Arch Linux

works for me

Same problem here. With xkeyboard-config 0.9-1, Alt key is not working at all in X.org. With 0.6-1, everything is fine.

From my xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us,sk"
Option "XkbVariant" ",qwerty"
Option "XkbOptions" "grp:alt_shift_toggle"
EndSection

Glad Peter confirms...
I should correct, that it's only the Alt key not the ctrl.

From my xorg.conf:

Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbVariant" ",extended"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us,el"
Option "XkbOptions" "grp:alt_shift_toggle"

I confirm the same behaviour, on 3 systems (a Desktop PC and 2 laptops). This is a really annoying problem, as it renders the commonly used shortcut Alt+Shift for keyboard layout switching, useless. Furthermore one can't change VT's from X. As stated, xkeyboard-config 0.6 does not have this issue.

hmm, works fine for me :-/
I didn't know Alt+Shift is commonly used, thought it's Ctrl+Shift (as easily accessible IMHO).

On my system, the bug manifests itself only when I set more than one layout in the value of XkbLayout option. Users with only one layout probably don't encounter this at all.

OT: I'm used to switch layouts by thumb and little finger, which I find a little bit more comfortable to do with the Alt+Shift combo (shorter distance from the space bar for the thumb) than the Ctrl+Shift one. Besides, IIRC Alt+Shift was the default setting in Windows 95, that's when I got used to it. :)

I have

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us,ua,ru"
Option "XkbVariant" ",winkeys,winkeys"
Option "XkbOptions" "grp:ctrl_shift_toggle,altwin:super_win,numpad:microsoft"
EndSection

and alt works fine.

Just a guess: does you problem persists with ctrl_shift_toggle too?

Seems to make no difference. I tried to remove all "unnecessary" options from xorg.conf, leaving only XkbRules, XkbModel and XkbLayout there, but that didn't change anything as well.

But, interestingly, trying out your settings in xorg.conf, the Alt key works. But I'm not able to switch between those keyboard layouts by _any_ shortcut, be it alt_shift_toggle or ctrl_shift_toggle, though Alt, Ctrl and Shift keys seem to work ok. When I switch the layouts by the xfce xkb plugin, all three of them (English, Ukrainian and Russian) work okay. But when I replace "us,ua,ru" with, say, "us,sk,cz" in the xorg.conf (and remove the now meaningless XkbVariant), the issue is back...

xkeyboard-config is weird.
for example "gnome-keyboard-applet crashes" bug exists only for some layout combinations (sadly this incluses mine: us,ua,ru).

with ctrl_shift_toggle I can switch between us,ua,ru, but only RightCtrl-RightShift switches them, LeftCtrl-LeftShift switches to us instantly.

I don't even understand why you show what you have in Xorg.conf. The point of gnome-keyboard is not to use xorg.conf

Niko, not all of us use gnome-keyboard (or even GNOME as a matter of fact). So, I would like to restate my own problem: With the us and el (greek) layouts enabled from within xorg.conf, Alt+Shift works only if pressed Shift first and Alt second and not the other way around. With xkeyboard-config 0.6 the order of pressing the keys didn't matter. Furthermore, with 0.9 and the same keyboard configuration, it is impossible to change to another VT from within X, as this requires pressing Alt+Ctrl+Fn which simply doesn't work.

Niko i can't understand where gnome-keyboard is related to the problem.
The problematic package is xkeyboard-config.
Btw, I'm using Xfce-svn.

Except the VT change problem (with alt-ctrl-Fn) i'm also used to move windows by holding ALT pressed and grabbing them with the left mouse key.
Also the cube rotation in beryl doesn't work.
Any game that uses the alt key, immediately becomes unusable.

There are a whole bunch of malfunctions emerging from this problem.
Just not to use the Alt key is not the case..

It's 0.6-1 for me.. until this is resolved.

Well, I managed to isolate the problem.
By removing this line in Xorg.conf
Option "XkbVariant" ",extended"

I've got ALT with xkeyboard-config 0.9-1

So I guess this is resolved....

As I stated earlier, removing XkbVariant or XkbOptions (or both) from xorg.org doesn't resolve the issue for me.

Same problem. For me, the alt key works, but not the layout switching.
I solved it by downgrading to the previous version.

I went from v0.6.1 -> v0.9.1 -> v0.6.1.

Hi, it s working for me.
The bug is caused by the file symbols/level3

PKGBUILD:

# $Id: PKGBUILD,v 1.3 2006/12/31 17:32:33 jgc Exp $
#Maintainer: Jan de Groot <jgc@archlinux.org>

pkgname=xkeyboard-config
pkgver=0.9
pkgrel=2
pkgdesc="X keyboard configuration files"
arch=(i686 x86_64)
url="http://xorg.freedesktop.org/"
depends=(xorg-xkb-utils)
makedepends=(intltool pkgconfig)
provides=(xkbdata)
replaces=(xkbdata)
conflicts=(xkbdata)
source=(http://xlibs.freedesktop.org/xkbdesc/xkeyboard-config-0.9.tar.bz2 xkeybo
md5sums=('52afe60101ace8532881e70f6c2dc020' '15a86730b06b7420314a62dcc529ab21')

build() {
cd ${startdir}/src/${pkgname}-${pkgver}
patch -p1 -i ../xkeyboard-config.patch
./configure --prefix=/usr --with-xkb-base=/usr/share/X11/xkb --with-xkb-rules-
make || return 1
make DESTDIR=${startdir}/pkg install || return 1
rm -f ${startdir}/pkg/usr/share/X11/xkb/compiled
mkdir -p ${startdir}/pkg/var/lib/xkb
}

Patch:

diff -Naur xkeyboard-config-0.9-orig/symbols/level3 xkeyboard-config-0.9/symbols/level3
--- xkeyboard-config-0.9-orig/symbols/level3 2006-10-09 23:53:27.000000000 +0200
+++ xkeyboard-config-0.9/symbols/level3 2007-02-10 08:40:55.000000000 +0100
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// $XKeyboardConfig: xkbdesc/symbols/level3,v 1.14 2006/10/09 21:53:27 svu Exp $
+// $XKeyboardConfig: xkbdesc/symbols/level3,v 1.15 2006/10/16 20:17:16 svu Exp $

// these variants assign various XKB keycodes to ISO_Level3_Shift so that
// the third shift level can be reached
@@ -14,7 +14,26 @@
type[Group1]="ONE_LEVEL",
symbols[Group1] = [ ISO_Level3_Shift ]
};
- modifier_map Mod5 { <RALT> };
+ modifier_map Mod5 { ISO_Level3_Shift };
+};
+
+// Right Alt key never chooses 3rd level.
+// This option attempts to undo the effect of a layout's
+// including ralt_switch. You may also want to select another
+// level3 option that maps the level3 shift to some other key.
+partial modifier_keys
+xkb_symbols "ralt_alt" {
+ key <RALT> {
+ type[Group1]="TWO_LEVEL",
+ type[Group2]="TWO_LEVEL",
+ type[Group3]="TWO_LEVEL",
+ type[Group4]="TWO_LEVEL",
+ symbols[Group1] = [ Alt_R, Meta_R ],
+ symbols[Group2] = [ Alt_R, Meta_R ],
+ symbols[Group3] = [ Alt_R, Meta_R ],
+ symbols[Group4] = [ Alt_R, Meta_R ]
+ };
+ modifier_map Mod1 { <RALT> };
};

partial modifier_keys
@@ -66,7 +85,7 @@
type[Group1]="ONE_LEVEL",
symbols[Group1] = [ ISO_Level3_Shift ]
};
- modifier_map Mod5 { <RCTL> };
+ modifier_map Mod5 { ISO_Level3_Shift };
};

// using the level(menu_switch) map, the Menu key temporarily
@@ -77,7 +96,7 @@
type[Group1]="ONE_LEVEL",
symbols[Group1] = [ ISO_Level3_Shift ]
};
- modifier_map Mod5 { <MENU> };
+ modifier_map Mod5 { ISO_Level3_Shift };
};

// using the level3(win_switch) map, the either Windows' logo key
@@ -96,7 +115,7 @@
type[Group1]="ONE_LEVEL",
symbols[Group1] = [ ISO_Level3_Shift ]
};
- modifier_map Mod5 { <LWIN> };
+ modifier_map Mod5 { ISO_Level3_Shift };
};

// using the level(rwin_switch) map, the right Windows' logo key
@@ -109,7 +128,7 @@
type[Group1]="ONE_LEVEL",
symbols[Group1] = [ ISO_Level3_Shift ]
};
- modifier_map Mod5 { <RWIN> };
+ modifier_map Mod5 { ISO_Level3_Shift };
};

// using the level3(enter_switch) map, the Enter key on the keypad
@@ -121,5 +140,5 @@
type[Group1]="ONE_LEVEL",
symbols[Group1] = [ ISO_Level3_Shift ]
};
- modifier_map Mod5 { <KPEN> };
+ modifier_map Mod5 { ISO_Level3_Shift };
};