Bug#301015: capplets: Default keyboard layout defined in XF86Config-4 not honored

[browaeys.alban@wanadoo.fr, 301015@bugs.debian.org]

reopen 301015
reassign 301015 capplets
quit

Those looks like :
http://bugs.debian.org/296434

Though i had this problem and it is fixed for me , i have
confirmation from this report submitter that the problem still
exists.
And http://bugs.debian.org/301262 confirms it.

Though both reports apply to new intallations. 
I will try those to check even if it is a non sense. It may be an
unrelated issue, there are open bugs regarding keyboard capplets
failing . Those cases may prevent the code to reach the routine
that check the Xfree layout ...


Regards
Alban


Submitter confirmation:

On Wed, Apr 06, 2005 at 09:06:50PM +0200, Alban browaeys wrote:
> >      # gconftool-2 --direct --config-source \
> >      xml:readwrite:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults --type string --set \
> >      /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/xkb/layouts gb
> > 
> 
> That looks good. Did you gconftool-2 --shutdown (to avoid gconf session
> cache) before applying ? 
> Also this won't fix already broken gconf xkb config. This only change
> the defaults if the value is not defined.
> 
> This bug report looks close to yours ... but the submitter made a fuss
> and other confirmed, then it was finally patched:
> 
> capplets: Default keyboard layout defined in XF86Config-4 not honored
> http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=296434
> + Don't check the "options" key (closes: #296434).

Well, I have deleted all gnome software and reinstalled, but somehow
the problem persists.  Each user logging in for the first time gets
6-8 error messages of this type:

     Error activating XKB configuration.
     Probably internal X server problem.

     X server version data:
     The XFree86 Project, Inc
     40300001
     You are using XFree 4.3.0.
     There are known problems with complex XKB configurations.
     Try using simpler configuration or a newer version of the XFree software.
     If you report this situation as a bug, please include:
     - The result of xprop -root | grep XKB
     - The result of gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/xkb

And these commands produce this output:

     # xprop -root | grep XKB
     _XKB_RULES_NAMES_BACKUP(STRING) = "xfree86", "pc105", "gb", "", ""
     _XKB_RULES_NAMES(STRING) = "xfree86", "pc105", "gb", "", ""
     # gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/xkb
      layouts = gb

So the problem persists somehow even when gnome is completely reinstalled.
By going into Desktop->Keyboard->Layout one user finds no layout is
defined, and by changing this to United Kingdom, that user has no
further problems.  But unfortunately the general problem persists,
even when I run the commands you suggested:

     # gconftool-2 --shutdown
     # gconftool-2 -type list --set /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/xkb/layouts gb
     # xprop -root | grep XKB
     _XKB_RULES_NAMES_BACKUP(STRING) = "xfree86", "pc105", "gb", "", ""
     _XKB_RULES_NAMES(STRING) = "xfree86", "pc105", "gb", "", ""
     # gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/xkb
      layouts = gb

Thanks for your time, and I should be very grateful for any suggestions
about possible ways to get gnome back working without making all
3000-odd users reconfigure their keyboards on every machine!

     -- Owen