Ubuntu
xfce4-settings package

cannot switching keyboard layout with xfce4-keyboard-settings

Bug #1805197 reported by Ulli Horlacher on 2018-11-26

This bug affects 4 people

	Status	Importance	Assigned to
Xfce4 Settings	Confirmed	Medium	xfce-bugs #14185
libxklavier (Ubuntu)	Confirmed	Low	Unassigned
xfce4-settings (Ubuntu)	Triaged	Undecided	Unassigned

Bug Description

This is on xubuntu 18.04:

With xfce4-keyboard-settings I have loaded the keyboard layouts "English (US)" and "German".
Both are listed in the "Keybord layout" table.
When I change the order with [key up] or [key down] nothing happens, I still have the old keyboard layout active.
To switch the layout I have to DELETE the other one!
This was not the case with xubuntu 16.04: just changing the order was sufficent there.

Revision history for this message

In Xfce Bugzilla #14185, Schnitzeltony (schnitzeltony) wrote on 2018-01-22:

It is very long time since this came in for me (4.10 -> 4.12 but I am not sure). Changing keyboard layout with enabled debug messages shows:

xfce4-settings(keyboard-layout): set layouts to "us,de"
xfce4-settings(keyboard-layout): set layouts to "de,us"

but layout remains unchanged. Looking into the code, it seems everything works fine: The message is created by 'xfce_keyboard_layout_helper_set' and the values in the debug message look correct.
Up to now I worked around this by adding xfce4-xkb-plugin in panel and select the 'global'-change option.

I have this problem on all my machines (Fedora / Openembedded-built) and have

* xfce4-settings 4.12.1
* libxklavier 5.4

installed.

What makes me wonder is that it seems I am the only one having this issue - I did not find any bugs for this issue...

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater) on 2018-11-26

Changed in xfce4-settings:
importance:	Unknown → Medium
status:	Unknown → Confirmed

Revision history for this message

Theo Linkspfeifer (lastonestanding) wrote on 2018-11-27:

This bug is not present anymore after downgrading the libxklavier package to the version from xenial (5.4-0ubuntu2).

Revision history for this message

Theo Linkspfeifer (lastonestanding) wrote on 2018-11-27:

Building the libxklavier package with the dropped revert-default-group-change.patch file resolves the problem.

http://launchpadlibrarian.net/282996317/libxklavier_5.4-0ubuntu2_5.4-1.diff.gz

Revision history for this message

Theo Linkspfeifer (lastonestanding) wrote on 2018-11-28:

revert-default-group-change.patch Edit (528 bytes, text/plain)

Revision history for this message

In Xfce Bugzilla #14185, Theo Linkspfeifer (lastonestanding) wrote on 2018-11-28:

Launchpad report:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xfce4-settings/+bug/1805197

Revision history for this message

In Xfce Bugzilla #14185, Schnitzeltony (schnitzeltony) wrote on 2018-11-29:

I tested. Thanks so much for fixing this!

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Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote on 2018-11-29:

Thank you for your bug report, if it's a libxklavier issue then it should be reported upstream on https://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi

Changed in libxklavier (Ubuntu):
importance:	Undecided → Low

Revision history for this message

Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote on 2018-11-29:

The patch you mentioned as dropped by doko in this sync,
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libxklavier/5.4-1

Matthias, what was the rational to drop that change?

Revision history for this message

Ulli Horlacher (framstag) wrote on 2018-11-29: Re: [Bug 1805197] Re: cannot switching keyboard layout with xfce4-keyboard-settings

On Thu 2018-11-29 (09:50), Sebastien Bacher wrote:
> Thank you for your bug report, if it's a libxklavier issue then it
> should be reported upstream on
> https://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi

Don't know about libxklavier - what is it?
Nevertheless it is a bug in (x)ubuntu!
So, you (the distributor) should fix it or at least notify the original
source maintainer!

--
Ullrich Horlacher Server und Virtualisierung
Rechenzentrum TIK
Universitaet Stuttgart E-Mail: <email address hidden>
Allmandring 30a Tel: ++49-711-68565868
70569 Stuttgart (Germany) WWW: http://www.tik.uni-stuttgart.de/
REF:<email address hidden>

Revision history for this message

Theo Linkspfeifer (lastonestanding) wrote on 2018-12-04:

#10

It is a library for keyboard layout handling. The Ubuntu package used to include a patch which apparently fixes the problem with xfce4-keyboard-settings.

Old upstream report:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47671

Revision history for this message

Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2019-01-01:

#11

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in libxklavier (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Confirmed
Changed in xfce4-settings (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Confirmed

Revision history for this message

Jane Atkinson (irihapeti) wrote on 2020-04-11:

#13

This bug seems still to be present in Xubuntu 20.04

To be able to switch keyboard layouts after reboot (or logout), I need to go to keyboard settings, change the keyboard layout switch key to something else (and then back again, though that's not absolutely necessary).

It's not so bad on my main machine, because that tends to be left running for days at a time, but on a laptop I imagine it would be really frustrating.

Revision history for this message

Serhii Melnyk (ingodwetrust2) wrote on 2021-06-15:

#14

This bug seems still to be present in Xubuntu 21.04

found some kind of workaround:
1) install x11-xkb-utils
2) make desktop launchers for commands for languages you need("setxkbmap us", "setxkbmap ua", "setxkbmap ru" etc., with short file names like en, ua, ru etc.
3) drag them to panel
3) in the properties the launcher on on the panel --> (tricky, looks like empty space)--> advanced tab select option "Show label instead of icon"

Have a nice day :)

Sean Davis (bluesabre) on 2022-03-11

Changed in xfce4-settings (Ubuntu):
status:	Confirmed → Triaged

Revision history for this message

Jane Atkinson (irihapeti) wrote on 2022-10-06:

#15

This bug seems to be solved in Xubuntu 22.04.

Revision history for this message

Joe Bayes (jbayes) wrote on 2023-02-15:

#16

I'm still seeing the bug in a clean install of Xubuntu 22.04.1

...with additional problems that I assume are related, such as choosing "change layout option" to be "both alt together" lets me switch from the second layout in my list to the first layout, but not from the first layout back to the second layout.