(In reply to David Jaša from comment #0)
> Description of problem:
> When "Alternatetab" extension is not active (so alt-tab works "the gnome 3
> way"), org.gnome.shell.window-switcher.current-workspace-only dconf key has
> no effect so user can not limit the windows in alt-tab switcher to current
> desktop.

That is because the default alt-tab switcher is an *app* switcher, not a *window* switcher.


> Newer versions of gnome 3 (such as 3.10 in F20) don't behave that way, when
> the key is set to true, alt-tab only shows windows from current desktop.

No, the app switcher does not take the window-switcher setting into account with any version. Newer versions added a separate app-switcher setting (see https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=703538) though - I'd be happy to backport that change, but the proposal to use an unrelated setting does not make any sense to me.

On my RHEL7.1 box with gnome-shell-3.8.4-45.el7 installed, the org.gnome.shell.window-switcher.current-workspace-only dconf key is TRUE by default. 

Running: # gnome-shell-extension-tool -d Alternatetab

Yields: 'Alternatetab' is not enabled or installed. 

I can still alt-tab between windows/apps in different workspaces. I tried testing this on F20 as well with the exact same results. Am I missing something?

(In reply to Michael Boisvert from comment #3)
> On my RHEL7.1 box with gnome-shell-3.8.4-45.el7 installed, the
> org.gnome.shell.window-switcher.current-workspace-only dconf key is TRUE by
> default. 
> 
> Running: # gnome-shell-extension-tool -d Alternatetab
> 
> Yields: 'Alternatetab' is not enabled or installed.

gnome-shell-extension-tool is not very smart - it needs the exact UUID, not an approximation. In case of the AlternateTab extension, that's 'alternate-tab.github.com'.
 

> I can still alt-tab between windows/apps in different workspaces. I tried
> testing this on F20 as well with the exact same results. Am I missing
> something?

There are two different popups:
  - the application switcher, that groups windows by app
    (default alt-tab popup in the normal gnome session,
     on all workspaces by default)

  - the window switcher, that does not group windows
    (default alt-tab popup in gnome-classic, only on the
     current workspace by default)

Both popups allow to tweak the workspace behavior, but using different keys: org.gnome.shell.window-switcher.current-workspace-only in case of the window switcher, and org.gnome.shell.app-switcher.current-workspace-only in case of the app switcher.

RHEL 7.1 behaves the way I requested for quite some time already - even though I use "normal gnome session" and the key for app switcher is not defined:

$ dconf read /org/gnome/shell/app-switcher/current-workspace-only
$

The behaviour doesn't change when I override the value manually with:
$ dconf write /org/gnome/shell/app-switcher/current-workspace-only (false|true)

(In reply to David Jaša from comment #6)
> RHEL 7.1 behaves the way I requested for quite some time already - even
> though I use "normal gnome session" and the key for app switcher is not
> defined:
> 
> $ dconf read /org/gnome/shell/app-switcher/current-workspace-only
> $

If you use dconf instead of gsettings, no return value does not necessarily mean that the value is undefined, as the tool only considers the user DB and does not fall back to the default value as defined in the GSettings schema.

Does
  $ gsettings get org.gnome.shell.app-switcher current-workspace-only
show any output?


> The behaviour doesn't change when I override the value manually with:
> $ dconf write /org/gnome/shell/app-switcher/current-workspace-only
> (false|true)

That is odd - what's the output of
  $ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-windows
  $ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-applications

(In reply to Florian Müllner from comment #7)
> (In reply to David Jaša from comment #6)
> > RHEL 7.1 behaves the way I requested for quite some time already - even
> > though I use "normal gnome session" and the key for app switcher is not
> > defined:
> > 
> > $ dconf read /org/gnome/shell/app-switcher/current-workspace-only
> > $
> 
> If you use dconf instead of gsettings, no return value does not necessarily
> mean that the value is undefined, as the tool only considers the user DB and
> does not fall back to the default value as defined in the GSettings schema.

ok, thanks for the info.

> 
> Does
>   $ gsettings get org.gnome.shell.app-switcher current-workspace-only
> show any output?

$ gsettings get org.gnome.shell.app-switcher current-workspace-only
false

> 
> 
> > The behaviour doesn't change when I override the value manually with:
> > $ dconf write /org/gnome/shell/app-switcher/current-workspace-only
> > (false|true)
> 
> That is odd - what's the output of
>   $ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-windows

$ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-windows
@as []

>   $ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-applications

$ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-applications
['<Super>Tab', '<Alt>Tab']

The "org.gnome.shell.app-switcher" key is supported and works correctly in GNOME-3.14.

Correction:  I meant "org.gnome.shell.app-switcher.current-workspace-only"

Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.

For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.

If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2015-2216.html