VLC 3.x (not 2.x) on Linux Mint 19 / Ubuntu 18.04, randomly steals focus when playing videos
When I am currently viewing a video, VLC randomly steals focus, in a somewhat aggressive way, from any other application I try to use. For example, if I have VLC playing a video and I am trying to use the file browser, my work is interrupted as VLC keeps stealing focus. I notice there is a quick "flicker" before it does it each time. Trying to go back to the file manager is difficult, since VLC aggressively steals focus, over and over.
This has never happened with VLC 2.x. I have tried reinstalling VLC and resetting its preferences. No difference. I have tried disabling certain options, such as "Auto raising the interface". No difference. It feels more like an unintentional bug than a design feature. It has caused many misclicks and mistakes if I try to use other programs while VLC is playing something in the background.
More detective work:
-
Happens randomly. There is no pattern. Sometimes it will be gracious and not steal focus for a while. Other times it's more aggressive.
-
Seems to occur more frequently if there is any previous or recent interaction with the VLC window, such as hovering the mouse over the video or recently moving the window.
-
VLC never steals focus if it has been manually minimized. (It does not "restore" itself.)
-
This never seems to occur if VLC is playing audio only; seems to have something to do with video.
-
This never occurs when watching videos with Xplayer (default Media Player for Linux Mint).
-
Not sure if this is a combination of Cinnamon and VLC, or if this issue persists on any desktop environment.
-
Does not happen with VLC 2.x series.
-
Does not happen with VLC 3.x series on Windows.
-
Issue still occurs, regardless of toggling hardware decoding or choosing different video output options.