Re: [dev] [dwm] Window focus problems

From: Ricardson <r1w1s1_AT_fastmail.com>
Date: Tue, 05 May 2026 18:01:28 -0300

Hi,

These look like two unrelated issues. Some thoughts and
diagnostics below.

> quasselclient window is always on top of all other windows

This is almost certainly Quassel itself, not dwm. Quassel has an
"always on top" option that asserts _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE, which
dwm honors via updatewindowtype(). To confirm:

    xprop _NET_WM_STATE

and click the quasselclient window. If _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE is
listed, toggle the setting in Quassel (tray menu or
~/.config/quassel-irc.org/quasselclient.conf) and it should go
away.

> with 2 monitors, if I switch with mod1-,/. to the other screen
> [...] the mouse will pull the focus back

This one is more interesting. My guess: focusmon on an empty
monitor lands input focus on the root window (focus(NULL) finds
no client to focus). Shortly after, an EnterNotify is delivered
for the window under the pointer on the other monitor, and
enternotify() sees m != selmon and yanks selmon back. That would
explain the asymmetry you describe -- dwm keybindings still act
on the "new" selmon briefly, but X input focus has reverted, so
typing goes to the pointed-at window.

The timing (after the xorg-server 21.1.21 / xf86-input-libinput
1.5.0 update) is suggestive -- enter event delivery semantics
have shifted there before.

A couple of things that would help confirm:

1. Run xev over the previously-focused window and press mod1-,
   to the empty monitor. Is an EnterNotify delivered right after
   the switch?

2. As a quick test, stub out the body of enternotify() (just
   return immediately), rebuild dwm, and see if the pull-back
   disappears. If it does, the diagnosis holds and the real fix
   would be a guard in enternotify() -- e.g. ignoring synthetic
   enters where the pointer hasn't actually moved since the last
   keyboard event.

3. Worth checking dmesg / Xorg.0.log for anything libinput-
   related around the same time.

Hope that helps narrow it down.

----
Kind regards,
Ricardson (r1w1s1)
On Mon, May 4, 2026, at 8:40 AM, Jernej Jakob wrote:
> I'm having 2 window focus problems that started recently:
>
> - quasselclient window is always on top of all other windows
>
>   When I put quasselclient and any other window on the same tag,
>   quasselclient is always on top in monocle or floating layout.
>   I can move it to the side and then focus and input to the window
>   underneath it fine
>
> - with 2 monitors, if I switch with mod1-,/. to the other screen than
>   where the mouse pointer is, and the screen and tag currently focused
>   has no window, the mouse will pull the focus back to the other
>   screen's window without changing the focused window/tag, so typing
>   on the keyboard will go into the window underneath the mouse pointer,
>   but any dwm command (say mod1-p for dmenu) will go to the focused
>   screen/tag as it should.
>
>   For example: say the mouse pointer is currently on the right screen
>   above a st window which is currently focused, and the left screen is
>   on a tag that has no windows. I press mod1-, to focus the left
>   screen. The focused screen switches and the previously focused st
>   window on the right screen loses focus, but in a fraction of a
>   second, it regains focus. Typing anything other than a dwm command
>   will go into the st window on the right screen, while the left screen
>   is still focused. 
>
> I have no patches applied.
>
> I can't point to a particular thing that could have caused them, as I only
> noticed after a reboot which restarted the X session.
>
> My recent x11-* merge history:
>
>      Wed Feb 11 14:31:47 2026 >>> x11-base/xorg-proto-2025.1
>      Wed Feb 11 14:35:59 2026 >>> x11-libs/libxkbcommon-1.13.1
>      Wed Feb 11 14:40:47 2026 >>> x11-apps/xkbcomp-1.5.0-r1
>      Wed Feb 11 14:41:46 2026 >>> x11-apps/xauth-1.1.5
>      Wed Feb 11 14:42:25 2026 >>> x11-libs/libdrm-2.4.131
>      Wed Feb 11 14:57:06 2026 >>> x11-wm/dwm-6.8
>      Wed Feb 11 14:59:16 2026 >>> x11-base/xorg-server-21.1.21
>      Wed Feb 11 14:59:45 2026 >>> x11-drivers/xf86-input-libinput-1.5.0
>      Thu Feb 12 09:25:35 2026 >>> x11-wm/dwm-6.8
>      Wed Feb 25 03:41:49 2026 >>> x11-libs/vte-0.80.4-r1
>      Wed Mar  4 04:41:42 2026 >>> x11-apps/xkbcomp-1.5.0-r2
>      Sat Mar 21 21:27:24 2026 >>> x11-libs/libpciaccess-0.18.1
>      Sun Mar 22 01:04:17 2026 >>> x11-libs/wxGTK-3.2.8.1-r2
>      Sun Apr  5 00:41:57 2026 >>> x11-misc/compose-tables-1.8.13
>      Sun Apr  5 00:42:46 2026 >>> x11-libs/libX11-1.8.13
>      Sun Apr  5 00:43:05 2026 >>> x11-libs/libXext-1.3.7
>      Sun Apr  5 00:43:25 2026 >>> x11-libs/libXmu-1.3.1
>      Sun Apr  5 00:43:46 2026 >>> x11-libs/libXpm-3.5.18
>      Sun Apr  5 00:48:30 2026 >>> x11-libs/libXrandr-1.5.5
>      Sun Apr  5 00:48:57 2026 >>> x11-libs/libXinerama-1.1.6
>      Sun Apr  5 00:49:09 2026 >>> x11-libs/libXdamage-1.1.7
>      Sun Apr  5 00:49:44 2026 >>> x11-libs/libXcomposite-0.4.7
>      Sun Apr  5 00:49:56 2026 >>> x11-libs/libXxf86vm-1.1.7
>      Sun Apr  5 00:50:10 2026 >>> x11-libs/libxkbfile-1.2.0
>      Sun Apr  5 00:50:22 2026 >>> x11-libs/libfontenc-1.1.9
>      Sun Apr  5 01:01:05 2026 >>> x11-misc/xkeyboard-config-2.47
>      Tue Apr 21 20:31:55 2026 >>> x11-apps/xdpyinfo-1.4.0
>      Tue Apr 21 21:03:29 2026 >>> x11-libs/libnotify-0.8.7
>      Tue Apr 21 21:03:50 2026 >>> x11-misc/xdg-utils-1.2.1-r10
>      Tue Apr 21 21:33:21 2026 >>> x11-libs/wxGTK-3.2.8.1-r2
>      Sun Apr 26 02:01:27 2026 >>> x11-misc/xdotool-4.20260303.1

Received on Tue May 05 2026 - 23:01:28 CEST