[Pkg-xfce-devel] Bug#826187: Fwd: xfce4 second monitor does not wake up after suspend, with kernel 4.5.0-1 or 4.5.0-2

[David L. Johnson]

Package: xfce4
Version: 4.12.3


BTW:  I tried to report this with reportbug, but it could not connect
with my e-mail server and I lost all of that data.  I am trying again.

The situation is this.  I have a dual-monitor system (gigabite brix i3,
GB-BXi3-4010) with debian testing  (amd64) and xfce4 4.12.  Upon initial
installation, the second monitor worked perfectly, somewhat to my
surprise.  This new machine has been the easiest by far of all machines
I have installed debian on.  However, with an upgrade that moved the
kernel from 4.3.0-1 to 4.5.0-1 and now 4.5.0-2 (current as of 5/31/16), the second monitor does
not wake up after a suspend or when xscreensaver kicks in.  The second
monitor is connected via a mini-dp port, the primary monitor is hdmi.  I
only have one hdmi port.

Booting with the old 4.3.-1 kernel solves the problem, but the 4.5
kernels do seem to be faster, and I want to stay current with debian
testing.  Setting the option "configure new screens when connected" in
the xfce4 screen dialog box gives me a window in the one functioning
monitor that allows me to choose two monitors, and, after several clicks
on that choice (4 or 5), will start the second monitor and return
everything to normal.  But this should be fixed.

I reported this bug to the xfce4 website, and was told to try a patch,
but that would require building the gui package from source, and would
be outside of the debian packaging system, which in my experience
creates more problems than it solves.  I am hoping for a patched xfce4
package.  The relevant thread is
https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11627, which referred me back
to their bug #11107.  I did not try that patch, since it would involve
re-building of the whole xfce4 suite, which would most likely break
something else and which would no longer be in sync with my otherwise
completely debian system.

xfce4 version is current, 4.12, system is current debian testing (last updated 5/31/16), with
kernel 4.5.0-2, but this occurred with 4.5.0-1 as well, and was reported
to xfce folks as also being a problem with kernel 4.4.* as the bug
report I mentioned states.

Currently the work-around I have found using the nonstandard xfce4
setting to find new monitors will work, but without it the system seems
to not even recognize the second monitor.  Asking it to look for the
second monitor several times will also work; this "configure new
displays" option just makes that a little easier. Let me be clear about
one thing:  I do not want to go to the gnome gui system.  Previous
machines used that, and when it switched to the newer version (gnome-3 I
believe) it was so horrible I went out of my way to eliminate all gnome
programs.  This machine is gnome-free, and I want to keep it that way.

Sorry to report this outside of reportbug, but I clearly did not get it
configured correctly with my e-mail server (which is tls-protected) and,
frankly, I don't want to go through the installation again after losing
my entire bug report when it could not connect to the e-mail server.

Here is the output of dpkg --status xfce4:

Package: xfce4
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: xfce
Installed-Size: 16
Maintainer: Debian Xfce Maintainers <pkg-xfce-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org>
Architecture: all
Version: 4.12.3
Depends: xfwm4 (>= 4.12.0), xfconf (>= 4.12.0), xfce4-settings (>= 4.12.0), xfce4-panel (>= 4.12.0), xfdesktop4 (>= 4.12.0), thunar (>= 1.6.6), gtk2-engines-xfce (>= 3.2.0), xfce4-session (>= 4.12.0), xfce4-appfinder (>= 4.12.0), xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin, orage (>= 4.12.0), libxfce4ui-utils (>= 4.12)
Recommends: xorg, desktop-base (>= 5.0.4), thunar-volman (>= 0.8.1), tango-icon-theme (>= 0.8.90), xfce4-notifyd
Suggests: xfce4-goodies, xfce4-power-manager (>= 1.4.0), gtk3-engines-xfce (>= 3.2.0)
Description: Meta-package for the Xfce Lightweight Desktop Environment
  Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for unix-like operating systems.
  It aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and
  easy to use.  Designed for productivity, it loads and executes applications
  fast, while conserving system resources.
  .
  This package is a metapackage;  it depends on the core packages of the
  Xfce4 desktop environment and recommends some extra Xfce4 packages.  If you
  intend to use Xfce4 and want the full experience then installing this
  package and the packages it Recommends is a great place to start.
  If you just want to pick and choose the core components then feel free to
  remove this package.

-- 

David L. Johnson
Department of Mathematics
Lehigh University