Bugzilla – Bug 129442
Matlab with Java-GUI ZOOM on 2D plots problems only under KDE in SuSE
Last modified: 2005-10-24 20:12:12 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.
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.
this more sounds like a kwin interaction problem.. perhaps lubos knows something.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?!
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.