Does Plank need a particular Window Manager?

[willendorfer]

Everybody seems to describe Plank as simple and stable. I tried it on my Linux Mint 20 Mate desktop and it keeps crashing. I'm wondering, does it need a particular Window Manager? I'm using Marco - no compositing. If that's not it, how do I diagnose what's causing it to crash? And why is it crashing for me when everyone else finds it completely stable?

[smurphos]

Hi,

It certainly isn't as nice looking in a non composting environment, but it seems to be working OK for me in MATE 20 VM with plain Marco.

What version are you using?

Code: Select all

plank --version

Can you quit it and then launch from a terminal with command plank -d, try and make it crash and then report the last output from the terminal.

[willendorfer]

The problem seems to be when I put it on 'Autohide'. It won't come back when I move the cursor over it.

[Termy]

It doesn't need a specific window manager, but some might work better with it than others, as you've probably discovered. I used it for ages in XFWM4 (XFCE's window manager) for quite a while without any issues, but never used it elsewhere.

[rossdv8]

Plank doesn't seem to care what window manager is running, although there are times when it does odd things.
However, I am using Mint Xfce at the moment and my standard panels on Left and Right often refuse to 'unhide' when I move the mouse to the edge of the screen. I also had a lot of dramas with Docky over the ears.

I used plank in Mint 19.x Xfce for quite a while with xfwm and also with compiz. It failed regularly in both and I soon got so used to running:
plank --preferences
in a Terminal, that I set it up as a shortcut on my panel.

I also got used to running: plank -n right, plank -n left, plank -n bottom (I think those were the commands from memory) when a plank failed to appear. I have a huge monitor (55 inch) and I have a dock / panel on each edge.

I often found Plank failed to open on one or more edges of the screen. For now I have solved my particular problem by having default Panels on top, left and right, and by running Cairo-Dock on my bottom. Uses about 42K of memory when running in openGL mode (Started using: cairo-dock -o usually by selecting openGL as a choice on first start, but you can edit the command in Startup Applications.), and it runs perfectly.

However, when it is working (which is most of the time) Plank is handy, simple and clean.

This is a little guide to Plank:
https://www.maketecheasier.com/download ... ck-ubuntu/

And this:
https://www.unixmen.com/plank-lightweight-dock-ubuntu/