preload breaks the saved_state

It works fine here. Have you tried to enter the number ? Or to use the up/down
buttons ? Or both ? The only case where I get a difference between the entry and
the number of workspaces is after typing a number and before validating it or
changing the selected widget

Check the screenshot, the number is set. Yes, I tried the arrows too. Same
problem, it won't go below 4.

Try to reproduce it like this: Add another workspace switcher applet on the
top panel (leave the one on the bottom panel as is). Try to go below 4. It
won't go. I have since removed the bottom panel, but no cake, it won't go
below 4.

BTW, I can't go above 4 either. It's locked to 4.

What happens if you change /apps/metacity/general/num_workspaces in gconf-editor ?

I logged out and logged back in again and it now works as expected. However,
the bug still stands as it has happened and it's bound to happen to others too.

Ok. Changing the severity to minor since it's not reproducible for the moment.

It happened to me twice in a row now, so it's definitely very common. Logging
out and in again does fix the problem, I'll try to find out what might be
triggering it.
This is also a more general problem, because I also couldn't change my font size
(application font and window title font didn't work, desktop font worked,
haven't tried terminal font) or theme. The key was always changed in the gconf
database (I checked with gconf-editor), but no application picked it up, not
even if I restarted it.

So, keys which don't work (when the bug is triggered) are:
/apps/metacity/general/num_workspaces
/apps/metacity/general/titlebar_font
/desktop/gnome/interface/font_name
/desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_theme (and other theme settings)

Keys which are confirmed to still work are:
/apps/nautilus/preferences/desktop_font

I will do more testing if it happens again.
This probably doesn't help much, but this bug should not be underestimated IMO.

>/desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_theme (and other theme settings)

I had this happening to me too, once. I had to relogin to get a new theme to get activated.

Eugenia, Daniel: did this happen after you upgraded some GNOME package?
It really looks like an old gconf bug
(http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=148028). Maybe the fix was not correct...

Could be, but in any case, I only use your repositories for that stuff. I also had workspaces applet die
on me on gnome boot... Something ain't right.

BTW, your bug database comments is now *unreadable* with IE. Red background and black text!!??

Yes exactly, it always happens after an upgrade and there always seems to be
some gconf using app involved. However, it did not appear after _every_ upgrade
of a gconf app, just many. For example it just happened after the latest upgrade
which involved gnomemeeting. I can't say for sure if gnomemeeting was the only
GNOME app being upgraded, but maybe this could give a pointer.

No, it's not gnomemeeting's fault, but it is definetely gconf's. I had
some other gconf problems too, I think that it is not very reliable on
ubuntu. I have filed a seperate bug report about it.

(In reply to comment #12)
> some other gconf problems too, I think that it is not very reliable on
> ubuntu.

Stop making such comments please, gconf is not patched in ubuntu and the problem
you see are upstream ones.

Maybe so. But I never had such problems with my Slackware. But I do on
Ubuntu. I have seen weird gconf-related problems with apps that I install
too (while the same apps behave fine on other distros), e.g. a gtk2-perl
app I installed just today, it was telling me that gconfd-1 was not
currently running and it wouldn't launch if I wouldn't manually
run "gconfd" as root. The same app works fine on both Arch Linux and
Slackware. It seems that after we make the gnome desktop updates via
Synaptic the gconfd server is not relaunched? (or something?)

(In reply to comment #14)
> Maybe so. But I never had such problems with my Slackware. But I do on
> Ubuntu.

Run 'kill -s HUP `pidof gconfd-2`' 2 times on your slackware and try the desktop
switcher again.
gconf is supposed to reload the schemas database on a SIGHUP and apparently
there is a problem in there. But slackware probably doesn't use this feature.

> Slackware. It seems that after we make the gnome desktop updates via
> Synaptic the gconfd server is not relaunched? (or something?)

No, it's not, the system is not supposed to kill user's servers.

Sebastien opened a bug on b.g.o: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=153948

*** Bug 8885 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

*** Bug 9207 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

changing the title, this is an upstream bug in gconf

*** Bug 9319 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

*** Bug 9796 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

*** Bug 9972 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

This bug is really annoying, should be fixed for hoary.
Updating the bug report to reflect this.

*** Bug 7668 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

*** Bug 12077 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

 gconf2 (2.9.91-0ubuntu1) hoary; urgency=low
 .
   * New upstream release:
     - fix daemon reloading causing listeners to break (Hoary: #1320).

*** Bug 12316 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

I have the same problem on Edgy. After I installed preload the number of virtual desktops reduced from 10 to 4.