Restore window size and position

[GoogleCodeExporter]

MinTTY should have the option of allowing the user to specify whether or not 
the MinTTY terminal opens in the last exited position and size.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by eric.pru...@gmail.com on 12 Jun 2011 at 7:52

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Why? I see the KDE Konsole developers made themselves quite unpopular by 
changing saving size and position by default: 
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=152385.

And have you seen the command line options for setting position and size?

Original comment by andy.koppe on 12 Jun 2011 at 8:08

• Changed state: Undecided

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Note that in my original post I said "have the option;" I didn't say it needed 
to be default. Yes, I am aware of the command line options of setting the 
terminal size.

I don't really care about terminal size, but I find it annoying when my 
terminal jumps around 20 to 100 pixels in some arbitrary direction from the 
last place I opened it.

I suppose I can always hack something together using AutoHotkey.

Original comment by eric.pru...@gmail.com on 13 Jun 2011 at 12:32

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Yes, I did read your request. No, mintty won't sprout options just because 
someone says it should, so thanks for adding a few words of explanation.

The randomised positioning is the default assigned by Windows, and the point is 
to stop multiple windows from exactly covering each other and thus allowing the 
ones at the back to more easily be brought to the front. The console, PuTTY, 
rxvt and xterm all behave similarly.

I should also have pointed out that the size and position can be set in the 
~/.minttyrc file too, for example:

  Position=100,100
  Size=80,40

Does that address your annoyance about the random starting position?

The point of linking to the Konsole bug was that people there are so annoyed 
about saving size and position that it doesn't even seem worth an option. 
Comment #5 puts it quite well:

"It sounds great in principle, but it really is horrible and makes me feel like 
I'm walking on my toes.  Every time I resize the window, or worse, when kwin or 
some konsole app resizes it for me, I have to manually undo that resize some 
point in the future. It feels like working in an app that has no undo, I have 
to really think about every action I do since I can get hurt later on.
[...]
The big difference between konsole and most other applications is that a 
konsole is just a front end to any number of other applications. So, whereas 
using kopete will make you perform the same task every time you use the same 
window this is not true for konsole. And because konsole can't distinguish 
between all the different apps a user wants to run in a konsole it should not 
assume things like that the next time its being used the same size is going to 
be useful."

Original comment by andy.koppe on 13 Jun 2011 at 5:03

• Added labels: Difficulty-Medium

[GoogleCodeExporter]

> No, mintty won't sprout options just because someone says it should, so 
thanks for adding a few words of explanation.

That I understand and did not mind having to add an explanation, but you 
already seem to have had your mind made up before reading a reply / explanation.

That still does not _wholly_ address the situation. Here is one use case: I use 
Vista on my laptop and Windows XP at work, so if I want two terminals open side 
by side while using Console2, I size one manually, move it to the corner, and 
hit the WindowsKey/SuperKey+4 to reopen a terminal of the same size and move 
one of the terminals to the other size of the screen. On my desktop with xterm 
and with Windows 7, I can just rely on the window manager shortcuts.

Console2 has a plethora of options that I haven't had too much of a problem 
getting 
used to being without, but this is a feature I consistently miss. In the end, 
it's worth having 256-color support and a snappier terminal, and I like MinTTY 
overall.

Original comment by eric.pru...@gmail.com on 13 Jun 2011 at 11:19

[GoogleCodeExporter]

> I [...] did not mind having to add an explanation

Good, because I actually find it rather rude to demand a change (and hence my 
time) without one.

> but you already seem to have had your mind made up before reading a reply / 
explanation.

Could have done without the amateur mind reading, but yes, I am biased against 
options, i.e. I need quite some convincing that it's going to be useful for 
large numbers of users before adding one. Every option has an element of the 
designer shirking their job and bothering users with choices they could do 
without. And of course they take work to implement and document, they increase 
the chances of breaking stuff accidentally, and they restrict future design 
choices.

> That still does not _wholly_ address the situation. Here is one use case: I 
use Vista on my laptop and Windows XP at work, so if I want two terminals open 
side by side while using Console2, I size one manually, move it to the corner, 
and hit the WindowsKey/SuperKey+4 to reopen a terminal of the same size and 
move one of the terminals to the other size of the screen.

I don't see such a shortcut in Console2, so I assume you're referring to your 
own customization. Anyway, how about if mintty's "New window" command (Alt+F2) 
opened the new window with the same size (but not position) as the current one?

> On my desktop with xterm and with Windows 7, I can just rely on the window 
manager shortcuts.

Are you referring to an X11 window manager there, or to the Windows one? The 
new Windows 7 shortcuts such as Win+arrow should work for mintty too.

As for the option for restoring window size and position: I remain unconvinced. 
I haven't had requests for it before, and I see that GNOME Terminal doesn't 
have it either.

Original comment by andy.koppe on 14 Jun 2011 at 5:51

• Changed state: Rejected

[GoogleCodeExporter]

> ... (and hence my time) without one.

Would you be open to a patch?

> Anyway, how about if mintty's "New window" command (Alt+F2) opened the new 
window with the same size (but not position) as the current one?

That would work just fine for me and handles my most common use case.

> Are you referring to an X11 window manager there, or to the Windows one? The 
new Windows 7 shortcuts such as Win+arrow should work for mintty too.

I am referring to MS Window's window manager, "dwm;" my desktop boots Debian 
and Windows 7. I know the shortcuts work on mintty, which is why I said I can 
"...  rely on the window manager shortcuts." The problem lies in my usage of 
Windows Vista, _not_ Windows 7 or xterm with Gnome.

Original comment by eric.pru...@gmail.com on 14 Jun 2011 at 6:04

[GoogleCodeExporter]

> Would you be open to a patch?

Not for a rejected issue, no.

Btw, while this wouldn't be excessively difficult to implement, it's not 
trivial either. Some of the challenges:

- It needs to work sensibly when the last window was minimised, maximised, or 
fullscreened. Restoring to normal state should work properly.

- It has to account for the possibility of display size changes and disappeared 
monitors.

- The obvious place to store the last geometry is the config file, but that's 
only meant to be saved when OK or Apply is pressed in the options dialog. 
Saving the last geometry has to be done accordingly.

- Saving only at exit doesn't actually account for your use case regarding 
'New', so I suppose it would need to save at that point too.

- A lot of mintties may exit at the same time, e.g. when using the 'Close All 
Windows' command on a window group in the taskbar. This poses synchronisation 
issues and it would be random as to which one gets to write its geometry last.

>> Anyway, how about if mintty's "New window" command (Alt+F2) opened the new 
window with the same size (but not position) as the current one?

> That would work just fine for me and handles my most common use case.

I've entered issue 275 for that.

Original comment by andy.koppe on 22 Jun 2011 at 5:51

[GoogleCodeExporter]

#3 andy.koppe

- ~/.minttyrc

  Position=100,100

wrong. it's like so:

  X=100
  Y=100

Original comment by mendoza....@gmail.com on 29 Dec 2014 at 8:12