Bug#409612: xlibs-data: Modifier mappings broken
Package: xlibs-data
Version: 1:7.1.0-11
Severity: important
The modifier mappings in stock keyboard layouts are broken.
For details, I'll just attach the Ion FAQ entry below from
<http://iki.fi/tuomov/ion/faq/entries/Modifier_releases.html>.
(I have not myself experienced that problem, though -- I don't
use Xkb crud at all, because customisation of Xkb based layouts
is too laboursome, difficult, undocumented etc. -- but users have
experienced it on various systems, and this seems the easiest
channel to report the problem.)
---
_Ion doesn't notice that a modifier has been released
(in actions that use like `kpress_wait`, such as META+C,
or in “grabmenus”)._
This is most likely to be an X bug/keyboard misconfiguration,
when you have changed the “META” key of Ion to Mod4, or
something else that supposed has one of the Win-keys bound to
it. For some reason, some Xorg comes with some totally broken
stock keyboard layouts that define multiple keycodes for the
`Super_L` and such “keysyms”, one of them spurious. However,
various part of X or Xlib can not handle that, and report the
wrong keycode when queried.<sup>1</sup>
To check if this is the case, first run `xmodmap` to check
what key is bound to the Mod4 (or perhaps Mod3 depending
on the configuration) modifier. You may see a line like
this:
mod4 Super_L (0x7f), Hyper_L (0x80)
The number 0x7f=127 is the keycode, and this is highly likely
the wrong keycode. Check with `xmodmap -pke|grep Super_L`
to see what keycodes have `Super_L` bound to them. If you
see something like this, your keymap is misconfigured:
keycode 115 = Super_L
keycode 127 = NoSymbol Super_L
The keycode 115 is the keycode for the real left Win key,
and 127 is spurious. However, the modifier subsystem only
seems to see the latter. Putting the following commands
in `~/.Xmodmap` and runnning `xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap` should
fix the issue. You may also want/need to repeat for the
other Win keys (`Hyper_L` and 0x80=127 in our example case).
remove mod4 = Super_L
keycode 127 = NoSymbol
add mod4 = Super_L
(The `remove` command is needed for some reason to not confuse X.)
Unless your system configuration is totally weird (and I wouldn't
put it past systems built to run Gnome), next time you start X,
`~/.Xmodmap` should be loaded automatically. On a working modifier
configuration running `xmodmap` should display a line like below
(0x73 following `Super_L` being the important part).
mod4 Super_L (0x73)
---
<sup>1</sup> `XKeysymToKeycode` in particular can only
return one keycode. However, `XGetModifierMapping` should
be able to report more, but for some reason doesn't.
Maybe it uses the former.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.14
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=fi_FI.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Versions of packages xlibs-data depends on:
ii libx11-6 2:1.0.0-8 X11 client-side library
ii xbitmaps 1.0.1-2 Base X bitmaps
ii xcursor-themes 1.0.1-4 Base X cursor themes
xlibs-data recommends no packages.
-- no debconf information
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