xmodmap modifications don't survive switching out of crouton

[aspergerish]

xmodmap modifications don't survive switching back to ChromeOS then back to Unity.

also, .Xmodmap doesnt seem to work, and I am using xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap to map the keys

ubuntu trusty using unity.

[drinkcat]

Can you post the output of croutonversion, as well as a sample xmodmap mapping that is not kept when switching back and forth?

[aspergerish]

croutonversion output

crouton: version 1-20140609202643~master:3c241c94
release: trusty 
architecture: amd64
targets: unity 
host: version 5841.83.0 (Official Build) stable-channel peppy 

.Xmodmap contents

remove mod4 = Super_L
add control = Super_L

pardon me if I am doing something stupid...

[drinkcat]

pardon me if I am doing something stupid...

Not at all ,-) I'll try to reproduce and let you know.

[drinkcat]

Indeed, keyboard layout is reset on trusty/unity on VT change, which will reset your xmodmap modifications among other things:

$ setxkbmap -layout ch
$ setxkbmap -print
...
        xkb_symbols   { include "pc+ch+inet(evdev)"     };
...

Then cycle to Chrome OS and back:

$ setxkbmap -print
...
        xkb_symbols   { include "pc+us+inet(evdev)"     };
...

trusty/xfce does not have that problem. precise/xfce is also fine.

[drinkcat]

Running gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.keyboard active false fixes the problem (this bug probably also affects gnome).

However, you will also lose keyboard layout switching through the UI, so I don't think we want this by default...

[dnschneid]

Maybe put that workaround in the wiki? We definitely don't want it by default.

[drinkcat]

Updated the wiki (https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton/wiki/Keyboard).

I'm wondering if there is a better fix for this issue, can we leave it open?

[dnschneid]

Sure.

[Paumanok]

I apologize if this comment is superfluous but I'm having continual issues with this.

Before installing gnome3 along side xfce, I did not have this issue. I attempted the workaround and it worked until a reboot and then the xkb mapping was reset again. I just added the workaround and the xkb mapping to the startup applications.

[dnschneid]

@drinkcat, what do you want to do about this?

[drinkcat]

Well, probably nothing at this stage. We should report/fix it upstream, though.

[Sunappnio]

Well, for any one who want to remap two keys, I have found a simple way
sudo vi /usr/share/X11/xkb/keycodes/evdev (you can make a bakup before doing this)
sudo rm /var/lib/xkb/* (to clear cache)
and then restart the chroot.