When a new instance of a running KDE 4 application (kwrite, konqueror, etc.) is run under opensuse 11.4 with KDE4 it seems that the default behaviour is to open a new tab in the running instance.
This occurs when the new instance is called from the command line; the start menu; the run dialogue; or a desktop icon, even when called from a separate desktop. In konqueror the menu option <File> <new window> opens a new tab and seems redundant.
How can a user force KDE 4 applications to run a new instance in a separate frame / window when another instance of that application is already running?
Please excuse me if this has already been documented. I have searched this forum, the KDE Community forum and the web, so far without success.
I just tried that with “kwrite” and it opened a new window.
Perhaps it depends. In the workspace settings, I have workspace configured as “Desktop”. Perhaps it behaves differently if you configure for “netbook”
For konqueror and firefox, I would expect the behavior that you are seeing. That’s because of the way that the application is designed. The running browser keeps a lot of status information in its configuration directory. Because of that, you cannot have two independent instances of the application running at once. If you start a second, it checks the configuration directory, sees that the application is already running, and sends a signal to the running application. With firefox, you can still configure it to open a new window rather than a new tab, but it would be a new window for the same instance of the running application. I’m not sure about konqueror settings for that, since I don’t use it often.
This behaviour can be altered in Settings>Configure Konqueror>General and similar places in other applications.
On Wed, 18 May 2011 07:06:04 +0530, Tallowwood
<Tallowwood@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>
> When a new instance of a running KDE 4 application (kwrite, konqueror,
> etc.) is run under opensuse 11.4 with KDE4 it seems that the default
> behaviour is to open a new tab in the running instance.
>
> This occurs when the new instance is called from the command line; the
> start menu; the run dialogue; or a desktop icon, even when called from a
> separate desktop. In konqueror the menu option <File> <new window> opens
> a new tab and seems redundant.
>
> How can a user force KDE 4 applications to run a new instance in a
> separate frame / window when another instance of that application is
> already running?
>
> Please excuse me if this has already been documented. I have searched
> this forum, the KDE Community forum and the web, so far without success.
>
>
depends on the application. kwrite, as far as i know, always opens a new
window. for konqueror, you can define the behavior in it’s settings (menu:
settings → configure konqueror). by typing <app.name> --help many app.s
list command line arguments that allow you to modify the default behavior.
if both, application settings & command line arguments are specified, i
don’t know which option is finally used…
–
phani.
The only thing that I could think of is that you are using a KDE4 feature called Window Tabbing. Go to ‘Systemsettings > Window Behaviour > Window Behaviour > Advanced’ and see what your settings are there.
http://thumbnails38.imagebam.com/13279/997c8c132780039.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/997c8c132780039)
I bet you have “Automatically group similar windows” checked.
ETA: A small screenshot what Window Tabbing looks like:
http://thumbnails41.imagebam.com/13083/c75963130829901.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/c75963130829901)
Thank you, Lord_Emsworth, that has solved this issue for me.
Your analysis is correct, your guidance clear and, yes, you won your bet.
