Comment 83 for bug 44082

@mac_v: Thanks for the offer, I don't think I need any extra debugging information or logs, I can easily reproduce this problem on my laptop by plugging in an external display with a different resolution. Actually anything that resizes the desktop (Fn+F7 on my laptop) will trigger the problem. (Sometimes it requires logging out, but often it's immediate) I believe a patch in gnome-bugs #341441 point in the right direction, this is a problem of the GConf position data for the panel items getting changed when they shouldn't, and the items move. I'm looking at updating the patch attached to the upstream bug to the latest code. I've just moved, so my development machine is packed in a box this week, I'll get back to this bug over the weekend.

For all of the fans of this bug, here's my summary of problem:
It seems the "panel_right_stick" applet setting is getting cleared. For example, in GConf "/apps/panel/applets/trashapplet_screen0/panel_right_stick" is "true" before switching desktops (with Fn+F7, or plugging in a screen, etc), and "false" afterwards. The applet "position" is measured from the left panel edge, but "panel_right_stick" switches this to the right/bottom edge. However, "position" still measures the distance to the left edge *of the applet*. The default Ubuntu Trash applet, in the bottom right corner, position is 26 for instance, instead of 0. Once this setting goes awry you will even see negative values and the like. For example, my FastUserSwitchApplet (in the top right corner) currently indicates a position of "-152" instead of 0 (or however many pixels wide it is to the left edge of the applet). And to top that all off, sometimes applets (like Clock) don't seem to set the "panel_right_stick" to true when they should.