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Tasklist

FS#8532 - New Xorg breaks keyboard layout switching in Gnome

Attached to Project: Arch Linux
Opened by (N/A) (wantilles) - Tuesday, 06 November 2007, 16:20 GMT
Last edited by Greg (dolby) - Saturday, 24 May 2008, 09:23 GMT
Task Type Bug Report
Category Packages: Extra
Status Closed
Assigned To Jan de Groot (JGC)
Architecture All
Severity High
Priority Normal
Reported Version 2007.08-2
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 100%
Votes 2
Private No

Details

Description:

New Xorg breaks keyboard layout switching in Gnome.

Additional info:
* package version(s)

- libx11-1.1.3-5
- libxcb-1.1-1
- xcb-proto-1.1-1
- xf86-input-keyboard-1.2.2-2
- xf86-input-mouse-1.2.3-1
- xorg-server-1.4-4

* config and/or log files etc.
Keyboard section on xorg.conf is as follows:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Gnome Keyboard Layout configuration is as follows:

Layouts:
- US English
- Greece Extended

Layout Options:
- Layout Switching:
----> Ctrl+Shift change layout.
- Adding the EuroSign to certain keys:
----> Add the EuroSign to the E key.
- Third level choosers
----> Press right Alt key to choose 3rd level.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Everything works normally with the above configuration with Xorg 7.2.

2. Do a pacman sync -> pacman -Sy

3. Upgrade the system -> pacman -Su

4. Restart the system.

5. When Gnome is started again, keyboard layout change key combination does not work. User has to go into the Gnome Keyboard Preferences, change something, and exit. Only then it works.

PS: Bug had been reported in the forums about a month ago when the Xorg was still in testing, but it was ignored.

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=287074#p287074
This task depends upon

Closed by  Greg (dolby)
Saturday, 24 May 2008, 09:23 GMT
Reason for closing:  Fixed
Comment by Roman Kyrylych (Romashka) - Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 09:04 GMT
It was ignored because Xorg and Gnome maintainers didn't see it. It is better to report bugs here, this way they are not lost and not forgotten.

Works fine here. :-/
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
#Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us,ua,ru"
Option "XkbVariant" ",winkeys,winkeys"
Option "XkbOptions" "grp:ctrl_shift_toggle,altwin:super_win,numpad:microsoft"
EndSection
Comment by Roman Kyrylych (Romashka) - Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 09:06 GMT
Hm, I see that you have only Option "XkbLayout" "us" in your xorg.conf.
Did you try to setup all settings in xorg.conf instead of Gnome Keyboard Settings?
Comment by (N/A) (wantilles) - Saturday, 10 November 2007, 10:25 GMT
Yes I did unsuccessfully, as I did in the past.

Let me explain.

1. This setup - with only Gnome taking the responsibility for the keyboard layouts - has been working flawlessly for 3.5 years.

2. The same bug had occurred briefly in the 6.9 dev version of Xorg long ago, during the transition from the monolithic 6.8 to the modular 7.0.

3. Back then, I attempted to do exactly exactly what you propose - as I did now - with no results.

4. If I attempt what you propose, at the next reboot I get an error messagebox saying:

Error activating XKB configuration.
It can happen under various circumstances:
- a bug in libxklavier library
- a bug in X server (xkbcomp, xmodmap utilities)
- X server with incompatible libxkbfile implementation

If you report this as a bug please include ... -> ... blah-blah.

So as you can see, I have no alternative.

But nevertheless, this whole discussion about enabling the layouts in xorg.conf is academic.

Because things have been working without them for 3.5 years, and things are supposed to - should - work without them.
Comment by Roman Kyrylych (Romashka) - Saturday, 10 November 2007, 13:09 GMT
> 1. This setup - with only Gnome taking the responsibility for the keyboard layouts - has been working flawlessly for 3.5 years.
Some things may changed now. :-/

> If I attempt what you propose, at the next reboot I get an error messagebox saying:
Please attach the keyboard section of your xorg config. Probably you've discovered a bug in Xorg.
Did you clear all Gnome keyboard settings before transferring keyboard switching config to xorg.conf?
Comment by (N/A) (wantilles) - Saturday, 10 November 2007, 13:25 GMT
As mentioned above, here are my xorg.conf keyboard settings:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Comment by Roman Kyrylych (Romashka) - Saturday, 10 November 2007, 13:45 GMT
No, I meant those settings that caused "Error activating XKB configuration." when you tried to setup *all* settings in xorg.conf instead of Gnome Keyboard Settings.
Comment by (N/A) (wantilles) - Saturday, 10 November 2007, 14:21 GMT
Here it is:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us,el"
Option "XkbOptions" "grp:ctrl_shift_toggle,lv3:ralt_switch,eurosign:e"
EndSection

I also tried without the "lv3:ralt_switch" in Xkboptions with the exact same results.
Comment by (N/A) (wantilles) - Sunday, 11 November 2007, 14:03 GMT
After many combinations and trial and error, I found a workaround.

So you may close the bug.

I am not willing to devote more time to this, especially when the xorg developers keep making fundamental changes without documenting them.
Comment by (N/A) (wantilles) - Sunday, 11 November 2007, 15:09 GMT
It appears that the new Xorg Server does not like "Xkbvariant" line in xorg.conf, even if it is commented.
Comment by Roman Kyrylych (Romashka) - Sunday, 11 November 2007, 16:46 GMT
works here:
Option "XkbLayout" "us,ua,ru"
Option "XkbVariant" ",winkeys,winkeys"

This is equivalent to Option "XkbLayout" "us,ua(winkeys),ru(winkeys)"
Comment by Börje Holmberg (linfan) - Wednesday, 14 November 2007, 10:07 GMT
I wonder if this is not same thing as #8124.
Comment by (N/A) (wantilles) - Wednesday, 14 November 2007, 10:22 GMT
If course the issue still exists.

On my second system (an i686 one) I cannot make it work.
Comment by (N/A) (wantilles) - Wednesday, 14 November 2007, 10:24 GMT
@ linfan

Yes, essentially it is the same bug.

However, it is not Gnome's fault, as this behavior appeared only when the new Xorg Server 7.3 came out to [extra] from [testing].

For 3.5 years I have been using Gnome (from 2.6 to 2.20) with various Xorg servers (from 6.8 to 7.2) and always behaved properly.

Therefore, logic dictates it is Xorg 7.3's fault.
Comment by Roman Kyrylych (Romashka) - Wednesday, 14 November 2007, 10:28 GMT
Yeah, it seems like a duplicate. Thanks for finding this.
Comment by (N/A) (wantilles) - Wednesday, 14 November 2007, 10:37 GMT
It is not a duplicate per se.

The other bug implies it is Gnome's fault.

But that is not the case.

It is Xorg's fault.
Comment by (N/A) (wantilles) - Wednesday, 14 November 2007, 13:04 GMT
Is the bug below related to this (maybe the cause)?

http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/8539
Comment by Christopher Stanton (Stanto) - Thursday, 06 December 2007, 20:07 GMT
I had a similar issue which I resolved by doing the following:
1. In gnome, reset the 'keyboard' settings to default.
2. Alt-F2, run 'gconf-editor'
3. Browse to desktop->gnome->peripherals->keyboard->kbd
4. Untick 'overrideSettings' - there is a note to unset each of the configs here to get the default layout too, when I tried to set the 'layouts' here manually I would get the error about an unsupported XKBD layout - same for if I set the layout via changing xlayout in xorg.conf
5. Logout of the X session, startx
6. Change keyboard layout via 'keyboard' settings (system->preferences->keyboard) and remove unwanted keyboard layout
7. Fixed.
Comment by Christopher Stanton (Stanto) - Thursday, 06 December 2007, 20:09 GMT
Sorry forgot to add that I at the same time I changed the keyboard layout from pc105 to pc101 aswell; that's '105 key international' layout to '101 international' layout. Not sure why I did that at the time.
Comment by Börje Holmberg (linfan) - Thursday, 13 December 2007, 08:59 GMT
Switching layouts in the Keyboard Indicator won't be saved from session to session. I read in Gconf editor about the keyboard function being deprecated (deprecated meaning appr. not encouraged, outdated). It seems Gnome gets its layouts from xorg these days. So I guess all additional keyboard layouts need to be added to xorg.conf, comma separated without spaces :) Example se,ru etc. Either Gnome or xorg reacts on the fact that xorg and gconf differ, so editing xorg.conf and choosing xorg settings when Gnome starts up with its warning seems to fix it for now (knock on wood!). Of course, I also have enabled automatic changes to sessions in Preferences:Sessions in Gnome.
Comment by Danny Arnold (despairblue) - Monday, 12 May 2008, 14:26 GMT
Only '/desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd/overrideSettings' is deprecated, meaning that you have to unset the model, layouts and options keys to get the default system configuration.

In other words: Gnome uses the system configuration until you change it in gnome-keyboard-properties. From that point on gnome will always use the options you chose in gnome-keyboard-properties until you unset the model, layouts and options keys in gconf again.


I can't reproduce the bug. Has it been fixed? Can we close it?

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