setting layout in keyboard layout tool doesn't work properly

*** Bug 21768 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

*** Bug 21769 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

whiskey tango foxtrot

As I mentioned in one duplicated bug, I'd first think about gconf - if settings
are lost between sessions,
gconf should have lost them somehow.

If the changes aren't saved, this seems like a GNOME issue, no?

Matt, I think it is a Gnome issue too, from what see.

Please have a look at what other users have reported, in bug 19159 , which I
think is a duplicate of this one.

I've been trying to get my keyboard layout set properly and I ended up running
'dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg'. Don't know where I went wrong, but I ended up
with a worse situation as before, where I was stuck with a layout where I
couldn't type *any* special characters and thus wasn't able to properly use the
console anymore. Rant. Rant.

Anyway, since I re-installed breezy-preview from cd again, I decided that I take
the chance to proceed a bit more systematically... I think it would help a lot
if I could do this interactively with a developer on IRC.

I wasn't lucky catching Sergey from gnome.org on IRC so far (different time
zone, I think) - he had suggested he could help.

Is there anyone else I can approach, preferably in the European time zone?

Here are some testing results.

I compare the information of:
[TEST A] # xprop -root | grep XKB
[TEST B] # gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd

Test order in which I proceeded:

STEP 1
------

Freshly installed breezy-preview (amd64)

--> During the installation process, I selected Language = English, Country =
Switzerland and Keyboard = Swiss german.
Unfortunately, the keyboard settings are lost once I login. I get an English
keyboard layout. This fault was found by someone else too, see bug 15142 .

STEP 2
------

I select my keyboard layout/variant ('ch, de_nodeadkeys') in 'preferences >
keyboard' (aka 'gnome-keyboard-properties').
I add the 'keyboard indicator' from the panel utilities.

--> While typing on keyboard works like a Swiss German layout, the keyboard
indicator strangely shows 'USA'

STEP 3
------

I toggle the keyboard indicator from 'USA' to 'Che'

--> To my merriment, while panel keyboard indicator shows 'Che', typing on
keyboard works like US layout.

----------------------
T E S T R E S U L T S
----------------------

Step 1: (freshly installed breezy-preview)
======

TEST A, RESULT:
---------------

$ xprop -root | grep XKB
_XKB_RULES_NAMES_BACKUP(STRING) = "xorg", "pc104", "us", "", ""
_XKB_RULES_NAMES(STRING) = "xorg", "pc104", "us", "", ""

TEST B, RESULT:
--------------

$ gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd
 layouts = []
 model =
 overrideSettings = true
 options = []

Step 2: (I set 'Switzerland, German, eliminate dead keys' in pref > keyboard)
======

TEST A, RESULT:
---------------

$ xprop -root | grep XKB
_XKB_RULES_NAMES_BACKUP(STRING) = "xorg", "pc104", "us", "", ""
_XKB_RULES_NAMES(STRING) = "xorg", "pc105", "ch,us", "de_nodeadkeys,",
"grp:alts_toggle"

TEST B, RESULT:
--------------

$ gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd
 layouts = [ch de_nodeadkeys,us]
 model = pc105
 options = [grp grp:alts_toggle]
 overrideSettings = true

Step 3: (I toggle keyboard indicator from 'USA' to 'Che')
======

TEST A, RESULT:
---------------

$ xprop -root | grep XKB
_XKB_RULES_NAMES_BACKUP(STRING) = "xorg", "pc104", "us", "", ""
_XKB_RULES_NAMES(STRING) = "xorg", "pc105", "ch,us", "de_nodeadkeys,",
"grp:alts_toggle"

TEST B, RESULT:
--------------

$ gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd
 layouts = [ch de_nodeadkeys,us]
 model = pc105
 options = [grp grp:alts_toggle]
 overrideSettings = true

Preliminary conclusions
========================

1.) gnome looses CD installer's keyboard settings
2.) 'gnome-keyboard-properties' doesn't work properly
3.) gnome panel 'keyboard indicator' only works for individual windows, rather
than globally, i.e. the whole desktop

Further questions
=================

Debugging question:
Where are the keyboard indicator's settings stored? How can I provide useful
info about them?

Scope question:
Are these issues related or do they need to be separated out?

Big question:
What's the meaning of life, the universe and the rest?

Well, after some investigation, here is my resume: it is X problem, not gnome,
not xkeyboard-config.

xkb_keymap {
        xkb_keycodes { include "xfree86+aliases(qwerty)" };
        xkb_types { include "complete" };
        xkb_compat { include "complete" };
        xkb_symbols { include "pc(pc105)+ch+group(alts_toggle)" };
        xkb_geometry { include "pc(pc104)" };
};

Put this stuff into badlayout.xkb, then:

xkbcomp badxkbmap.xkb :0.0

It fails with server-side error. So it is worth fixing on x server side. BTW,
this map successfully compiles to xkm. If you do

xkbcomp badxkbmap.xkb -xkm badxkbmap.xkm

it gives some warnings - but succeeds (and you can even xkbprint the result).

Phillip, could you please reassign it to xserver-xorg or something?

BTW, if instead of alts_toogle one uses rctrl_toggle - it works ok.

This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 21595.

Sorry, I think this bug was falsely marked as a duplicate of bug 21595 (which
was resolved). That bug is only addressing *one of the three issues* reported
here (and elsewhere). Thus I re-open it.

Quoting from my comment #8 :

1.) gnome looses CD installer's keyboard settings
2.) 'gnome-keyboard-properties' doesn't work properly
3.) gnome panel 'keyboard indicator' only works for individual windows, rather
than globally, i.e. the whole desktop

1 --> NOT FIXED, compare with comment #8 and also with bug 15142 and bug 19159
2 --> FIXED in bug 21595
3 --> CONFIGURATION ISSUE, compare with bug 19159 , comment #10

we cannot sensibly track multiple issues over the course of one bug. if you are
still hit by issue #1, please file it as a separate bug. issue #2 is obviously
a duplicate of #15372. issue #3 is a matter of policy, and if you do not like
it, please file a bug on gnome. re-closing as a dupe of 15372; if ou are still
hit by #1, please report a new bug on gnome.

This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 21595.