Bug 129442

Summary:	Matlab with Java-GUI ZOOM on 2D plots problems only under KDE in SuSE
Product:	[openSUSE] SUSE LINUX 10.0	Reporter:	Darek Borkowski <borkows>
Component:	KDE	Assignee:	E-mail List <kde-maintainers>
Status:	RESOLVED WONTFIX	QA Contact:	E-mail List <qa-bugs>
Severity:	Normal
Priority:	P5 - None
Version:	Final
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	i686
OS:	SuSE Linux 10.0
Whiteboard:
Found By:	Other	Services Priority:
Business Priority:		Blocker:	---
Marketing QA Status:	---	IT Deployment:	---
Attachments:	motif and java matlab figures comparison

Description Darek Borkowski 2005-10-19 17:08:30 UTC

There is a strange problem with matlab release 14 (7.0 to 7.1 also with service 
packs 1, 2, 3) under Suse Linux from 9.2 to 10.0. When matlab ise used with Java 
GUI (typical situation) under KDE session in SuSE the tools for zooming break on 
complicated plots. It means that ZOOMIN functions (icon) swap with ZOOMOUT 
function (also icon) but it would be no problem. The biggest problem that you 
cannot use rectangular selection for ZOOMIN on plots. The only solution is to 
close such window and plot it again.

This ONLY appears in SuSE and unde KDE.
Matlab has only Java-GUI and comes with its own Java Runtime Environment. The 
Figures with plots use no Java they use motif, because it is possible to run 
matlab in text mode (matlab -nojvm) and get figures with plots using plot 
function. So these windows do not use java.
The problem does not exist in other window managers: Gnome, Blackbox.
The problem does not exist in text mode of Matlab (matlab -nojvm).
The problem does not exist on other linux distribution (Gentoo 64, Debian, 
Fedora Core).
In 3 above situations ZOOM tools work properly.

Comment 1 Stephan Kulow 2005-10-19 17:19:52 UTC

thanks for reporting. But Matlab isn't our product, we can't fix anything that we don't have the code of. And we do not support Matlab explicitly.

Comment 2 Dirk Mueller 2005-10-19 19:17:13 UTC

this more sounds like a kwin interaction problem.. perhaps lubos knows something.

Comment 3 Darek Borkowski 2005-10-20 11:10:25 UTC

Created attachment 54907 [details]
motif and java matlab figures comparison

Left top is figure drawn using motif,
right top is drawn using java GUI of matlab.

Comment 4 Darek Borkowski 2005-10-20 11:11:46 UTC

I found that when matlab is started in text mode (in konsole using "matlab -nojvm") the figure windows ared drawn using motif. When matlab is started with GUI (in konsole using "matlab" command) the figure windows are drawn using Java. 
Now I'm sure about it, because of different look (screenshot of both sent in attachment: left figure is motif, right one is java). Moreover there are some function in figure menu which are unavailable without java.
Matlab (recently versions it is thos wha I'm using) comes with Sun Java JRE in version 1.5.0. The problems are on the joining-ppoint of java and kwin3. I think that kwin and/or java improperly reports mouse actions to the matlab kernel.

Comment 5 Darek Borkowski 2005-10-21 22:54:54 UTC

I did some tests. I changed JRE used by Matlab, form original one supplied with matlab to 1.4.2 and to 1.5.3 installed from SuSE repository. The effect is the same, problem persists. My conclusion is that it is problem of reporting mouse events by KDE to java.

Comment 6 Lubos Lunak 2005-10-24 14:09:58 UTC

Is it possible to download Matlab somewhere or is it only commercial?
Can you try with some JRE other than Sun's? That one is quite known for being horribly broken as far as interaction with window managers goes.

Comment 7 Darek Borkowski 2005-10-24 14:15:39 UTC

Unfortunately not, matlab is commercial only as far as I know. There are sudents discounts.

I'll try with blackdown, my friend has this one with matlab, and has no problems with it. Is there blackdown or other jre available for SUSE 10.0 in rpm form?

Comment 8 Darek Borkowski 2005-10-24 14:17:08 UTC

Oh, one more thing. Maybe Java is horribly broken, but with two other window managers I had no problems. So maybe it also depends on kwin?!

Comment 9 Lubos Lunak 2005-10-24 20:12:12 UTC

That's irrelevant. Something that's broken is still broken even if it manages to work sometimes. Specifically in Sun's Java case, if I'm not mistaken, they basically try to detect the environment they're running in and work "according" to it, instead of simply using standards. I seem to remember fixing one such Java issue in the past by making KWin pretend it's also IceWM.
And I'm afraid I have to close this report again, see comment #1. I suggest you report the problem to Matlab developers, you can give them me as a KDE contact in case they'll need help with fixing the problem.