Bug#766849: gnome-shell responds and renders hazardously

[Emilio Pozuelo Monfort]

Control: tags -1 serious
Control: tags -1 moreinfo

On 26/10/14 10:28, dAgeCKo wrote:
> Package: gnome-shell
> Version: 3.14.0-1
> Severity: critical
> Debian: Testing amd64
> Regression: Yes
> gnome-session: 3.14.0-2
>
> _Sometimes_ (it seems it is a constant for gnome-shell bugs), the response to
> the user actions and the rendering happens hazardously: the user action might
> not be taken into account (keybord, mouse move or clock) and the graphics might
> not be updated, or not well updated, resulting for the end user to do wrong
> actions. This is very grave since we can 'think' doing the good action, but
> wrongly. We can then loose data, corrupt them, or even a full system. Note that
> all programs happening under gnome-shell are subject to these bugs.
>
> Please note that this has nothing to do with other upper programs (like xorg or
> gtk and so on) since there is no user-input or rendering issues under XFCE for
> example.
>
> First example: Trying to write an email threw icedove under gnome-shell can be
> very painful. Sometimes, characters are not displayed, I must do another input
> action so that the enter character might be displayed.
> This is the same for mouse actions: scrolling the window, clicking... can become
> the worst hardwork ever met on Debian ever.
>
> Another example: launching a terminal under gnome-shell (ie xterm, because
> gnome-terminal is even worst), and using aptitude can be completly hazardous to
> the user point of view. Going up or down might look like it did not work,
> resulting in installing/uninstalling/updating unwanted programs. Or a sub-tree
> might not be displayed...
>
> Another example: surfing on the internet with iceweasel might also be completly
> hazardous or slow looking. Pages might be rendered with waves (portions of the
> page might be moving, or not updated), clicking on a tab might not work and
> refreshing the page, might even not resolves the bug.
>
> Last example: moving threw the virtual desktops (ctrl-alt-up or down) might
> display half of the previous desktop and half of the next one. Generally, with
> this bug, ctrl-alt-f1 and ctrl-alt-f7 might resolve the issue.
>
> Also note that I tried to take some screenshots threw the print-screen key, but
> this refreshes the screen, so all my attempts resulted in a good looking image...
>
> Finally, note that this is really critical because I already lost important
> data. This bug started several versions ago, but newer never resolved it (am I
> really the only one having this issue ?).
> Also, this makes me wonder why gnome-shell 3.14 entered testing since it is
> completly unstable and could provoke critical results.

Did you see Steven's questions? Please answer them:

What graphics card do you have? What graphics driver?
What's the output of: /usr/share/bug/xserver-xorg/script 3>&1

What happens if you run 3d applications in XFCE?

Emilio