Bug 71437 - Dead keys not working
Summary: Dead keys not working
Status: REOPENED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Libreoffice (show other bugs)
Version: 4.1.2.3 release
Hardware: Other Linux (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard: BSA
Keywords:
: 82787 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2013-11-09 21:13 UTC by Bart Deruyter
Modified: 2014-12-12 10:59 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
i915 platform:
i915 features:


Attachments

Description Bart Deruyter 2013-11-09 21:13:16 UTC
Problem description: 

Steps to reproduce:
1. fresh install of libreoffice, language dutch, keyboard settings    in KDE set to Belgian default.
2. create new document
3. try to type ruïnes

Current behavior: results in runes or ru nes

Expected behavior: ruïnes

Conclusion: dead keys not working, tested in other applications, they all work, so keyboard settings are correct, only not for libreoffice.

              
Operating System: Linux (Other)
Version: 4.1.2.3 release
Comment 1 Urmas 2013-11-09 23:12:10 UTC
Does it work with US-International layout?
Does it work with a sane DE?
Comment 2 tommy27 2013-11-10 05:46:28 UTC
try upgrading to 4.1.3 as well.
Comment 3 Bart Deruyter 2013-11-10 06:52:36 UTC
Running KDE 4.11.2

Workaround found: uninstall libreoffice-kde integration.
The core of the issue should then be found in the libreoffice-kde package.
Comment 4 Tristan Miller 2014-02-07 16:50:52 UTC
This is possibly a duplicate of Bug 39407.
Comment 5 Tristan Miller 2014-02-07 17:02:54 UTC
I can reproduce this problem with LibreOffice 4.1.4.2 (KDE 4.12.1, openSUSE 13.1).  This must have started after a fairly recent upgrade, as I use dead keys in LibreOffice all the time but only noticed the problem now.

Uninstalling the libreoffice-kde4 package as suggested in Comment #3 doesn't work around the problem for me.

The problem has also been reported repeatedly on Ask LibreOffice:
http://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/14956/dead-keys-wont-work/
http://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/19326/no-dead-keys-in-libreoffice-but-ok-in-other-apps/

As with Bug 39407 I suspect this problem has something to do with IBUS.  There are reports lately that many other applications (Skype, etc.) stop responding to dead keys according to the presence or absence of certain IBUS packages.  The following bug reports may be relevant:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ibus/+bug/335732
https://code.google.com/p/ibus/issues/detail?id=526
Comment 6 Federico Kereki 2014-06-16 00:46:50 UTC
I can verify this problem, with the spanish language; dead keys stop working, and you cannot enter accented characters.

From information gleaned elsewhere, the solution is invoking LibreOffice as follows:

unset XMODIFIERS && libreoffice4.2 &
Comment 7 Tristan Miller 2014-06-16 08:33:23 UTC
The workaround from Comment 6 works for me too.  Thanks!
Comment 8 Tristan Miller 2014-06-16 08:35:48 UTC
Oh, I should add that before unsetting XMODIFIERS its value on my system was "@im=ibus", which seems to support my suspicions in Comment 5 that this problem is something to do with IBUS.
Comment 9 Urmas 2014-08-21 11:54:36 UTC
*** Bug 82787 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 10 foss 2014-10-30 19:42:15 UTC
Why is this unconfirmed if a second user has reproduced the problem and a third user has opend a second bug now marked duplicate? Setting to NEW.

Everybody running into this, please re-test with 4.3.3.2 and see if this is still happening.
Comment 11 Tristan Miller 2014-10-31 08:35:30 UTC
LibreOffice 4.3.3.2 isn't yet packaged by my distribution.  However, I did retest with LibreOffice 4.3.2.2 (KDE 4.14.2, openSUSE 13.1) and was no longer able to reproduce the problem.  So for me dead keys are working again, even with XMODIFIERS set to @im=ibus.
Comment 12 Tristan Miller 2014-10-31 08:42:04 UTC
Actually, I should clarify that dead keys work *in general* – there are still some problems with specific combinations which lead to incorrect compositions.  For example, AltGr+' c produces ç instead of ć as expected.

This has been reported on the bug trackers of various GNU/Linux distributions (see for example <https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=869133> and <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=917130>.

Is this something I should file a new bug for here, maybe in the xorg package?  The problem is that I'm not sure whether it's X.Org or some other component which is causing the problem.
Comment 13 tommy27 2014-10-31 09:53:52 UTC
Ok let's label this as RESOLVED WORKSFORME
feel free to report that bug in the xorg bugzilla
Comment 14 gustavo 2014-11-26 15:14:38 UTC
I confirm this bug on Ubuntu 14.04 and I the confirm workaround from Federico Kereki to work.

From the comments it doesn't seem clear who should fix this bug. Are we sure about which component is failing?

If nothing is lost from using 

unset XMODIFIERS

should libreoffice ship with this on the startup script?

If this is fixed on 4.3.3.x, how did it get fixed? Did libreoffice fix it or will it be broken again once it is packaged by the distributions?

I'm reopening this since it is a serious issue that needs to be clarified.

Reference:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ibus/+bug/1396637
Comment 15 Josef 2014-12-12 10:59:22 UTC
Just tested with the new backport update (from today) for kubuntu, e.g. LibreOffice 4.2.7.2 buildID 420m0(Build:2)

The problem is still there, though pay attention that typing with dead keys works initially, but stops working after a couple of minutes. I am using a US-international keyboard and try typing German umlauts with it.

It seems that it shifts to a different keyboard layout after a minute or two. It is still possible to type the Umlauts, but they are now accessible with the "AltGr" key and are located near (not on) the corresponding a,o,u keys.

I am amazed to get a backport update without this fixed. After all, if you need to type German (or many other languages) with a US keyboard you probably want to use the US international layout and LibreOffice is pretty much useless if this does not work.


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