dead windows+icons in xfce on Mac OS X...

[Prahlad Gupta]

I use xfce on Mac OS X with the xfree86 server compiled from source
via the fink project.  I also use xfce compiled via fink.  I've
recently upgraded xfce (via fink) from v. 3.8.10 to v 3.8.18-2.  This
is a distribution with the taskbar disabled.  This is running under
Mac OS X 10.2.3.

This fink distribution of xfce is labeled as "unstable".  I'm having
some problems with xfce, and am not sure if this is part of the
instability, or whether I am doing something wrong.  I couldn't find
anything in the documentation or the mailing list archive.

I'm hoping that someone might be able to suggest (a) whether there are
xfce configuration changes that I could make; and/or (b) whether the
problems provide any hint about what might be unstable in the
distribution, in which case I would pass on the hint to the fink xfce
maintainer (I am not familiar with compiling complex packages, hence
my reliance on fink).

The problems I'm having:

1. I use multiple desktops under xfce.  After xfce has been running for a
while (three-four days) iconified windows from one desktop (e.g.,
Desktop A) begin to show up as icons in other desktops (e.g., Desktop
B); however, they are "dead", in that they do nothing when clicked in
the other desktops.  And then when I iconify windows that really are
in Desktop B, they will occupy the same location as the dead ghost
window from Desktop A, which gets a bit confusing.

2. Another thing that sometimes happens with iconified windows
(again, only after xfce has been running a few days): the graphics
portion of the icon separates from the text label.  Then the text label
sticks around even if there is no actual window on any desktop that
corresponds to it.  This is happening right now: I have a text label
appearing on all desktops that corresponds to a no-longer-extant
browser window.  The text label is dead, i.e, it doesn't repond to the
mouse.

3. I also sometimes get dead open (i.e., unmiminimzied) xterms, which
appear on every desktop and do not respond to mouse activity.


I realize this may not be very much information to go on.  But any
suggestions on what might be causing this behavior would be very
helpful!


Thanks in advance --

-- Prahlad


P.S. I really like xfce, especially its virtual desktops and its
CDE-like desktop-button format (I prefer this to pagers) -- that's
what made it possible for me to switch away from Solaris to OS X).
Thanks to all who have worked on this!