Description of Problem: When a query box for the root password is present, the alt-tab keybinding doesn't work. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): Null Beta - 7.3.94 How Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. From the Gnome menu, select any app that requires the root password. 2. Let the "password required" box pop up, but don't type in the root password 3. Try switching windows via alt-tab with that box present. 4. Once you've entered the root password, the functionality is restored. Actual Results: It just doesn't work. The problem is the focus will still switch to another window if the mouse is over that window, and you can't alt-tab back to the password window. So you end up shading/minimizing one or more windows in order to get back to the password window. Expected Results: Alt-tab should always switch between windows. Additional Information: If the password query box always stayed above the other windows this wouldn't be an issue, but it behaves like any other window (and loses focus when the mouse isn't over it). Unfortunately if you're selecting an item from the Gnome menu, the query box is not likely to come up under your mouse - so it gets buried almost immediately. I'm using focus-follows-mouse, not click-to-focus (I guess that's obvious).
The problem here is that the password dialog is trying to be "system modal" for security reasons by just grabbing the pointer, but grabbing the pointer is not sufficient really to get a system modal dialog that behaves properly. I suppose you would need a window manager feature such as http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=83357 My personal feeling is that the security issue here is bogus anyway, but if no one buys that, we need to add the metacity feature. Assigning to Nalin mostly because he doesn't read his bugzilla spam and won't notice otherwise. ;-)
*** Bug 73247 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
The usermode-gtk dialog now stays always on top of the other windows so even if someone change focus to some other window and start typing, the user sees that he's actually typing a password in the usermode-gtk window instead of the one that is focused.