Bug#301015: gconf2: Problem changing default keyboard layout

[Dr A V Le Blanc]

Package: gconf2
Version: 2.8.1-4
Severity: normal
Tags: l10n



-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i586)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.11
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)

Versions of packages gconf2 depends on:
ii  libatk1.0-0                 1.8.0-4      The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libc6                       2.3.2.ds1-20 GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii  libgconf2-4                 2.8.1-4      GNOME configuration database syste
ii  libglib2.0-0                2.6.3-1      The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgtk2.0-0                 2.6.2-4      The GTK+ graphical user interface 
ii  liborbit2                   1:2.10.5-0.1 libraries for ORBit2 - a CORBA ORB
ii  libpango1.0-0               1.8.1-1      Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  libpopt0                    1.7-5        lib for parsing cmdline parameters
ii  libxml2                     2.6.16-3     GNOME XML library
ii  zlib1g                      1:1.2.2-3    compression library - runtime

-- no debconf information

We are using gnome on machines whose XF86Config-4 correctly specifies the
keyboard layout (gb), so that if you use a different window manager
and don't use gnome software, you get the correct characters when you
type.  But with gnome-session it overrides the XF86 configured layout
and reverts to the US keyboard.

Each user can of course set this using the desktop preferences -> keyboard
tool, but as we have a few thousand users, they find this very irritating.

I have tried to override the false default by using the commands:

     # gconftool-2 --type string --set /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/xkb/layouts "gb"
     # gconftool-2 --type boolean --set /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/xkb/overrideSettings false

But this appears to produce a further problem: when any user logs in, he
gets an error message:

     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     Try using simpler configuration or a newer version of the XFree software.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

I have given these commands and obtained the following results:

     # 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
      model = pc105
      overrideSettings = false
      options = []
      update_handlers = []

Because of this bug, we are currently discouraging users from using
gnome-session.

     -- Owen
     LeBlanc@mcc.ac.uk