How do I keep a program from always opening in "always-on-top" mode? [closed]
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1564533/how-do-i-keep-a-program-from-always-opening-in-always-on-top-modeI'm using KeePassXC 2.6.6 on Ubuntu 22.04 Cinnamon.
For the past 6 months or so, when I first start KeePassXC its window always starts in the "Always on top" mode. It blocks other windows until I right-click its title bar and uncheck "Always on top" in its context menu. This is obnoxious, and I want it to stop.
A web search gives nothing but this, Change default "Always on top" setting for a specific application, which has no useful information.
I turn to ChatGPT.
First it suggests checking global window rules in the system settings. Open Menu > Preferences > Windows.
There is nothing here about new windows always being on top, and it only happens with the one program. This is a dead end.
The next step is to check the window state in Muffin. Muffin is Cinnamon's window manager.
First, I try to check for a global Muffin setting /org/cinnamon/muffin/always-on-top. This does not exist, however.
$ dconf read /org/cinnamon/muffin/always-on-top
{no output}
That's not unexpected. Since this happens with only one program, it's unlikely to be a global setting.
Now we check for per-application window states being remembered by Muffin.
I check the following places in order, but they don't exist on my system.
~/.config/cinnamon/window-state.json(~/.config/cinnamon/does not exist)~/.config/cinnamon/spices/*.json(~/.config/cinnamon/does not exist)~/.config/muffin/(This whole directory does not exist)
Now we check to see if that rule is stored in dconf, instead.
First, the muffin/ subcategory.
$ dconf list /org/cinnamon/muffin/
attach-modal-dialogs
resize-threshold
workspace-cycle
Nothing about windows being always-on-top there.
Check the whole Cinnamon subcategory.
$ dconf list /org/cinnamon/
alttab-switcher-delay
cinnamon-session/
command-history
desktop/
enabled-applets
launcher/
muffin/
next-applet-id
panel-edit-mode
panel-zone-icon-sizes
panel-zone-symbolic-icon-sizes
panel-zone-text-sizes
panels-height
settings-daemon/
show-media-keys-osd
workspace-expo-view-as-grid
Nothing obvious there. Maybe the desktop window manager subcategory.
$ dconf read /org/cinnamon/desktop/wm/preferences/
/org/cinnamon/desktop/wm/preferences/focus-mode
/org/cinnamon/desktop/wm/preferences/min-window-opacity
Nothing there. Dead end.
- Check to see if it's actually Compiz. I have neither Muffin nor Compiz processes:
$ ps aux | grep -E 'muffin|compiz' | grep -v grep
{no output}
So it doesn't appear to be a system setting of any kind, global or application-specific.
Our next guess is that the application itself, in this case KeePassXC, is specifically requesting to be always-on-top.
I run $ xprop | grep ABOVE; the cursor turns into a crosshair. I click on KeePassXC.
It returns this:
$ xprop | grep ABOVE
_NET_WM_ALLOWED_ACTIONS(ATOM) = _NET_WM_ACTION_MOVE, _NET_WM_ACTION_RESIZE, _NET_WM_ACTION_FULLSCREEN, _NET_WM_ACTION_MINIMIZE, _NET_WM_ACTION_SHADE, _NET_WM_ACTION_MAXIMIZE_HORZ, _NET_WM_ACTION_MAXIMIZE_VERT, _NET_WM_ACTION_CHANGE_DESKTOP, _NET_WM_ACTION_CLOSE, _NET_WM_ACTION_ABOVE, _NET_WM_ACTION_BELOW
Evidently I'm looking for the _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE directive, which I guess indicates the application is requesting always-on-top. It isn't there.
ChatGPT concludes that KeePassXC itself is requesting the stay-on-top flag at startup via Qt, not via X11 hints.
There are no internal KeePassXC settings that control this in any obvious manner. The KeePassXC configuration at ~/.config/keepassxc/keepassxc.ini has no content with any bearing on an always-on-top setting.
I'm not sure what else I can do. I'm still not even certain if this is a Linux problem or a KeePassXC problem. This behavior just started within the past few months. I'm certain it didn't used to do that. This is KeePassXC. How do I get KeePassXC to stop opening itself always-on-top?
