[Bug 1451282] [NEW] Alt key doesn't work in Vivid Vervet with Emacs

[Paul Eggert]

Public bug reported:

Emacs has a handy feature with the Alt key.  If I type, say "Control-X 8
' a", it's as if I typed "á", but once I've started doing that there's a
faster way to do it, namely, type "Alt-' a".  Unfortunately in Vivid
Vervet this doesn't seem to work: every time I type "Alt-'" Emacs acts
as if I typed "Meta-'", and similarly "Alt-x" is treated as if I typed
"Meta-x", and so on for every character, which means that Alt is
essentially useless.

I tried all the methods suggested on the net to work around this, and
none of them worked.  For example, the shell command 'xmodmap -pm'
reports:

xmodmap:  up to 4 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):

shift       Shift_L (0x32),  Shift_R (0x3e)
lock        Caps_Lock (0x42)
control     Control_L (0x25),  Caps_Lock (0x42),  Control_R (0x69)
mod1        Alt_L (0x40),  Alt_R (0x6c),  Meta_L (0xcd)
mod2        Num_Lock (0x4d)
mod3      
mod4        Super_L (0x85),  Super_R (0x86),  Super_L (0xce),  Hyper_L (0xcf)
mod5        ISO_Level3_Shift (0x5c),  Mode_switch (0xcb)

but when I type, for example, "xmodmap -e 'clear mod1'", it complains:

X Error of failed request:  BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation)
  Major opcode of failed request:  118 (X_SetModifierMapping)
  Value in failed request:  0x17
  Serial number of failed request:  8
  Current serial number in output stream:  8

Apparently this has something to do with the change to Wayland, which
deprecates xmodmap.  The Gnome keyboard settings UI doesn't let one
change how Alt works.  gnome-tweak-tool complains as follows when I try
to run it:

$ gnome-tweak-tool
WARNING : Shell not installed or running
WARNING : Error detecting shell
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gtweak/tweaks/tweak_group_shell_extensions.py", line 278, in __init__
    raise Exception("Shell not running or DBus service not available")
Exception: Shell not running or DBus service not available
WARNING : Shell not running
None
INFO    : GSettings missing key org.gnome.nautilus.desktop (key computer-icon-visible)


and if I ignore this and click on "Typing", I get a bunch of seemingly-helpful possibilities, none of which work (and, by the way, the menu choices are often unreadable).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04
Package: emacs (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-15.15-generic 3.19.3
Uname: Linux 3.19.0-15-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun May  3 17:10:40 2015
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-12-21 (863 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.5)
SourcePackage: emacs-defaults
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to vivid on 2015-04-24 (9 days ago)

** Affects: emacs-defaults (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug vivid

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1451282

Title:
  Alt key doesn't work in Vivid Vervet with Emacs

Status in emacs-defaults package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Emacs has a handy feature with the Alt key.  If I type, say "Control-X
  8 ' a", it's as if I typed "á", but once I've started doing that
  there's a faster way to do it, namely, type "Alt-' a".  Unfortunately
  in Vivid Vervet this doesn't seem to work: every time I type "Alt-'"
  Emacs acts as if I typed "Meta-'", and similarly "Alt-x" is treated as
  if I typed "Meta-x", and so on for every character, which means that
  Alt is essentially useless.

  I tried all the methods suggested on the net to work around this, and
  none of them worked.  For example, the shell command 'xmodmap -pm'
  reports:

  xmodmap:  up to 4 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):

  shift       Shift_L (0x32),  Shift_R (0x3e)
  lock        Caps_Lock (0x42)
  control     Control_L (0x25),  Caps_Lock (0x42),  Control_R (0x69)
  mod1        Alt_L (0x40),  Alt_R (0x6c),  Meta_L (0xcd)
  mod2        Num_Lock (0x4d)
  mod3      
  mod4        Super_L (0x85),  Super_R (0x86),  Super_L (0xce),  Hyper_L (0xcf)
  mod5        ISO_Level3_Shift (0x5c),  Mode_switch (0xcb)

  but when I type, for example, "xmodmap -e 'clear mod1'", it complains:

  X Error of failed request:  BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation)
    Major opcode of failed request:  118 (X_SetModifierMapping)
    Value in failed request:  0x17
    Serial number of failed request:  8
    Current serial number in output stream:  8

  Apparently this has something to do with the change to Wayland, which
  deprecates xmodmap.  The Gnome keyboard settings UI doesn't let one
  change how Alt works.  gnome-tweak-tool complains as follows when I
  try to run it:

  $ gnome-tweak-tool
  WARNING : Shell not installed or running
  WARNING : Error detecting shell
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gtweak/tweaks/tweak_group_shell_extensions.py", line 278, in __init__
      raise Exception("Shell not running or DBus service not available")
  Exception: Shell not running or DBus service not available
  WARNING : Shell not running
  None
  INFO    : GSettings missing key org.gnome.nautilus.desktop (key computer-icon-visible)

  
  and if I ignore this and click on "Typing", I get a bunch of seemingly-helpful possibilities, none of which work (and, by the way, the menu choices are often unreadable).

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04
  Package: emacs (not installed)
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-15.15-generic 3.19.3
  Uname: Linux 3.19.0-15-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: Unity
  Date: Sun May  3 17:10:40 2015
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-12-21 (863 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.5)
  SourcePackage: emacs-defaults
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to vivid on 2015-04-24 (9 days ago)

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