Drop-down menus not working on Linux using sloppy window focus

I can confirm that this still exists in version 2.2.3554, exactly as it has before.

Can confirm on version 2.2.3963.

I'm having the same issue: every drop down that I've used (profile selector on "play" tab, version selector in "new installation" dialogue box, language selector in settings) refuses to change selected item.

I'm on ubuntu 21.04. Launcher details copied from "about" tab:

Launcher
2.2.5516

Monday, September 20, 2021, 6:46:58 AM

b031518d064107663bce60b84adcdd838f85b6a7

Bootstrap
1035

Thursday, September 16, 2021, 2:27:47 AM

e96cf7853afa35a29f583593cc437656b1ef9d19

UI
7764

Monday, September 20, 2021, 6:44:22 AM

b031518d064107663bce60b84adcdd838f85b6a7

Here's a video of the bug:

I found out from another post that you can use the arrow keys to select things in the drop-down menus.  Shout-out to William Turner on bug MCL-17159.

However, the mouse still does not work for drop-down menus as of version 2.2.7448.

This still occurs for me on version 2.3.228 on Debian 11.

The dropdown menus still don't work properly for me. I'm on Debian 11.6 and version 2.3.592 of the launcher. They also don't open at all. I've attached a video that shows the issue.

This problem seems to be related to "focus follows mouse" or "sloppy" window focusing. Try setting window focus to "mouse click" and see if this resolves the issue. This worked for me with Minecraft Launcher and also the Steam client. (Here is the related Steam bug, if that is helpful in any way.) Hopefully this will help track down the source of the bug.

Still doesn't seem to be working (didn't make any changes to "out-of-the-box" MCL settings or windows alignment).
Linux, MCL version 2.7.12-1.2.30

Hi, I still can't reproduce it on a fresh installation of Manjaro Linux. Are there any other Linux distributions than Debian and Ubuntu affected?

Arch Linux is affected. Based off the fact that it's related to Window Focus mode probably means it's display server or window manager related, as opposed to distro. I'm using Cinnamon desktop environment (uses Muffin window manager) on X11. Maybe with that combo of software it can be reproduced?

Edit: For the possibly related Steam bug, users are reporting it doesn't happen on Wayland, so maybe only reproducible on X11?

Hi again, thanks for the reply. I'm using GNOME DE, where by default I can't change the window focus to "sloppy" without installing other tools like GNOME Tweaks. So I need to install more applications and change their settings to make the launcher menu drop-down not work anymore? Also on X11, by the way.

I believe you can use the Gnome Tweak Tool in order to change that particular setting. If you're using Manjaro I think the package should be gnome-tweaks (this is the Arch package). Ubuntu and derivatives I think would be gnome-tweak-tool.  Same package name, I seen an outdated help article.

I was messing with some different desktop environments and found that the issue only occurs in some of them. It doesn't occur in Ubuntu or i3, but it does in LXQt.

@unknown: I think we're misunderstanding each other. I have gnome-tweaks installed, and I know that you can use it to change the window focus. But I'm asking for a way to configure this in a clean Linux installation without any other applications.

If I have to install other programs to be able to change system settings there, so that the normal behavior becomes "buggy" and no longer works, I wonder to what extent this is a "vanilla" problem. So far, there has never been any talk of affected users installing extra programs and having things stop working - rather, I assumed it was a fundamental problem, which it apparently is not.

If I said something wrong: Please correct me. I would like to be able to understand and reproduce this behavior, or know which distributions and/or desktop environments are affected, without having to download any extra programs, i.e. where I can change the window focus by default.

I believe I understand now. However, Gnome Tweak Tool is part of the Gnome Project (https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-tweaks). It only exposes Gnome settings that already exist. It's not installed as part of a normal Gnome installation because the Gnome devs deemed that those settings were too "advanced" for regular users. I would hardly count it as an "extra" application that would cause unwanted buginess.

However, it you want a clean, default installation, you can run gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences focus-mode 'sloppy' in a terminal to achieve the same result. Gnome Tweaks just provides a UI for this.

Alternatively, use a distro with a default DE that exposes this setting, such as Linux Mint/Cinnamon.

Also note that I am using Cinnamon DE on Arch Linux, and did not use any third party applications to configure my Cinnamon settings, and I'm currently experiencing the problem.

Hi again, thanks for the detailed explanation. I was able to reproduce the behavior in a clean installation of Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon in the latest launcher version. For testing, I tried it in launcher version 2.2.12148, which did not have this issue.

Can you confirm you do NOT have this issue in Launcher version 2.2.12148? I just reproduced the bug on Garuda Linux w/ Cinnamon on Launcher version 2.2.12148.

Also, is 2.2.12148 not the latest version?

I don't have this issue in 2.2.12148, and no, that version is from March 2022. The current launcher version is 2.7.12 from August 2023, and this is the only supported launcher version for bugs (except 2.2.2040 for macOS 10.9 only).

Okay, weird. For some reason the Launcher update was hanging, but still opening the Launcher without updating. I did get that straightened out, and I'm now on Launcher version 2.7.12.

Can confirm bug still exists on Launcher version 2.7.12 on Garuda LInux/Cinnamon.

Once I get home I can confirm my Launcher version on my desktop and see if the bug still exist on Arch Linux/Cinnamon.

I can confirm this is still an issue with launcher v.2.12.17-1.6.2

I am on latest Ubuntu 23.04 x86_64 

Now the issue is even worse because now it just clicks on whats below the menu item, making half the launcher unusable.

Hi!

Does this issue still occur for anybody?

Yes, it does. It seems to be working no differently on my end.

Yes, still occurs for me. Fedora 39, GNOME 45.4, Wayland (through xwayland), launcher version 2.17.13 installed through flatpak. I have not changed the focus settings in GNOME Tweaks–they are still on Click to Focus. In my case, clicking the drop down instantly closes it. I can use tab to select the dropdown, and from there my mouse works to select a version.

Occurs for me on Ubuntu 23.10 and Fedora 39, on both v.2.18.2-1.8.2 and b.2.19.2-1.9.2.

Here the two videos:

(current version)

(beta)

Here the logs:

Note that the timestamps in the logs are in UTC time, while in the videos, the timezone is UTC+1.

Note that I can launch any instance from the “Installations” (in French « Configurations ») tab.

Edit: The problem only occurs under Xorg, and everything works fine in Wayland.

As of launcher version 2.22.14, the version select drop-down menu in the new experimental home page seems to work just fine on my device. All the other menus are still behaving as they were, not allowing interaction except by pressing enter or shift-/control-clicking.

My current OS is Lubuntu 22.04.04 LTS x86_64 and my window manager is Openbox. Hope this helps.

This is the menu that is working, no others that I know of:

Edit: To clarify, both this menu and its child menus are all working fine.

Same problem here MCL-24220

I have issues with dropdown menus too. Launcher: Linux 6.2.0-39-generic 2.26.2. Ubuntu 23.04 x86. To reproduce: Installations > New Installation > VERSION. The dropdown menu does not work. It immediately closes when I click on it. I am unable to select any other version than the topmost one.

Is this still an issue?