Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

benob · 2013-04-26 06:29:19

I am starting this thread in order to list features that gnome 3.8 removed. I am not talking of bugs, just features which were useful and that you will miss.

Here is my list:

- gedit: can't change font size anymore (SOLVED)
- gnome-terminal: can't change background (SOLVED), won't remember to hide menu (SOLVED), doesn't change directory when opening new tabs
- nm-applet: can't disable connection while connecting, can't connect automatically to VPN upon connection

Let me know yours.

Note: this is not yet another rant on gnome 3.8, I am trying to be constructive to understand where developers need help to maintain popular features.

--- edit ---
Updated with solutions from posts in the thread

Last edited by benob (2013-04-26 11:41:33)

hadrons123 · 2013-04-26 06:33:54

I 'm not sure how this thread can be constructive. You could do this thing big time on your blog and still be heard.

oelfe · 2013-04-26 09:25:09

Hello benob,

How to change the font size in Gedit:
* open gedit
* click at gedit in the top shell panel (next to activities)
* this will open up the applications menu (this behaviour exists since Gnome 3.2 or 3.4 I think)
* select settings or preferences (not sure, becourse my locale is set to german)
* go to the second tab

How to hide the menu in gnome-terminal:
* open a terminal
* click at terminal in the top shell panel (next to activities)
* select settings or preferences
* in the first tab the first option is what you looking for

How to change the background in gnome-terminal:
* got to the settings
* select your profile within the 3th tab
* there you have a tab called colors

Can't say something to the last two points, becourse I never tried that .

Hopefully this helps.

Greetings
Alex

jiyinyiyong · 2013-04-26 09:50:30

@oelfe not available any more

oelfe · 2013-04-26 09:55:02

@jiyinyiyong: what is not avaiable anymore? I installed the latest updates and checked what I posted. So everything posted shoud work.

[alex@gaia ~]$ pacman -Ss gnome | grep Installiert
extra/accerciser 3.8.0-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/aisleriot 3.2.3.2-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/alacarte 3.7.90-1 [Installiert]
extra/anjuta 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/baobab 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/brasero 3.8.0-2 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/caribou 0.4.10-1 [Installiert]
extra/cheese 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/devhelp 3.8.1-1 [Installiert]
extra/empathy 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/eog 3.8.0-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/epiphany 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/evince 3.8.0-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/evolution 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/file-roller 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/five-or-more 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/four-in-a-row 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gdl 3.8.1-1 [Installiert]
extra/gdm 3.8.1.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gedit 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gjs 1.36.1-1 [Installiert]
extra/glade 3.15.0-1 [Installiert]
extra/gnome-backgrounds 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-bluetooth 3.8.0-1 [Installiert]
extra/gnome-calculator 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-chess 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-clocks 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-color-manager 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-common 3.7.4-1 [Installiert]
extra/gnome-contacts 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-control-center 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-desktop 1:3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-devel-docs 3.8.0-2 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-dictionary 3.6.0-2 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-disk-utility 3.8.0-2 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-doc-utils 0.20.10-1 [Installiert]
extra/gnome-documents 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-font-viewer 3.8.0-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-getting-started-docs 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-icon-theme 3.8.0-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-icon-theme-extras 3.6.2-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-icon-theme-symbolic 3.8.0.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-keyring 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-klotski 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-mahjongg 3.8.0-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-menus 3.8.0-2 [Installiert]
extra/gnome-mime-data 2.18.0-6 [Installiert]
extra/gnome-mines 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-nettool 3.2.0-3 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-nibbles 3.8.0-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-online-accounts 3.8.1-1 [Installiert]
extra/gnome-photos 3.8.0-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-power-manager 3.8.1-1 [Installiert]
extra/gnome-python 2.28.1-8 [Installiert]
extra/gnome-robots 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-screenshot 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-session 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-settings-daemon 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-shell 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-sudoku 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-system-log 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-system-monitor 3.8.0-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-terminal 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-tetravex 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-themes-standard 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-tweak-tool 3.8.0-1 [Installiert]
extra/gnome-user-docs 3.8.0-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-user-share 3.8.0-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/gnome-vfs 2.24.4-6 [Installiert]
extra/gnome-video-effects 0.4.0-2 [Installiert]
extra/gnome-weather 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/gtksourceview3 3.8.1-1 [Installiert]
extra/iagno 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/icon-naming-utils 0.8.90-2 [Installiert]
extra/libgnome 2.32.1-4 [Installiert]
extra/libgnome-data 2.32.1-4 [Installiert]
extra/libgnome-keyring 3.8.0-1 [Installiert]
extra/libgnomecanvas 2.30.3-2 [Installiert]
extra/libgnomeui 2.24.5-1 [Installiert]
extra/libgsf 1.14.26-1 [Installiert]
extra/libnautilus-extension 3.8.1-1 [Installiert]
extra/libreoffice-gnome 4.0.2-3 (libreoffice) [Installiert]
extra/libsoup 2.42.2-1 [Installiert]
extra/lightsoff 3.8.0-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/mousetweaks 3.8.0-2 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/mutter 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/nautilus 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/network-manager-applet 0.9.8.0-2 [Installiert]
extra/orca 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/python2-gnomecanvas 2.28.1-8 [Installiert]
extra/python2-gnomevfs 2.28.1-8 [Installiert]
extra/python2-libgnome 2.28.1-8 [Installiert]
extra/quadrapassel 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/rygel 0.18.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/seahorse 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/sushi 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/swell-foop 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/tali 3.8.0-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/totem 3.8.0-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/tracker 0.16.0-4 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/vinagre 3.8.1-1 (gnome-extra) [Installiert]
extra/vino 3.8.1-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/xdg-user-dirs-gtk 0.10-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
extra/yelp 3.8.0-1 (gnome) [Installiert]
community/gnome-media 3.4.0-2 [Installiert]
community/gnome-web-photo 0.10.6-1 [Installiert]
community/libgnome-media-profiles 3.0.0-4 [Installiert]
community/shotwell 0.14.1-3 [Installiert]
community/soundconverter 2.1.0-1 [Installiert]

EDIT: some screens
Screenshot for Gedit
Screenshot for Gnome-Terminal (1)
Screenshot for Gnome-Terminal (2)

shell theme: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/ … ent=152192
gtk3 theme: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/ … ent=156782

My old shell theme (EOS) breaks the new search function, so this coud be a potential problem.

Greetings
Alex

Last edited by oelfe (2013-04-26 10:10:34)

benob · 2013-04-26 11:40:07

You made my day

Another thing with gnome-terminal: it used to go to the same directory when opening a new tab (like konsole). Is there a way to do that?

oelfe wrote:

Hello benob,
How to change the font size in Gedit:
* open gedit
* click at gedit in the top shell panel (next to activities)
* this will open up the applications menu (this behaviour exists since Gnome 3.2 or 3.4 I think)
* select settings or preferences (not sure, becourse my locale is set to german)
* go to the second tab
How to hide the menu in gnome-terminal:
* open a terminal
* click at terminal in the top shell panel (next to activities)
* select settings or preferences
* in the first tab the first option is what you looking for
How to change the background in gnome-terminal:
* got to the settings
* select your profile within the 3th tab
* there you have a tab called colors

Can't say something to the last two points, becourse I never tried that .

Hopefully this helps.
Greetings
Alex

oelfe · 2013-04-26 12:07:18

Hey benob,

I really liked this feature but with Gnome 3.8 it seems to be gone. At least I cannot find an equalent option, even within dconf. But here is a workaround:

First install the package xdotool and add the following to your .bashrc

function nt {
    PWD=`pwd`

    xdotool key ctrl+shift+t
    xdotool type "cd $PWD && clear" 
    xdotool key KP_Enter
}

Open up a new terminal and type nt.

Have fun
Alex

dontbugme · 2013-04-26 12:57:22

Transparency in terminals.

oelfe · 2013-04-26 13:08:22

dontbugme wrote:

Transparency in terminals.

See https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/34874

replabrobin · 2013-04-27 21:09:24

I noticed that gnome-mines doesn't work properly in my slim+openbox environment. It starts up fine, but when you select sa 8 x 8 the grid lines are missing. Clicking on the window shows some of the grid starting from where you click.

ridcully · 2013-04-28 07:32:03

oelfe wrote:

I really liked this feature but with Gnome 3.8 it seems to be gone. At least I cannot find an equalent option, even within dconf. But here is a workaround:

Somebody opened a bug at bugzilla.gnome.org, but since this smart feature was removed on purpose I seriously doubt that it is coming back. It is also quite annoying that you have to click the 'activities' in order to activate the 'expose' feature. Has someone an idea how to get this back? The new version of evince is also annoying (buttons instead of menus and everything is on the top right corner instead of the left top corner).

elkoraco · 2013-04-28 08:11:08

I find the pressure sensitivity thing with the tray and the Activities hot corner incredibly idiotic, to the point of considering a switch away from Gnome.

VirtualTam · 2013-04-28 13:11:50

There is an embryo of documentation on the Gnome FAQ regarding the possibility to keep the working directory when opening a new tab :

Since version 3.7, for new terminals to start in the working directory of the current terminal, it is necessary for the shell running in the terminal to cooperate. For this, vte installs a bash shell script that you must use in your bash PS1 prompt. For example, you can put this at the end of your ~/.bashrc file:
export PS1='\[$(__vte_ps1)\]'$PS1

To get it work, you have to source vte.sh in your .bashrc, as stated here:

. /etc/profile.d/vte.sh
export PS1='\[$(__vte_ps1)\]'$PS1

Last edited by VirtualTam (2013-04-28 13:21:24)

alculquicondor · 2013-04-28 14:48:37

VirtualTam wrote:

There is an embryo of documentation on the Gnome FAQ regarding the possibility to keep the working directory when opening a new tab :
Since version 3.7, for new terminals to start in the working directory of the current terminal, it is necessary for the shell running in the terminal to cooperate. For this, vte installs a bash shell script that you must use in your bash PS1 prompt. For example, you can put this at the end of your ~/.bashrc file:
export PS1='\[$(__vte_ps1)\]'$PS1
To get it work, you have to source vte.sh in your .bashrc, as stated here:
. /etc/profile.d/vte.sh
export PS1='\[$(__vte_ps1)\]'$PS1

How can I filter that to just work in gnome-terminal? It added a weird string at the beginning of the prompt in terminator.

VirtualTam · 2013-04-28 19:57:41

alculquicondor wrote:

How can I filter that to just work in gnome-terminal?

By customizing your bash session in .bashrc:
- to apply this on every xterm:

case "$TERM" in
  xterm)
     . /etc/profile.d/vte.sh
     export PS1='\[$(__vte_ps1)\]'$PS1
     ;;
esac

- to apply this to gnome-terminal only (preferred):

case "$COLORTERM" in
  gnome-terminal)
     . /etc/profile.d/vte.sh
     export PS1='\[$(__vte_ps1)\]'$PS1
     ;;
esac

stoolye · 2013-04-29 06:29:06

VirtualTam wrote:

There is an embryo of documentation on the Gnome FAQ regarding the possibility to keep the working directory when opening a new tab :
Since version 3.7, for new terminals to start in the working directory of the current terminal, it is necessary for the shell running in the terminal to cooperate. For this, vte installs a bash shell script that you must use in your bash PS1 prompt. For example, you can put this at the end of your ~/.bashrc file:
export PS1='\[$(__vte_ps1)\]'$PS1
To get it work, you have to source vte.sh in your .bashrc, as stated here:
. /etc/profile.d/vte.sh
export PS1='\[$(__vte_ps1)\]'$PS1

I have a question. Why does vte.sh not be sourced automatically when I log into gnome-shell?
I am sure it sources /etc/profile and all other scripts in /etc/profile.d in turn. Don't know why it just doesn't source vte.sh properly.
I noticed It works fine when I log into linux console.
I'm not quite familiar with shell script. It may be a stupid question.

chord · 2013-04-29 09:41:45

I totally agree with this topic title. Each new "release" Gnome becomes more and more unusable. A lot of useful things was removed. I will not list them all, it can be googled.
Yes, of course, most of these things can be restored (some in abbreviated form) with the different tweaks, extensions and hacks. Gnome-tweak-tool becames the main utility. But all these tweaks are just workaround. Gnome becomes one big workaround. I have to look for ways to circumvent the activities of the Gnome developers in order to gain complete control over the system.
I would not be surprised if they will remove the terminal and will block all the tweaking ways. Epiphany, Empathy and Movie Player should be the only available applications!

Last edited by chord (2013-04-29 09:43:02)

lmello · 2013-04-29 14:50:59

I was ranting because gdm wouldn't start. This is stupid, a bunch of features came back, like the tree-view in the new Nautilus. Want transparency? Guake is an option. But the new way of accessing the tray could be better, like not depending on the speed of the cursor, just the position a bunch of pixels on the bottom. The only 'feature regressions' I see are the new bugs... found one particularly annoying

And there's GNOME Classic too for those nostalgic of 2.x - alas how the heck do I access it on Arch?

But they shouldn't have added the appsfolder thingy yet - it's incomplete and it seems that only in 3.10 we can modify them as we please whithin the shell. I just got rid of them for now.

Last edited by lmello (2013-04-29 15:11:33)

sipik · 2013-04-30 12:29:57

I am missing the notification tray in Gnome 3.8. Is this a feature or a bug?

mandog · 2013-04-30 12:50:52

If you mean the pop up when music changes or you insert a usb/cd etc, it works fine with the default shell on my setup, but not with all from gnomelook.

sipik · 2013-04-30 13:22:12

Yeah the popups work fine. But I mean the notification bar at the bottom, which displays for example new chat notifications. This was hidden by default and would get unhidden when the mouse was hovered over the lower part of the screen. With the new version, it seems it is only accessible in case there are new notifications, and only from the activities overview mode. A bit of a draw back... Anyone knows a way to switch back to the old behaviour?

Thorsten Reinbold · 2013-04-30 13:51:10

sipik wrote:

Yeah the popups work fine. But I mean the notification bar at the bottom, which displays for example new chat notifications. This was hidden by default and would get unhidden when the mouse was hovered over the lower part of the screen. With the new version, it seems it is only accessible in case there are new notifications, and only from the activities overview mode. A bit of a draw back... Anyone knows a way to switch back to the old behaviour?

It's still there but you have to push the mouse a bit more against the bottom.

solar · 2013-04-30 22:22:04

benob wrote:

You made my day
Another thing with gnome-terminal: it used to go to the same directory when opening a new tab (like konsole). Is there a way to do that?
oelfe wrote:
Hello benob,
How to change the font size in Gedit:
* open gedit
* click at gedit in the top shell panel (next to activities)
* this will open up the applications menu (this behaviour exists since Gnome 3.2 or 3.4 I think)
* select settings or preferences (not sure, becourse my locale is set to german)
* go to the second tab
How to hide the menu in gnome-terminal:
* open a terminal
* click at terminal in the top shell panel (next to activities)
* select settings or preferences
* in the first tab the first option is what you looking for
How to change the background in gnome-terminal:
* got to the settings
* select your profile within the 3th tab
* there you have a tab called colors

Can't say something to the last two points, becourse I never tried that .

Hopefully this helps.
Greetings
Alex

kinda hilarious how this "new desktop experience" makes it hard for people to even change fonts in a stand alone program.

lmello · 2013-05-01 03:44:11

mandog wrote:

If you mean the pop up when music changes or you insert a usb/cd etc, it works fine with the default shell on my setup, but not with all from gnomelook.

So you get a notification when you insert an audio CD?!?! This doesn't happen to me, I even filed a task in their bugtracker, and it's a dupe, so I'm not the only one with this issue. And it is the bug that bugs me the most (pun intended). Could it be a hardware-specific problem? What's your setup? My /dev/sr0 has a TSSTcorp CDDVDW SN-208BB (SN02) identifier.

Last edited by lmello (2013-05-01 03:47:05)

daiscog · 2013-05-01 17:02:11

My gripes:

1. Nautilus no longer remembers my last "Show hidden files" setting; every time I start Nautilus, hidden files are visible and I have to press CTRL+H to hide them again. Previously, they were hidden by default.

2. GDM fails to set the correct resolution as defined in my xorg.conf file (as described here)

3. The removal of the application categories list in the overview makes finding the application I want more difficult than it ought to be.

I realise the last point will probably only be fixed if someone develops an extension to restore the functionality. The first point seems like a bug to me (should I report it?) and the second is the most annoying of all. Anyone know any fixes?

EDIT

4. When logging in, I liked the old desktop-fade-in transition from the GDM log in prompt to the GNOME desktop. I very much dislike the new blank-screen-then-desktop-zooms-in-from-centre transition. Is there any way (e.g., config setting) to change it back?

Cheers,

Dai

Last edited by daiscog (2013-05-01 17:34:33)

Arch Linux

#1 2013-04-26 06:29:19

Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#2 2013-04-26 06:33:54

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#3 2013-04-26 09:25:09

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#4 2013-04-26 09:50:30

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#5 2013-04-26 09:55:02

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#6 2013-04-26 11:40:07

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#7 2013-04-26 12:07:18

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#8 2013-04-26 12:57:22

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#9 2013-04-26 13:08:22

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#10 2013-04-27 21:09:24

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#11 2013-04-28 07:32:03

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#12 2013-04-28 08:11:08

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#13 2013-04-28 13:11:50

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#14 2013-04-28 14:48:37

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#15 2013-04-28 19:57:41

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#16 2013-04-29 06:29:06

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#17 2013-04-29 09:41:45

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#18 2013-04-29 14:50:59

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#19 2013-04-30 12:29:57

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#20 2013-04-30 12:50:52

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#21 2013-04-30 13:22:12

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#22 2013-04-30 13:51:10

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#23 2013-04-30 22:22:04

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#24 2013-05-01 03:44:11

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

#25 2013-05-01 17:02:11

Re: Gnome 3.8 feature regressions

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