: The input now reads "jcon" (the "n" is not selected). This prevents me from successfully launching the jconsole by typing "jcons" in the dialog because after the "jco" part the input has been changed to "jcon" and when I continue the rest of the program name ("nsole") the end result is "jconnsole" which obviously does not work. Expected results: The input now reads "jco[n]" (the n is selected an will be overwritten if I type anything) Does this happen every time? Does not happen every time. I'd say that "n" is not selected about 4 times in 10. Because this seems to be some kind of race condition, I'll report some extra information: $ uname -a Linux semyol-329-b 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:58:03 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux $ cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep "model name" | uniq model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz $ dpkg-query --show xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.6.3-0ubuntu9 The issue seems to be also slightly easier to reproduce if you do not close the dialog but after trying once, you clear the input with backspace and type the letters again. In this case, it's easier to reproduce if all letters ("jco") are rapidly typed. Other information: I can repeatedly reproduce the error but 2 other people with unspecified systems couldn't reproduce the problem with the steps above.
I can confirm this bug on all of my systems (eeepc, 32bit desktop, 64bit dual core desktop, 64bit dual core laptop) a few commands that reliably produce the error: xrandr konversation xrandr is especially annoying, because sometimes I accidentally launch xrandr with the wrong args from the command line and end up with an unusable screen, so I have to type xrandr --auto blind. If I type xrandr slowly into the dialog, I will get xrandrdr. If I type it quickly, I can sometimes get in there before autocomplete, so I can sometimes get xrandrr Simliarly, I can get konversationsation or konversationn depending on my luck. Proposed behavior: Without looking at the screen, I should be able to type a command into the Run Application dialog and hit enter, and if it should behave as it does in the terminal. Ways to achieve this: a) Add an option to disable autocomplete b) Make autocomplete work like it does in Hamster (use left-arrow to accept the autocomplete, or backspace to cancel it. return closes the dialog with the non-autocompleted text.) -- this would break if I typed konq[ueror]<backspace>versation c) Make autocomplete work like autocorrect->word completion does in openoffice (configurable key to accept (default=return, options=end, right, space, tab), backspace cancels and also deletes the previous character.) -- preferred. i) If enter is the accept key, the user would need to hit enter twice to accept and run, or space and enter to run without suggestion ii) If tab is the accept key, it would need to be pressed twice to tab out iii) Please don't make space the accept key. End and right are both good. d) Take a look at how KDE does it. Sometimes it's nice to have consistency so you can steal their users.
see also https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=169976
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