[Pkg-xfce-devel] Bug#523517: xfce4-settings: <Alt> and <Meta> keyboard settings swapped
Dave Witbrodt
dawitbro at sbcglobal.net
Fri Apr 10 19:33:44 UTC 2009
Package: xfce4-settings
Version: 4.6.0-2
Severity: normal
Today I discovered that my XFCE keyboard configuration has become
confused, with the <Alt> key being swapped with the <Meta> key in many
cases. I have been using keyboard Application Shortcuts bound to
<Ctrl><Alt>-t and <Ctrl><Alt>-b for a long time, and just discovered
they were no longer working.
I recently upgraded from XFCE 4.4 to XFCE 4.6 in Sid, and today upgraded
xorg from 7.3 to 7.4. I cannot say with confidence which upgrade
introduced the problem -- I had other, more visible problems with the
XFCE upgrade, which I was able to solve by manually changing the icon
theme -- so I was not checking keyboard behavior. The xorg upgrade
_did_ have the effect of disabling the old X keyboard driver and
switching me to evdev, so that may well be the cause.
In the file ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts.xml
I currently have settings like this:
<channel name="xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts" version="1.0">
<property name="commands" type="empty">
<property name="default" type="empty">
[...]
</property>
<property name="custom" type="empty">
* <property name="<Alt>F2" type="string" value="xfrun4"/>
! <property name="<Control><Alt>Delete" type="string" value="xflock4"/>
<property name="XF86Display" type="string" value="xrandr --auto"/>
<property name="override" type="bool" value="true"/>
<property name="XF86AudioMute" type="string" value="aumix -v0"/>
<property name="XF86AudioLowerVolume" type="string" value="aumix -v-10"/>
<property name="XF86AudioRaiseVolume" type="string" value="aumix -v+10"/>
<property name="<Control>Escape" type="string" value="xfce4-popup-menu"/>
<property name="<Meta>F1" type="string" value="xfhelp4"/>
! <property name="<Control><Meta>Delete" type="string" value="xflock4"/>
* <property name="<Meta>F2" type="string" value="xfrun4"/>
<property name="<Control><Meta>Escape" type="string" value="xkill"/>
<property name="<Control><Alt>t" type="string" value="exo-open --launch TerminalEmulator"/>
<property name="<Control><Alt>b" type="string" value="exo-open --launch WebBrowser"/>
</property>
</property>
[...]
The last 2 entries shown here are my Application Shortcuts. Under XFCE
v4.4 I had defined these using <Ctrl><Alt>, and they somehow had changed
to <Ctrl><Meta> today. What you see above is the result of deleting the
shortcuts and manually resetting them to use <Ctrl><Alt> instead.
Also notice the lines marked (*) and (!), which are pairs of lines with
different shortcuts for the same command. This is not my doing... and
when I noticed this I realized that something bad had happened to my
keyboard configuration, so I thought I should report it.
[I ran 'reportbug' with "--attach=~/.config/.../xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts.xml",
so the entire file should be attached in case it would be helpful. I
found that no 'keyboard-layout.xml' file existed in that directory, but
was able to produce it by running the Settings app and going to
Keyboard --> Layout
and clicking Edit, then "OK". Restarting X did not produce any change
in behavior.]
I did not know whether I should add this report to the similar, but
recently-closed report I see on the BTS, or whether I should start a new
one. After reading the other thread, I made a guess that this is
different enough that it should be its own report.
I am still trying to solve other keyboard-related issues:
1) In DOSBox the numeric keypad <Enter> is not recognized the
same as the main <Enter> key, but it works fine in apps such as
'mousepad', 'xfce4-terminal', and 'xfce4-notes-plugin'. This
key used to work fine in DOSBox. Numlock status has no effect.
2) Using <Ctrl><Alt><Shift>-arrow to move a window fails, as does
<Alt><Shift>-arrow to resize a window, but these worked fine
last time I tried it (with XFCE 4.4).
3) In 'xfce4-terminal', the key combinations <Alt>-left and
<Ctrl>-left cause 'D' to be printed, and <Alt>-right and
<Ctrl>-right cause 'C' to be printed. (Other combinations also
produce strange, wrong results... so these are merely specific
examples.) This behavior was not seen before.
I would like to be able to resize windows with <Alt><Shift>-arrow, and
move windows with <Ctrl><Alt><Shift>-arrow, again because I became so
conditioned to these key combinations. I have started retraining myself
to use <Alt>-F8 and <Alt>-F7 in the meantime, though.
I'll be glad to provide more info to help track down the causes of these
annoyances, so just let me know how I can help.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (990, 'unstable'), (350, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.28-2s13145.090321.desktop.uvesafb (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-settings depends on:
ii libc6 2.9-7 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii libcairo2 1.8.6-2+b1 The Cairo 2D vector graphics libra
ii libdbus-glib-1-2 0.80-3 simple interprocess messaging syst
ii libexo-0.3-0 0.3.100-2 Library with extensions for Xfce
ii libglade2-0 1:2.6.4-1 library to load .glade files at ru
ii libglib2.0-0 2.20.0-3 The GLib library of C routines
ii libgtk2.0-0 2.14.7-5 The GTK+ graphical user interface
ii libnotify1 [libnotify1-gtk2.1 0.4.5-1 sends desktop notifications to a n
ii libpango1.0-0 1.24.0-3 Layout and rendering of internatio
ii libwnck22 2.24.2-2 Window Navigator Construction Kit
ii libx11-6 2:1.2.1-1 X11 client-side library
ii libxcursor1 1:1.1.9-1 X cursor management library
ii libxfce4util4 4.6.0-2 Utility functions library for Xfce
ii libxfcegui4-4 4.6.0-2 Basic GUI C functions for Xfce4
ii libxfconf-0-2 4.6.0-3 Client library for Xfce4 configure
ii libxi6 2:1.2.1-2 X11 Input extension library
ii libxklavier12 3.7-2 X Keyboard Extension high-level AP
ii libxrandr2 2:1.3.0-2 X11 RandR extension library
ii xfconf 4.6.0-3 utilities for managing settings in
Versions of packages xfce4-settings recommends:
ii aumix-gtk [aumix] 2.8-22 Simple mixer control program with
ii x11-utils 7.4+1 X11 utilities
xfce4-settings suggests no packages.
-- no debconf information
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts.xml
Type: application/xml
Size: 9548 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-xfce-devel/attachments/20090410/59126c60/attachment-0001.xml>
More information about the Pkg-xfce-devel
mailing list