Bug#590534: gdm3 changes xkb

[Cyril Brulebois]

Josselin Mouette <joss at debian.org> (18/12/2010):
> I don’t think it’s possible, unless you have fiddled with the
> GDM_PARENT_DISPLAY variable.

Indeed, using set -x, adding some echo to a temporary file, or
checking various gdm log files will confirm that. To make sure, one
can even move setxkbmap and xmodmap out of $PATH, the same behaviour
will happen again and again.

> Regardless, it only does something for nested sessions. This code
> does *nothing* for regular sessions.

The truth is out there.

To witness the issue:
 * Set some options in /etc/default/keyboard
   - Example: XKBOPTIONS="terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
   - Read keyboard-configuration's README.Debian and use the udevadm
     magic to get that taken into account.
 * Restart gdm3.
 * In a root shell:
     XAUTHORITY=$(find /var/run/gdm3 -name database|head -1) DISPLAY=:0 setxkbmap -print
 * See the terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp in xkb_symbols.
 * Start a session.
 * Run the setxkbmap -print again (directly in a shell in the session,
   or the same command as previously from the same shell), options are
   gone.

Now, looking at anything mentioning "layout" in the code, it looks
like there's some signal to handle layout updates. Let's check that
hypothesis.

New protocol:
 * Restart gdm3.
 * Make sure the options are set appropriately.
 * Pick a user.
 * Pick another layout. Say dvorak if you're using azerty, or the
   other way round.
 * Check the options. Tada, gone.

I suspect the same somehow happens when the session is started. Like
“let's set the layout anyway, just to make sure”, and tada the fuckup
happens. I'll try and look closer, but gnome+dbus+gdm isn't exactly my
cup of coffee…

I'm tempted to raise the severity, it's really fucking up people's XKB
settings, even when no such layout changes happen before starting a
session. :(

KiBi.
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