"always on top" option in VLC not working

I can confirm this in Feisty on amd64.

I can confirm this on x86 from repos; in fact, I think it broke when I did the following upgrade of vlc packages:

Commit Log for Tue Mar 20 12:55:23 2007
Upgraded the following packages:
libvlc0 (0.8.6.release-0ubuntu3) to 0.8.6.release-0ubuntu4
vlc (0.8.6.release-0ubuntu3) to 0.8.6.release-0ubuntu4
vlc-nox (0.8.6.release-0ubuntu3) to 0.8.6.release-0ubuntu4

as it was just working the other day! :)

(I'm using Feisty from the repos, BTW)

This is an unfortunate side effect of reverting to wxwidgets2.6. See bug 91248.

Daniel T Chen wrote on 2007-03-21:
> This is an unfortunate side effect of reverting to wxwidgets2.6. See bug 91248.

I still can't get VLC to be "always on top" in Gutsy. If the fix was released for bug 91248 (it says it is), it hasn't fixed this bug. I looked through bug 91248 but couldn't find any reference to this bug.

Does anyone know anything more specific about this bug? Things to try? Workarounds? I'm a novice, so I don't have any technical know-how. I just find it annoying.

Just tested it in Gutsy and confirming that yes, it still doesn't work.

I can also confirm this does not work. I multitask and need this feature to keep the video on top it is unfortunate. This is on Gutsy x86

I can confirm this on Gutsy Gibbon 7.10

I can still confirm this bug on Hardy Heron 8.04 beta LiveCD. VLC does not stay on top when the "Always on top" option is checked in the task bar.

Confirm in Hardy Beta install, vlc 0.8.6e. Other programs work correctly.

VLC now stays on top:
0.8.6.release.e+x264svn20071224+faad2.6.1-0ubuntu2

Can anyone else confirm the apparent fix?

I can confirm this bug is fixed. Yay!

Currently using:
0.8.6.release.e+x264svn20071224+faad2.6.1-0ubuntu2

Running Hardy current to the repositories as of April 10; I appear to have the same version of VLC:

$ apt-cache show vlc
[...]
Version: 0.8.6.release.e+x264svn20071224+faad2.6.1-0ubuntu2

And yet VLC does *not* stay on top for me with the "Always on top" option checked :(

I guess I should clarify.

Always on top works only if you right click on VLC in the task bar and select "Always on Top" (i.e. gnome's always on top function). It does NOT work if you select "Video">"Always on top" in VLC itself (VLC's always on top function).

At least there's one way to get it working :/

I can confirm the behaviour in hardy final and intrepid alpha.

Always on top set via the internal preferences of VLC does not work.

The fix is in the latest 0.9.0 build and needs to be patched back to these releases.

This bug was fixed in the package vlc - 0.9.2-1ubuntu1

---------------
vlc (0.9.2-1ubuntu1) intrepid; urgency=low

  * New Upstream Release, exception granted by
      - dktrkranz, norsetto, Hobbsee (via irc). LP: #270404

  Changes done in ubuntu:

  * add libxul-dev to build-depends
  * make sure that vlc is build against libxul in configure. This doesn't
    change anything in the package, but makes it more robust if building
    in an 'unclean' chroot or when modifying the package.
  * debian/control: make Vcs-* fields point to the motumedia branch
  * add libx264-dev and libass-dev to build-depends
    LP: #210354, #199870
  * actually enable libass support by passing --enable-libass to configure
  * enable libdca: add libdca-dev to build depends and --enable-libdca
  * install the x264 plugin.

  Changes already in the pkg-multimedia branch in debian:

  * don't install usr/share/vlc/mozilla in debian/mozilla-plugin-vlc.install
  * new upstream .desktop file now registers flash video mimetype LP: #261567
  * add Xb-Npp-Applications to mozilla-plugin-vlc
  * remove duplicate entries in debian/vlc-nox.install

vlc (0.9.2-1) experimental; urgency=low

  [ Christophe Mutricy ]
  * New upstream release
    + Soname changed
    + Bugs fixed upstream: Closes: #487646, #298150, #325069, #392292,
      #458004, #470903, #458004, #423121
    + new upstream fixes various crasher bugs reported in ubuntu:
      LP: #189575, #113927, #103741, #111615, #107899, #112076, #198916, 221428,
          #91679, #96978, #123589, #133528, #231621, #259025
    + plays files with '+' in its name, LP: #239431, #217305
    + New packages: libvlccore0, libvlccore-dev, vlc-plugin-pulse
     (Closes: #471069)
    + Build-depends on libswsale-dev, libshout3-dev, libxpm-dev,
      zlib1g-dev, liblua5.1-0-dev, libschroedinger-dev, libtag1-dev,
      libqt4-dev, libqt4-dev-tools and pkg-config. (Closes: #461324)
    + time display no longer incomplete, LP: #193445
    + fixed volume bar behavior, LP: #250041
    + shout support closes LP: #127594, #84098,
    + Install new modules:
      - vlc-nox: alphamask, blendbench, bluescreen, canvas, cc, cdg, chain,
        colorthres, croppadd, dynamicoverlay, erase, faad, gaussianblur, grain,
        inhibit, lua, memcpy*, mmap, osd_parser, puzzle, remoteosd, rtmp,
        schroedinger, sharpen, stats, subusf, t140, telepathy, v4l2, vmem
      - vlc: qt4
      - vlc-plugin-jack: access_jack
    + Distribute the .pc for libvlc and vlc-plugin (Closes: #289507)
    + Remove wx interface and glide plugin as they've been dropped by upstream
      LP: #205325, #88487, #90603, #150380
    + The Python and java bindings are no longer part of the upstream tarballs
      (Closes: #469011)
    + Temporarly disable libdca module until a pkg with the new
      API get in unstable
    + Delete or refresh patches
    + New patches:
        - 052_as-needed taken from bug #347650 to teach libtool about
          -Wl,--as-needed
  * Install the skins DTD and the default skins it's only 113kB
  * Improve watch file
  * Add a vlc-data package for /usr/share (13 MB)
  * Add a vlc-dbg package (Closes: #491564)
  * Sort vlc.install and vlc-nox.inst...