[Dapper LiveCD Beta2] conky flickers

some more output... without a .conkyrc file, it doesn't flicker. even if I copy the conkyrc.sample from inside /usr/share/doc/conky/examples/conkyrc.sample.gz it still flickers.

What conkyrc does it use when user has no .conkyrc in ~/ ? I should be able to find what's causing the flickering by checking its default conf file and the ones I used (including the sample one).

Will change severity to major as this makes conky unusable. Please correct me if this is not the way to go.

here's the workaround, which does NOT resolve this bug:
1. open /etc/X11/xorg.conf
2. add this line
 Load "dbe"
so it looks like this:
Section "Module"
        Load "i2c"
        Load "bitmap"
        Load "ddc"
        Load "dri"
        Load "extmod"
        Load "freetype"
        Load "glx"
        Load "int10"
        Load "type1"
        Load "vbe"
        Load "dbe"
EndSection

--note: your section may be different

3. Restart gnome/X
In Dapper LiveCD Beta2, I couldn't stop X with
$sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
so I ended up doing
$ sudo killall gdm
and start X again with
$ startx

Just to repeat myself, this doesn't solve this bug in conky, this is just a workaround.

Adding the 'Load "dbe"' line to /etc/X11/xorg.conf does not solve the problem for you? This is what I needed to do in order for conky (and X) to be able to use double buffering on my machine, and I never assumed that this process was a workaround to a bug in either conky or any other software. Conky does not have to be ran in double-buffering mode (in fact I think it defaults to a single buffer). Are you requesting that by running conky in double-buffer mode the application automatically adds the above line to the xorg.conf file and then asks you to restart X before working?

I may be mistaken about the "dbe" module, but I believe that it depends somewhat on the driver you are using as to whether this module even works. I know that I have had differing amounts of success with this option (and by extenstion the double-buffering in Conky) depending on what video driver I'm using.

> Adding the 'Load "dbe"' line to /etc/X11/xorg.conf does not solve the
> problem for you?

it does solve the problem. but it's a workaround, not a fix. that was my way of saying: "don't close this bug just bc I'm giving the workaround"...

> Are you requesting that by running conky in double-buffer mode (...)

I'm not sure what I'm asking -to be honest. dbe works with me with the ati driver, never tried others... "restarting X with adding option" would be weird, to say the least.

if I could compare conky's default configuration file (the one when ~/ has no .conkyrc) with mine, I could offer something, but I don't know where it is and I can't find it...

What if we put this info as a comment inside the /usr/share/doc/conky/examples/conkyrc.sample.gz/conkyrc.sample where it says "double-buffering"? Something like "for this to work, you need to do this and that..."?

another solution would be to enable dbe when a supported hardware/driver/module is being used. I saw distributions enabling this option by default though.

I confirm this problem, as well as the posted workaround.

Seems the most intuitive solution would just be to have Xdbe loaded by default in xorg.conf, though I guess that'd be under the control of a different team..

What if you add this line to Xorg.conf:

# Load "dbe" #Uncomment this line if conky is flickering

This would help people locate the workaround easier (it's a little hidden in Google) as well as solve possible incompatibility problems.

PS. I guess we can change the "Status" now?
PSS. I still could not locate conky's default conf file (as I mentioned in a previous message). I would appreciate if anyone has any ideas.

Conky 1.4.2-1

I also have excatly the same problem with conky, I have changed my xorg.conf and added

Load "dbe"

I keep losing focus of current working window due to flickering

> I also have excatly the same problem with conky

someone can confirm this bug know.

I would assume this bug's status should be "In Progress" since we know what causes the problem (not including the dbe module in /etc/X11/xorg.conf by default), and adding the module manually solves the problem in all known cases. Now all that is needed is for someone to decide what happens next (I'm not the one to do any of these things listed below, and I don't know who that person is):
1.the conky man page needs to be updated with information on manually adding this module to /etc/X11/xorg.conf
2.the conky install does this automatically
3.someone with xorg decides that this module should be added automatically during their initial configuration.

assigning to MOTU in the hopes that one of lst commenter's proposals are adopted (or sent upstream). -personally, I'd vote for adding the info to the man page.

Is this still a problem in 7.04?

I can vouch for the issue on Feisty (7.04), base install. The workaround takes care of it, although I haven't found a way for conky to peacefully coexist with Nautilus desktop icons.

The conky faq (http://conky.sourceforge.net/faq.html) complains that Ubuntu developers are inattentive, and the conky packages distributed with Ubuntu are old... however, the version shipped with Feisty is the same as the version currently listed on the site (1.4.5).

I filed a bug upstream for the Ubuntu bashing in their FAQ :)

I see this problem in Kubuntu 7.04.

Not sure if this workaround is Gnome specific?

The workaround in Kubuntu 7.04 (adding "dbe") works but this also hides your desktop icons. A better solution is needed.

using the workaround above and also adding these to the conky configuration file seems to at least solved the flickering for me.

own_window yes
own_window_type desktop

Not a bug.