Bug 1290448

Description of problem:
We have set a specific monitor layout in xorg.conf with 4 displays using Nvidia's metamodes (see attached xorg.conf). If you just start the Xorg process the monitor layout is correct. In this particular case monitor 1+3 are overlapped and 2+4 are overlapped. When gnome-shell is started and the gnome-settings-daemon runs, it changes the orientation around (lining up the displays). This occurs on a fresh installation where no user has ever logged in, so the login screen layout is not correct.  See the layout changing in the Xorg.0.log file. 

I have tried creating a monitors.xml file (see attached) and placing it in /var/lib/gdm/.config and this corrects the login screen, but once a user logs in the layout is once again changed. 

Where can I set a default layout or how can I get gnome-settings-daemon xrandr to stop changing the layout defined in xorg.conf? I've tried placing a monitors.xml file in /etc/gnome-settings-daemon/xrandr but that had no affect.

On a related note, the gnome-control-center display settings applet does not support overlapping displays (i.e. cloning groups of displays). It only allows cloning all displays. There are cases were we need to clone only certain displays. Can you create an RFE for this feature?


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

gnome-settings-daemon-3.14.4-9.el7

How reproducible:
RHEL 7.2  with Nvidia Quadro M5000/M6000 and driver 352.63 with 4 displays attached over display port.

Steps to Reproduce:
1.
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Actual results:
I tried changing the default to /etc/gnome-settings-daemon/monitors.xml and
placing the file there but that didn't help. If I copy the same
monitors.xml file to ~/.config/monitors.xml then my layout is correct, but
that's not something we can do in general for users.

Expected results:
CU has a specific monitor layout in xorg.conf with 4 displays using Nvidia's metamodes (see attached xorg.conf). If you just start the Xorg process the monitor layout is correct. In this particular case monitor 1+3 are overlapped and 2+4 are overlapped. When gnome-shell is started and the gnome-settings-daemon runs, it changes the orientation around (lining up the displays). This occurs on a fresh installation where no user has ever logged in, so the login screen layout is not correct.

They have tried placing a monitors.xml file in /etc/gnome-settings-daemon/xrandr but seems to work sometimes and other times not, it's inconsistent.

Where can they set a default layout or how can they get gnome-settings-daemon xrandr to stop changing the layout defined in xorg.conf? 


Additional info:
I did some more testing, and it appear that some times it reads the default from /etc/gnome-settings-daemon/xrandr/monitors.xml and some times it doesn't, but even when it does the geometry of the workspace is set to the equivalent of the 4 linear displays (or some times 3) even though 2 of the displays are overlapping so you end up with a large panning area.  It seems very inconsistent. 

If we can get this working correctly I'd be happy, but at the same time, requiring a monitors.xml makes is more difficult to set up a default if it is going to depend on specific monitors and serial numbers as hardware gets swapped in and out on a regular basis. I'd much rather it honor the layout defined in xorg.conf.