clicks on Activities ignored with windowed Citrix Workspace App at Microsoft Windows logon mask
I encountered a strange behaviour with GNOME and the non-free software "Citrix Workspace App" (https://www.citrix.com/downloads/workspace-app/ ; I abbreviate it as CWA). 15 months ago I reported the issue to the IT team that manages the Citrix environment I use. Today their Citrix and GNU/Linux specialist told me they need help in investigation/debugging. Maybe it is a bug in CWA, maybe a bug in a GNOME software.
Affected version
GNOME 40.3-1 (Xorg) Fedora 34
The problem:
- does not happen in Wayland session
- happens in Xorg session (I must use Xorg session, else the remote support program AnyDesk does not work)
- can be reproduced on (tried other CWA versions too):
- Ubuntu 18.04 with CWA 21.01
- Fedora 30 with CWA 19.12
- Fedora 32 with CWA 20.04 and 21.01
- Fedora 34 with CWA 20.10 and 21.08 (I remain at CWA 20.10 due to a different CWA bug)
Bug summary
Switching the CWA window at Microsoft Windows logon mask to windowed mode, clicks on Activities button are ignored. Fedora 30's GNOME got stuck till CWA window was closed by timeout after a minute OR you ran killall wfica
on a TTY. Fedora 32's and 34's GNOME does not get stuck, but clicks on Activities are ignored if CWA window has focus.
Use case is: user starts logging in to Citrix environment, but realizes that a video conference must be started immediately. Video conference does not work in Citrix environment, only on local computer. Hence user must quickly switch to a different browser for video conferencing by clicking on Activities, but wants to keep the CWA window open to finish logon.
Steps to reproduce
(I do not have access to a token-less Citrix environment)
- plug USB crypto token into USB port of computer
- log in to GNOME Xorg session
- start Firefox and open Citrix StoreFront website https://XXX.YY.ZZZ.de (redacted URL); the single item in Citrix store is opened, i.e. ICA file downloaded and opened by CWA
/opt/Citrix/ICAClient/wfica
- wait till you can see in the CWA window the Microsoft Windows logon mask that asks for the token PIN ; do not enter a PIN
- switch the CWA window from full-screen mode to windowed mode (by expanding Citrix panel at the top in the middle and click on [window])
- you can see the GNOME panel at the top and the windowed CWA window has focus
What happened
- clicking on Activities in upper left corner when CWA window has focus: no reaction
- moving CWA window around by click-drag title bar: sometimes not possible, i.e. the window does not move
Observed behaviour that is good:
- pressing left Super (Windows) key when CWA window has focus: opens overview mode
- clicking on time in the top middle: opens pop-up menu
- clicking on settings icons in upper right corner: opens pop-up menu
- switching to a different window (was opened before start of CWA window): works
- clicking on Applications in upper left corner when a different window (non-CWA window) has focus: opens overview mode
What did you expect to happen
- clicking on Activities in upper left corner when CWA window has focus: open overview mode
- moving CWA window around by click-drag title bar: the window can be moved
Relevant logs, screenshots, screencasts etc.
None, yet. Let me know if you need it.
Workarounds
So clicks on Activities are registered even if CWA window has focus:
- switch CWA window from windowed mode to full-screen mode; wait a second; switch mode again
- (works only sometimes) change size of CWA window at its border with mouse button window resizing