minimized docked dialogs don't open from the menu, toolbar button or shortcut (rev >= 10992)

IIRC there's an old bug report about this (which had a patch proposed for review). It works with upstream libgdl as used in experimental GTK3 Inkscape builds btw.

> IIRC there's an old bug report about this (which had a patch proposed for review)

Seems that my memory tricked me - I was thinking of these two reports, which are tracking a slightly different aspect
- Bug #925584 “Toggle opened/closed state of dialogs with keyboard shortcut”
  <https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/925584>
- Bug #253775 “Shortcut to open a dialog should also close it”
  <https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/253775>

Confirmed on OS X 10.7.5:
- works with stable
- fails with trunk (GTK2)
- works with trunk (GTK3)

Based on tests with archived builds on OS X 10.7.5:
- not reproduced with rev <= 10990,
- reproduced wth rev >= 10992
the changed behavior likely was introduced with
- Revision10992: Fix for bug #171579: Make inkscape remember dialogs window status
 <http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/inkscape/trunk/revision/10992>

Also affects opening the dialog by clicking on the swatches of the current style indicator in the status bar (GTK2 only):
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1154129/comments/1
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1418753

This seems to affect a lot of people - we had a bunch of reports about 'not opening dialogs' in the answers section in the last half year:

https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/269129
https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/265848
https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/269067
https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/261630
https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/267997
https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/263966
https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/263046
http://askubuntu.com/questions/602589/inkscape-export-bitmap-not-working

and possibly these, too:
https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/268767
https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/265159

Update: This problem is probably among the top three (together with tools creating invisible objects (user-side problem), and Windows 64bit black printing) for Inkscape users in forums and answer section.

The bug is already fixed in the trunk (with Gtk3) and is not likely it will be fixed in the 0.92.x branch (with Gtk2).

<opinion>
To me it seems rather unfortunate that this regression is basically closed (because it is not present in GTK3-based builds using external GDL3) and very likely will not be further investigated for GTK2-based builds (with internal modified copy of GDL2): As far as we know this issue continues to trouble many users and probably would warrant a new Q/A in the User FAQ (please do not recommend switching to floating dialogs as general solution or workaround - this will quickly expose other known issues (e.g. wrong focus as soon as multiple document windows are used within the same instance, or lack of support to restore open dialogs from the prior session).
</opinion>

Note that the issue is not closed for now, and the report will stay visible until 0.93 is out.
And you're right, a FAQ entry would be welcome.