[Pkg-xfce-devel] Bug#445172: xfce4: XFCE doesn't register keyboard shortcuts on startup; acts as if Alt were constantly pressed

[xsdg]

Package: xfce4
Version: 4.4.1
Severity: important

When I start xfce using the `startxfce4` script, the desktop starts up, and none of the shortcuts (window manager or keyboard shortcuts) work at all.  If I start the Settings Manager, this behavior does not change.  After clicking on "Keyboard," however, the keyboard shortcuts will become available.  However, at this point, they act as if <Alt> were constantly in effect -- if I hit <F2> with the default keyboard shortcuts, the application launcher will start.  This also happens if I hit <Alt>+<F2>.

Something similar happens with window manager shortcuts.  They do not become available until I enter the "Window Manager" preference panel, switch to the "Keyboard" tab, and then switch shortcut "themes".  After that, they again react as if <Alt> were constantly in effect.

At this point, running `xev` reports that everything seems to be working as expected -- hitting "e" causes a KeyPress and KeyRelease with state 0x0, and hitting <Alt-L>+e causes an Alt-L KeyPress with state 0x0, an "e" KeyPress with state 0x8, an "e" KeyRelease with state 0x8, and last, an Alt-L KeyRelease with state 0x0.  Hitting "e" thereafter confirms that the modifer state is back to 0x0 after the Alt-L KeyRelease.

If I hit one of the enabled keyboard shortcuts, `xev` reports a FocusOut event, followed (when the new window closes) by a FocusIn event (The window manager is configured to give new windows focus automatically; this is the default setting).  That `xev` doesn't report any KeyPress or KeyRelease events suggests that the keypress is being stolen higher up.


Oddly enough, if I restart xfwm4 (without restarting the X server), then the wm shortcuts start working properly; if I restart xfce-mcs-manager, the keyboard shortcuts start working properly as well.

At this point, everything works normally -- I can switch keyboard and wm shortcut themes and they behave as if the Alt key is in its proper state, be that pressed or unpressed.  (Specifically, after they are restarted once, the odd Alt behavior does not recur if I switch shortcut themes)

If I restart X, this behavior returns to the first state (none of the shortcuts working), at which point I can again enable them by entering the proper settings panels.

Needless to say, this makes using my desktop incredibly frustrating.  Especially since I'm still in the setup phase of this system, and will be restarting fairly frequently.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.22.9 (SMP w/2 CPU cores; PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages xfce4 depends on:
ii  gtk2-engines-xfce             2.4.1-1    A GTK+-2.0 theme engine for Xfce
ii  thunar                        0.8.0-6    File Manager for Xfce
ii  xfce4-icon-theme              4.4.1-1    Xfce Standard icon theme
ii  xfce4-mcs-plugins             4.4.1-1    Special modules for the xfce4-mcs-
ii  xfce4-panel                   4.4.1-1    The Xfce4 desktop environment pane
ii  xfce4-session                 4.4.1-1    Xfce4 Session Manager
ii  xfce4-utils                   4.4.1-1    Various tools for Xfce
ii  xfdesktop4                    4.4.1-5+b1 Provides desktop background and ro
ii  xfwm4                         4.4.1-3    window manager of the Xfce project
ii  xfwm4-themes                  4.4.1-1    Theme files for xfwm4

Versions of packages xfce4 recommends:
pn  desktop-base                  <none>     (no description available)
pn  orage                         <none>     (no description available)
ii  xfce4-mixer                   4.4.1-3    Xfce4 Mixer frontend
ii  xfce4-terminal                0.2.6-4    Xfce terminal emulator
pn  xfmedia                       <none>     (no description available)
pn  xfprint4                      <none>     (no description available)

-- no debconf information