So apparently there used to be a gnome-run command that would let
you pop up the GNOME “Run Application” dialog. Then I guess this
dialog got integrated into the panel, and then this program went
away. On Gnome 2.6 (I think?) on FC2 there’s no obvious way to do
this. I dug in gnome-panel sources a bit and found a CORBA
interface… that I don’t know how to use. (Bonobo couldn’t find my
desired component. I wonder if this interface is broken.) Then I
looked at how Metacity did it and I made
gnome-run.c.
Compile it with something like gcc gnome-run.c -o gnome-run
-L/usr/X11R6/lib -lX11. I then set Sawfish up to run that when I
hit M-Esc and set up a matched window declaration for it that focuses
it when it appears. All is well.
Shame on GNOME for making this so hard. I think I’m going to look at switching to KDE/Konsole later — with Sawfish as my WM still. Sawfish does rule.