Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 102668
keyboard desktop or app switching broken
Last modified: 2007-04-18 12:56:58 EDT
From Bugzilla Helper: User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030703 Description of problem: After upgrading all XFree86 packages in Severn to 4.3.0-20, using the keyboard to switch between virtual desktops (Ctrl-Alt-Arrow) or even between applications (Alt-Tab) has begun to display a very annoying problem. After the switch, even though I've already released all of the keys used for the switch, the window that popped up at the center of the screen containing the list of desktops or of apps remains, so you have to press and release Alt again in order for the application or desktop you've switched to to get focus. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): XFree86-4.3.0-20 How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1.Install Severn, upgrade XFree86* to 4.3.0-20 2.Enter Alt-Tab or Ctrl-Alt-Arrow, and release all of the keys Actual Results: The mini-window with the list of apps or desktops remains. You have to press and release alt for it to go away. I hope this is not a feature. Expected Results: I'd rather it behaved like -18, when the mini-window went away when I released the alt key. Additional info:
It actually gets much worse. If focus is configured to follow the mouse, Alt-Tab won't work at all. After Alt-Tab, focus is on the application switcher mini-window. Pressing Alt again for it to go away, focus follows mouse, regardless of which app you chose to switch to.
Ok, some of the bugfixes are going to have to be backed out. We'll have to pinpoint the one that is causing the problem, but I think I know which one it might be.
Just upgraded XFree86 to 4.3.0-21, same problem as with -20. If I go to "Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts" and try to assign the usual ALT-TAB shortcut to the "Move between windows with popup" action, only "Alt_L" is registered when I press ALT-TAB. It seems like ALT has lost it's modifier status, and is instead a normal key. I have these options in /etc/X11/XF86Config: Identifier "Keyboard0" Driver "keyboard" Option "XkbRules" "xfree86" Option "XkbModel" "pc105" Option "XkbLayout" "no" This used to work before I upgraded to XFree86-4.3.0-20
This is believed to be fixed now in 4.3.0-22. Please upgrade, and test, and reopen the report if the problem persists. Closing as RAWHIDE
installed the 4.3.0-22 rpms from ftp://people.redhat.com/mharris/testing/unstable/XFree86/4.3.0-22/ and the alt-tab problem is gone.
Ok, thanks for the update Joshua. Closing bug as fixed in XFree86 4.3.0-22 in rawhide.
The left Alt key indeed works, but the right Alt key still mis-behaves. I don't think this difference is intentional, is it?
Also have a look at bug #103051.
perhaps xmodmap output is enlightening?
'xkbcomp :0 output.xkb' output is probably more useful than xmodmap, which is a pale shadow of the keyboard configuration kept around for compatability purposes.
Fixed in 4.3.0-25, the Jumbo Tiger Shrimp(TM) edition