Disappearing keyboard layouts

nickman · 2012-02-19 16:10:58

Hi there

I have this problem with the xfce4-xkb-plugin, that on random occassions it drops/looses the keyboard layouts other than the default one.

Sometimes this happens when I directly click on the button, or just change between the windows, or use the shortcut. I'd prefer the 'per window' option, yet I tried all the 'manage layouts' still no success and the layouts disappear.

On my previous installation I had the same problem like this guy had - the plugin completely gone: http://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=5998

Now I'm using 0.5.4.3 and so far the plugin has never gone completely but the above problem of loosing the layouts still exist.

I'm using Debian Wheezy (2012.01.27.), 3.1.0-1-486 kernel, Xfce 4.8.0.3

Any suggestions are welcomed and let me know if you need some logs.

nm

nickman · 2012-02-25 16:33:25

It looks like either I'm the only one in the world who uses multiple keyboard layouts in XFCE, or the only one who has this problem.

cipricus · 2012-02-25 19:10:26

You are not the only one having this problem, far from that, this plug-in is very well known for this issue. It is said that it has no ability of keeping the settings when you change the session. But in my case a certain set of layouts (that I would like to change) was invariably loaded when I logged out/in, no matter whether I had saved my session or not.
I use Xubuntu myself but the problem may be similar to yours: you say some layouts disappear. Are they always the same that disappear? I have one that reappears after I delete it and then log out and in. That is, a certain saved session was invariably loaded (but regarding only this plugin) no matter what session I chose. Is like I involuntarily have succeeded in saving a certain layouts set, but the wrong one.

I found two files involved in this:
/home/user/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/keyboard-layout.xml
and
/home/user/.config/xfce4/panel/xkb-plugin-43.rc

I have seen that the second has the options that are created when you change settings but are not saved on session logout
The first has the settings that are saved between sessions and that I needed to change. I found that after changing these settings my layouts and my toggle buttons are saved when I restart session.

Maybe you have errors in these files? They should look like this:
the second one:

display_type=1
group_policy=2
default_group=0
never_modify_config=false
model=pc105
layouts=us,ro,fr
variants=,std,
toggle_option=grp:alt_shift_toggle
compose_key_position=

and the first:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

Last edited by cipricus (2012-02-26 01:59:54)

secipolla · 2012-02-25 20:44:20

I don't use it nor do I have more than one keyboard layout enabled, but a quick search in Debian's repository returned a few apps for that:
gxneur, xxkb, fbxkb, xkbind

nickman · 2012-02-26 22:09:36

Hello cipricus and secipolla thanks for the help.

I checked the files mentioned and updated my keyboards.xml as the Xkb properties were missing. My xkb-plugin-16.rc was correctly created when I added the plugin to the panel. The difference seems now is that the layouts don't disappear but they randomly default back to US.

What happens is for example:
- I have an Iceweasel window with US
- I change to a gedit window and set "latam" Spanish with deadtilde
- I change back to the Iceweasel window, actually don't do anything than browsing: opening/closing new tabs, I don't even type into the window
- after random amount of time I change back to gedit and it's US, not LATAM anymore

Later I realized that the latam with deadtilde looks to be buggy, as if I click on this, XFCE drops a "Plugin "Keyboard Layouts" unexpectedly left the panel, do you want to restart it?" message. Google gives some recent relevant results but since I have different version, the patch doesn't help: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/899290

As a workaround for this if I use the "es" layout and not "latam" at least the plugin doesn't crash.

But the random defaulting to US still happens regardless to if I use the manage layout is per-window or per-application, etc.

The ~/.xsession-errors doesn't say anything, any other idea to look around at least for logs?

cipricus · 2012-02-27 17:36:36

This plugin is buggy, no doubt about that. But I think this "bug" is different from the one to which I found a workaround. I'm out of my league already - I just found an empiric answer and shared it here. But yes, I noticed that the layout gets back to us when I use different apps as you described. No answer yet.

ipolevoy · 2012-04-26 02:39:56

I had the same problem, and have found a quick workaround. If you execute this command:
setxkbmap -print

you will get a list of installed layouts. I have installed two:
us
and
ru(phonetic)

Setting a layout is easy:
setxkbmap us
or
setxkbmap "ru(phonetic)"

Now, I still use the xfce4-xkb-plugin, but only as an indicator. After I figured this out, I created two scripts and wired then to keyboard shortcuts.
I hope this is helpful to someone
cheers

Rayonant · 2013-06-02 04:33:54

cipricus wrote:

You are not the only one having this problem, far from that, this plug-in is very well known for this issue. It is said that it has no ability of keeping the settings when you change the session. But in my case a certain set of layouts (that I would like to change) was invariably loaded when I logged out/in, no matter whether I had saved my session or not.
I use Xubuntu myself but the problem may be similar to yours: you say some layouts disappear. Are they always the same that disappear? I have one that reappears after I delete it and then log out and in. That is, a certain saved session was invariably loaded (but regarding only this plugin) no matter what session I chose. Is like I involuntarily have succeeded in saving a certain layouts set, but the wrong one.
I found two files involved in this:
/home/user/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/keyboard-layout.xml
and
/home/user/.config/xfce4/panel/xkb-plugin-43.rc
I have seen that the second has the options that are created when you change settings but are not saved on session logout
The first has the settings that are saved between sessions and that I needed to change. I found that after changing these settings my layouts and my toggle buttons are saved when I restart session.
Maybe you have errors in these files? They should look like this:
the second one:
display_type=1
group_policy=2
default_group=0
never_modify_config=false
model=pc105
layouts=us,ro,fr
variants=,std,
toggle_option=grp:alt_shift_toggle
compose_key_position=
and the first:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<channel name="keyboard-layout" version="1.0">
<property name="Default" type="empty">
<property name="XkbDisable" type="bool" value="false"/>
<property name="XkbLayout" type="string" value="us,fr,ro"/>
<property name="XkbVariant" type="string" value=",std"/>
</property>
</channel>

¡Thanks a lot Cirpicus! your solution worked for me, I edited my /home/user/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/keyboards.xml to match the one you showed and the problem was solved.

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#1 2012-02-19 16:10:58

Disappearing keyboard layouts

#2 2012-02-25 16:33:25

Re: Disappearing keyboard layouts

#3 2012-02-25 19:10:26

Re: Disappearing keyboard layouts

#4 2012-02-25 20:44:20

Re: Disappearing keyboard layouts

#5 2012-02-26 22:09:36

Re: Disappearing keyboard layouts

#6 2012-02-27 17:36:36

Re: Disappearing keyboard layouts

#7 2012-04-26 02:39:56

Re: Disappearing keyboard layouts

#8 2013-06-02 04:33:54

Re: Disappearing keyboard layouts

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