Bug 456037

Description of problem:

I like to configure my left Windows key to Super_L, which I noticed was the
default in Fedora 9 (as reported by xev), so I didn't set the GNOME
System->Preferences->Hardware->Keyboard->Layouts->Layout Options->Alt/Win key
behavior->Super is mapped to the Win-keys option. I then set my
System->Preferences->Look and Feel->Windows->Movement Key->Super option because
that's how I like to move my windows around.

The problem is that sometimes the super key just doesn't work. I see this in
emacs as well, where I use super as a prefix for many commands. For example,
emacs doesn't see s-r (super and r together) but instead just sees r. It's as if
the super key isn't being pressed at all. Using super to drag windows around
also doesn't work when this happens, and this happens more often than not. If I
change the keyboard model in the keyboard layouts screen, it generally starts to
work again, though for how long, I am not certain. It seems fairly sporadic.

I just discovered that setting the "Super is mapped to the Win-keys" option
seems to fix my problem, though I have not used it long enough to verify that
the problem will not reappear.

Here is what I see with xmodmap:

Default layout options (except that Compose key position is set to "Right
Win-key is Compose)"

[phiggins@xeno ~]$ xmodmap -pm 
xmodmap:  up to 3 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):

shift       Shift_L (0x32),  Shift_R (0x3e)
lock        Caps_Lock (0x42)
control     Control_L (0x25),  Control_R (0x6d)
mod1        Alt_L (0x40),  Alt_R (0x71),  Meta_L (0x9c)
mod2        Num_Lock (0x4d)
mod3      
mod4        Super_L (0x7f),  Hyper_L (0x80)
mod5        Mode_switch (0x5d),  ISO_Level3_Shift (0x7c)

[phiggins@xeno ~]$ xmodmap -pke | grep Super
keycode 115 = Super_L
keycode 127 = NoSymbol Super_L


Here's the xmodmap output when I set the "Super is mapped to the Win-keys" option:

[phiggins@xeno ~]$ xmodmap -pm 
xmodmap:  up to 3 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):

shift       Shift_L (0x32),  Shift_R (0x3e)
lock        Caps_Lock (0x42)
control     Control_L (0x25),  Control_R (0x6d)
mod1        Alt_L (0x40),  Alt_R (0x71),  Meta_L (0x9c)
mod2        Num_Lock (0x4d)
mod3      
mod4        Super_L (0x73),  Super_L (0x7f),  Hyper_L (0x80)
mod5        Mode_switch (0x5d),  ISO_Level3_Shift (0x7c)

[phiggins@xeno ~]$ xmodmap -pke | grep Super
keycode 115 = Super_L
keycode 127 = NoSymbol Super_L


I think the difference must be attributable to the "mod4 Super_L (0x73)" bit
that is missing when it fails to work. Why are there two numeric values for Super_L?

Of course, now that I've been fiddling with it, I have gone back to the default
setting that was problematic and it is working again, even with the above modmap
values. This is making me crazy!

I have been having this problem with previous Fedora releases, too. I cannot
remember when I first started having the problem, but I have always upgraded by
formatting everything but my home partition, and then I have tended to delete my
.gnome and .gconf directories whenever I upgrade, but I may have missed
something and am carrying around some old configuration value that is causing
problems.