Bug 989242

The only time I have seen this in the past is when xfwm4 crashes, you logout and save the session without xfwm4 in it. However if this was the case you would not be able to move windows around or see any decorations of them, etc. 

Are you seeing anything like that? Or everything is normal except for the number of workspaces?

Nothing at all.  And I agree that it doesn't make any sense.  There is no crash happening at all.  The system shuts down when I want it to, and it comes back up when I turn the computer on.  No problems.

Every time I boot up and log onto the desktop, everything looks fine.  But when I move my mouse to the panel where the Workspace Swicher is, it sometimes shows only one workspace available.  I then right-click on that and select Workspace Settings to change it back as it should be.  And that function works correctly as well.

My assumptions on this is that something does not save settings on exit, and/or the installation of Compiz causes this to happen.  Keep in mind that Compiz does work correctly for me, so I do not use it.  But my best recollection is that this problem cropped up when first Compiz was installed from yumex.

I will now uninstall it and see if the problem reoccurs over the next week or so.  Then I will report back here with the results.

However, Xfce should never allow another app to change its settings regardless.  And that is what is bothering me.

Thanks.

I completely agree. ;) 

Does: 

xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/workspace_count

show the number of workspaces you set? 
If you logout (saving session) and then run the query again, does it start showing 1?

I had removed compiz from the system.  After a couple reboots, the workspaces were set to 1 again.

At that time, your command returned a 1.  After changing the workspaces back to 6, I rebooted and ran the command again and got 6.

I do not save sessions on logout or restart because I want a fresh environment each time, and I don't want odd processes to be hanging around from the last time.

But at least we know it is not compiz.

I just was involved in trying to get the kernel to see my scanner.  During the process, the system completely froze and required a computer reset.

Upon reboot, the environment was back to 1 workspace.

Evidently, the settings are not saved when set.  That is even more serious.  One does not want the settings to be saved only on shutdown or logout, since anything may happen to mess that up.

I know that Mozilla apps automaticaly save as they go, so system crashes never affect them.  Xfce should do the same.

Settings are saved when made. ;) 

There is something else going on here... I will try and see if I can track it down.

What can I do to help?

I am now finding that it is happening most of the time, if that helps at all.  Maybe 80%.

Looks like it might be this upstream bug: 

https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7757

(not that there are any answers there). 

Some things to try to help isolate it: 

1. If you create a brand new user, login as them and set workspaces and logout and back on several times, does it keep them ok?

2. Can you attach your ~/.xsession-errors file from a session where it dropped back to 1 on your current user? Perhaps something will stand out there.

Created attachment 782118 [details]
.xsession-errors file as requested

Thank you.  Please find file attached.  I will report on the other after I try it.

I must report that I haven't a clue as to how to add another user.  There was nothing available at the logon screen and there was nothing in xfce settings either.

http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/18/html-single/System_Administrators_Guide/index.html#ch-Managing_Users_and_Groups

should have details. There's a gui tool, although I personally use the command line ones.

I thought Xfce had a gui for that.

Not that I know of.

Bummer.

Anyway, I found system-config-users that does the job.  It is also called Users and Groups under the Administration menu.

So I got a new one set up and will report back.

Okay, I have been able to address the test in comment 9, number 1.

It opened to the Xfce desktop to a setting of 4 workspaces.  I changed it to 3 and logged out and in several times.  I also shut down and logged back in.  No change occurred.

However, on my main desktop, the settings haven't changed in a couple days.  So who can tell what is sgoing on.  I sure can't.

There is a choice on exit that has a checkbox whether or not a person wants to save the session for next time.  I usually set this to unchecked because I always want a fresh start.  Does this have anything to do with it?

Thanks.

Just an update.

I was able to see it happening on my regular logon again.  I then logged off and logged on as the test user.  That one was okay and as it should be.

That would seem to indicate something with my everyday logon environment, but I am at a loss as to how to figure it out.

Thanks.

I've poked the upstream bug as well, hopefully someone there can see whats going on.

Thanks, Kevin.  I really appreciate your efforts.

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