<AWT Dev> Review request #2: 6863566 (Java should support the freedesktop.org startup notification specification)

[Anthony Petrov]

On 11/17/2009 06:11 PM, Damjan Jovanovic wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 11:31 AM, Dmitry Cherepanov
> <Dmitry.Cherepanov at sun.com> wrote:
>> Just a small suggestion.
>>
>> It might make sense to clarify whether this fix covers the UI tools (like
>> jconsole) or not. So far, the report says that
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Copy this text into a .desktop file in your ~/Desktop directory:
>>
>> [Desktop Entry]
>> Name=Startup notification test
>> Type=Application
>> Exec=jconsole
>> StartupNotify=true
>>
>> jconsole can be replaced by any Java application that opens a window.
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> According this description, the fix is supposed to work OK with the UI
>> tools.
>>
>> At the same time, the java process doesn't inherit the env variable
>> (DESKTOP_STARTUP_ID) of the UI process. As a result, the newly introduced
>> method will not remove the startup notification. So, my suggestion is to
>> explicitly clarify this behaviour in the bug report.
>>
>> The fix itself looks fine for me.
> 
> Startup notifications have to start and stop. They don't automatically
> start when you double-click on an executable file from your file
> manager or run an executable from a terminal. They can only start when
> you run a .desktop file that has the "StartupNotify=true" line.
> 
> If startup notifications don't start, then there is no real problem -
> it just looks bad because you know you started the application but you
> aren't getting any feedback that it's starting (busy mouse cursor,
> "Starting ..." on the task bar).
> 
> If startup notifications do start, then it looks really bad if they
> don't stop - the application starts in a separate task bar tab, while
> the "Starting..." tab and the busy mouse cursor continue for quite
> some time. My patch addresses this case, by stopping them when the
> first window shows.
> 
> The .desktop files for tools like jconsole currently have no
> "StartupNotify=..." line, so startup notifications are disabled even
> with my patch. I asked we add "StartupNotify=true" to those files and
> provided a patch, but my request was denied, see the OpenJDK bug
> (https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/show_bug.cgi?id=100094) for details.

I think Dmitry means that even if you add the "StartupNotify=..." to the 
.desktop file for jconsole, it won't end the startap notification with 
your current fix. That is because the .desktop file actually starts the 
jconsole launcher, which subsequently starts the java process of the 
jconsole w/o inheriting the environment. Therefore, the java process of 
the jconsole does not end the startup notification.

AFAIR, your then-proposed fix only added the "StartupNotify=..." to some 
  java and java-ws.desktop files. But it didn't address the issues in 
the native launcher for jconsole.

However, the description of the bug in the Bugzilla states that with 
your fix the .desktop file of the jconsole may be modified, and the 
jconsole will work correctly: the startup notification will be ended as 
soon as jconsole starts. Dmitry is pointing out that this is not true.

--
best regards,
Anthony