Bug#469837: libgtk2.0-0: Shortcuts do not match keymap

[Roland Mas]

Package: libgtk2.0-0
Version: 2.12.8-1
Severity: normal

I'm trying to improve my typing speed and reduce the stress in my
wrists and fingers, which involves switching to a Dvorak-like keymap.
For French, the only maintained keymap is the "bépo" one, which is the
one I'm therefore likely to choose (but the problem happens for
others, I'm just picking bépo for the sake of example).

  I'm used to the azerty keymap, which is my default keymap and goes
something like this:
,----
| azertyuiop^$
| qsdfghjklmù*
| <wxcvbn,;:!
`----

  The bépo keymap currently looks like this:
,----
| bépoèçvdlfjz
| auie,ctsnrm^
| êàhy.k'qgxw
`----

  Since I'm far from fluent in bépo yet, I keep both layouts, and
switch from one to the other depending on whether I need to type
something right now (azerty) or whether I can afford to type slowly
for some time (in which case I go hunt and peck on bépo).

  Unfortunately, Gtk apps don't seem to like me for doing that, and
the shortcuts for applications stick to where the keys are located in
azerty even when I'm using bépo.  For instance, if I want to select
all text in a Gtk app, I type Control-A, with A being the first letter
on the second row.  Unfortunately, Gtk interprets that as azerty,
where the first letter in the second row is Q.  So what actually gets
executed is Control-Q.  *Bam*, the application quits.  If I'm in a
shell and I want to Control-C to cancel the command I'm currently
typing, what actually happens is Control-J, and what I'm trying to
prevent from happening is executed.  Global keybindings are affected
too, so I need to type Control-Alt-N (N being where bépo stores it) to
lock my screen, since the shortcut is configured to be Control-Alt-L.

  That bug has been reported upstream as
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=162726 about three years
ago.  Apparently upstream doesn't want to fix that, claiming it's a
feature.  While I can understand their argument from a pure Gnome
point of view, I believe that behaviour should be considered a bug
(and fixed) in Debian.  My rationale is that Debian has always been
about integration, so it's very common to have Gtk apps running at the
same time as apps using other toolkits.  Having shortcuts as common as
Control-C on different keys depending on the application is extremely
confusing, as is the fact that typing a C and typing a Control-C
involve different keys.  This bug renders the ability to have several
keymaps useless, in my mind.

Roland.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.24-1-686 (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_FR.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages libgtk2.0-0 depends on:
ii  libatk1.0-0           1.20.0-1           The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libc6                 2.7-9              GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libcairo2             1.4.14-1           The Cairo 2D vector graphics libra
ii  libcomerr2            1.40.7-1           common error description library
ii  libcupsys2            1.3.6-1            Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - 
ii  libfontconfig1        2.5.0-2            generic font configuration library
ii  libglib2.0-0          2.14.6-1           The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgnutls26           2.2.2-1            the GNU TLS library - runtime libr
ii  libgtk2.0-common      2.12.8-1           Common files for the GTK+ graphica
ii  libjpeg62             6b-14              The Independent JPEG Group's JPEG 
ii  libkrb53              1.6.dfsg.3~beta1-3 MIT Kerberos runtime libraries
ii  libpango1.0-0         1.18.4-1           Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  libpng12-0            1.2.15~beta5-3     PNG library - runtime
ii  libtiff4              3.8.2-7            Tag Image File Format (TIFF) libra
ii  libx11-6              2:1.0.3-7          X11 client-side library
ii  libxcomposite1        1:0.4.0-1          X11 Composite extension library
ii  libxcursor1           1:1.1.9-1          X cursor management library
ii  libxdamage1           1:1.1.1-3          X11 damaged region extension libra
ii  libxext6              2:1.0.4-1          X11 miscellaneous extension librar
ii  libxfixes3            1:4.0.3-2          X11 miscellaneous 'fixes' extensio
ii  libxi6                2:1.1.3-1          X11 Input extension library
ii  libxinerama1          1:1.0.2-1          X11 Xinerama extension library
ii  libxrandr2            2:1.2.2-1          X11 RandR extension library
ii  libxrender1           1:0.9.4-1          X Rendering Extension client libra
ii  zlib1g                1:1.2.3.3.dfsg-11  compression library - runtime

Versions of packages libgtk2.0-0 recommends:
ii  hicolor-icon-theme            0.10-1     default fallback theme for FreeDes
ii  libgtk2.0-bin                 2.12.8-1   The programs for the GTK+ graphica

-- no debconf information