[Bug 520546] Re: Alt+KEY incorrectly behaves like Ctrl+Alt+KEY, and/or unwanted VT switch from Alt+Left/Right

Thu May 2 14:34:42 UTC 2019

Verified 1.178ubuntu2.9 on Bionic:

rbalint at yogi:~/projects/deb/unattended-upgrades$ sudo kbd_mode
The keyboard is in some unknown mode
rbalint at yogi:~$ sudo apt install console-setup console-setup-linux keyboard-configuration
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  console-setup console-setup-linux keyboard-configuration
3 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 67 not upgraded.
Need to get 1.456 kB of archives.
After this operation, 1.024 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://mirrors.ubuntu.com/mirrors.txt Mirrorlist [171 B]
Ign:2 http://quantum-mirror.hu/mirrors/pub/ubuntu bionic-proposed/main amd64 console-setup-linux all 1.178ubuntu2.9
Ign:4 http://ftp.fsn.hu/ubuntu bionic-proposed/main amd64 keyboard-configuration all 1.178ubuntu2.9
Ign:3 http://mirror.niif.hu/ubuntu bionic-proposed/main amd64 console-setup all 1.178ubuntu2.9
Ign:4 http://quantum-mirror.hu/mirrors/pub/ubuntu bionic-proposed/main amd64 keyboard-configuration all 1.178ubuntu2.9
Ign:3 http://quantum-mirror.hu/mirrors/pub/ubuntu bionic-proposed/main amd64 console-setup all 1.178ubuntu2.9
Get:2 http://hu.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-proposed/main amd64 console-setup-linux all 1.178ubuntu2.9 [982 kB]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-proposed/main amd64 keyboard-configuration all 1.178ubuntu2.9 [369 kB]
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-proposed/main amd64 console-setup all 1.178ubuntu2.9 [105 kB]
Fetched 1.456 kB in 1s (1.274 kB/s)
Reading changelogs... Done
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 391247 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../console-setup-linux_1.178ubuntu2.9_all.deb ...
Unpacking console-setup-linux (1.178ubuntu2.9) over (1.178ubuntu2.8) ...
Preparing to unpack .../console-setup_1.178ubuntu2.9_all.deb ...
Unpacking console-setup (1.178ubuntu2.9) over (1.178ubuntu2.8) ...
Preparing to unpack .../keyboard-configuration_1.178ubuntu2.9_all.deb ...
Unpacking keyboard-configuration (1.178ubuntu2.9) over (1.178ubuntu2.8) ...
Setting up keyboard-configuration (1.178ubuntu2.9) ...
Your console font configuration will be updated the next time your system
boots. If you want to update it now, run 'setupcon' from a virtual console.
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for systemd (237-3ubuntu10.21) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2ubuntu0.1) ...
Setting up console-setup-linux (1.178ubuntu2.9) ...
Setting up console-setup (1.178ubuntu2.9) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.130ubuntu3.7) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.18.0-18-generic
rbalint at yogi:~$ sudo kbd_mode
The keyboard is in some unknown mode

** Tags removed: verification-needed-bionic
** Tags added: verification-done-bionic

** Tags removed: verification-needed
** Tags added: verification-done

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/520546

Title:
  Alt+KEY incorrectly behaves like Ctrl+Alt+KEY, and/or unwanted VT
  switch from Alt+Left/Right

Status in console-setup package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in kbd package in Ubuntu:
  In Progress
Status in xorg-server package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid
Status in console-setup source package in Xenial:
  Confirmed
Status in kbd source package in Xenial:
  Confirmed
Status in xorg-server source package in Xenial:
  Confirmed
Status in console-setup source package in Bionic:
  Fix Committed
Status in kbd source package in Bionic:
  Confirmed
Status in linux source package in Bionic:
  Confirmed
Status in xorg-server source package in Bionic:
  Invalid
Status in console-setup source package in Cosmic:
  Fix Committed
Status in kbd source package in Cosmic:
  Confirmed
Status in linux source package in Cosmic:
  Confirmed
Status in xorg-server source package in Cosmic:
  Invalid
Status in console-setup source package in Disco:
  Fix Committed
Status in kbd source package in Disco:
  Confirmed
Status in linux source package in Disco:
  Confirmed
Status in xorg-server source package in Disco:
  Invalid
Status in console-setup source package in Eoan:
  Fix Released
Status in kbd source package in Eoan:
  In Progress
Status in linux source package in Eoan:
  Confirmed
Status in xorg-server source package in Eoan:
  Invalid

Bug description:
  (console-setup)
  [Impact]

   * keyboard-configuration's postinst changes keyboard mode breaking X
  keys.

  [Test Case]

   * Ssh to a system or open a terminal and unset DISPLAY

      $ echo $DISPLAY

      $

   * Check kbd mode, should be raw (set by kbd_mode -s) or unknown:
     $ sudo kbd_mode
     The keyboard is in some unknown mode
     $ sudo kbd_mode
     The keyboard is in raw (scancode) mode
     $

     On Xenial X runs on VT7 thus the graphical environment is not affected in the default configuration, but the keyboard-configuration postinst maintaner script still changes mode on vt1-6, thus at the beginning set VT1 to raw mode to observe the change:
     $  sudo kbd_mode -s -C /dev/tty1
     $ sudo kbd_mode -C /dev/tty1
     The keyboard is in raw (scancode) mode

   * Install or reinstall kbd-configuration

     $ sudo apt install --reinstall keyboard-configuration
     ...
     Setting up keyboard-configuration (1.178ubuntu11) ...
     Your console font configuration will be updated the next time your system
     boots. If you want to update it now, run 'setupcon' from a virtual console.
     ...

   * With the fixed package you should see the note above and the kbd
  mode must stay the same (on Xenial check VT1: sudo kbd_mode -C
  /dev/tty1):

     $ sudo kbd_mode
     The keyboard is in raw (scancode) mode
     $

   * The unfixed package sets the kbd mode to unicode:

     $  sudo kbd_mode
     The keyboard is in Unicode (UTF-8) mode
     $

  [Regression Potential]

   * The change may break debian-installer changing the keyboard mode, this should also be tested.
   * In general changing the postinst script may make the package unable to install, but this is tested in generic environment and the change to the postinst script is very small.

  [Original Bug Text]
  WORKAROUND:

  sudo kbd_mode -s

  ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:

  I'm running Ubuntu Lucid development branch.

  Pressing alt-f2 switches the screen to the second virtual terminal.
  Alt-f3 does the same to the third and so on. I expected alt-f2 to open
  the run dialog.

  I'm pretty sure that my keyboard is not malfunctioning as I can use
  all my applications normally. (Pressing O and Ctrl-O do not have the
  same effect.)

  I'm not sure which package I should file this bug against. I'll
  happily do an apport-collect once I know.

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