[Pkg-xfce-devel] Bug#522957: Bug#522957: xfconf: There are major problem with the way keyboard settings are dealt with.

[Yves-Alexis Perez]

reassign 522957 xfce4-settings
thanks
On mar, 2009-04-07 at 18:25 +0200, Luca Niccoli wrote:

> Since I upgraded to xfce 4.6, I'm having troubles with keyboard layout
> and shortcuts configuration.
> At first, /etc/X11/Xmodmap was ignored, so I lost the possibility to use
> the media keys of my laptop.
> I tried with xmodmap /etc/X11/Xmodmap, but this kind of freezes xfce:
> I can move the mouse, but the pointer doesn't change its shape and I can't
> click anything; hitting caps lock on the keyboard toggles the led, but the
> only thing I can do is swap to terminal with Ctrl+Alt+Fn or kill X. Still,
> applications keep running fine, I just can't use them.
> I can consistently reproduce this.
> Then I tried selecting "Use system defaults" from the keyboard

Yes, basically when Xfce “manages” the keyboard (in fact it just tells X
which layout to use), xmodmap is a really bad idea (I think xmodmap is
deprecated anyway. one is supposed to use xkb stuff I think. Or maybe
hal rules with evdev device. Or yet another thing, I don't really know,
X is a mess in this area).

> configuration; I got my media keys back, but application shortcuts were
> ignored.

I guess modifier keys have changed and this invalidates shortcuts.
Especially things like Alt/Meta.

>  I deselected "Use system defaults" and rebooted, but still the 
> shortcuts are ignored. Actually, I see that the kyeboard layout is still not
> being set by xfce: I can choose any layout, I'm stick with the one X loads.

If you select “use system default” then yes you have to configure the
layout in X, using the “kbd” driver. 

> I tried moving away my Xmodmap, but I just get the default X layout, and 
> can't change it.

Well, if you select the correct one in the Xfce settings, then it'll
work.

> I tried resetting the shortcuts (which I don't have a way to save, anyway,
> and this is a regression from 4.4), to no avail.

What do you mean by “save”?

xfconf uses an xml backend anyway, if you need them. Just copy the
correct files in .config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml

You can access xfconf system using xfconf-query or the GUI editor using
xfce4-settings-editor.

Could you try using a consistent setup (either layout set from Xorg and
“use system default” or select a keyboard layout in the list (even
selecting “evdev” one). And yes you may have to re-configure the
keyboard shortcuts, but that's not really Xfce fault, the underlying X
architecture is problematic.

Cheers,
-- 
Yves-Alexis
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