[Bug]: Calling webContents.focus() forces the entire window to raise above other windows on Linux/GNOME

[devinbinnie]

Preflight Checklist

• I have read the Contributing Guidelines for this project.
• I agree to follow the Code of Conduct that this project adheres to.
• I have searched the issue tracker for a bug report that matches the one I want to file, without success.

Electron Version

24.1.3

What operating system are you using?

Ubuntu

Operating System Version

22.04.2 LTS, GNOME 42.5

What arch are you using?

x64

Last Known Working Electron version

Not sure, it's been around a while.

Expected Behavior

1. Using gnome-tweaks, turn on "Focus on Hover" under the Windows category
2. Open an Electron app where webContents.focus() is called when the window is focused (see gist), and then click on another window that overlaps the application.
3. Move the cursor over the Electron app's window.

The app should take focus, but the window should not raise above the overlapping app.

Actual Behavior

The app takes focus, and the window raises over top.

Testcase Gist URL

https://gist.github.com/devinbinnie/c0262f5c890edc033fdfe5b7e4209ded

Additional Information

This issue particularly impacts applications where the developer might want to focus a BrowserView when the application is focused, and the user has "sloppy focus" or focus-on-hover enabled on their system.

eg. This issue: mattermost/desktop#1827

[bmnave]

+1

[electron-issue-triage]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale. If this issue is still affecting you, please leave any comment (for example, "bump"), and we'll keep it open. If you have any new additional information—in particular, if this is still reproducible in the latest version of Electron or in the beta—please include it with your comment!

[bmnave]

+1

[jin-eld]

Happens on Fedora 37 with MATE desktop as well, see comment mattermost/desktop#1827 (comment)

[darkwater4213]

Can confirm on Xfce, xUbuntu versions 16.04 (Xenial), 18.04 (Bionic), and 20.04 (Focal).
This is really quite annoying, particularly with apps that are supposed to stay in the background, like Discord. Worse, apps like Obsidian raise themselves multiple times (three or more) during startup, which is particularly annoying when I'm trying to do something else.

[jctaylor]

+1

[darkwater4213]

Further, this bug also happens from time to time on i3wm/Sway.

Obsidian does not forcibly raise itself and switch workspaces, but Discord and Steam do.

And it's annoying.

[darkwater4213]

Further odd behavior: when running under Hyprland, all three of Obsidian, Steam, and Discord raise themselves, but workspace switching is sporadic. Further, ZSA's Keymapp utility did not raise itself under any of these environments.

[electron-issue-triage]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale. If this issue is still affecting you, please leave any comment (for example, "bump"), and we'll keep it open. If you have any new additional information—in particular, if this is still reproducible in the latest version of Electron or in the beta—please include it with your comment!

[bmnave]

+1