Bug 12401

*** Bug 8584 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

I have the same problem, so I report what I have found hoping it might be any help.

I am using JP106 keyboards, and have been mapping <AB11> (backslash/underscore keycode=211) to Shift_R by xmodmap.  Then, the key worked as a Shift modifier on Debian Etch (and olders), but does not work on Ubuntu 7.10 nor on Ubuntu 8.4.  It seems it is because the key release event for keycode=211 is produced immediately after the key press event is produced even if I hold down the key and do not release.  For example, if I press <AB11> -> press "z" -> release "z" -> release <AB11>, then xev says:

KeyPress event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x80, subw 0x0, time 2808272285, (156,133), root:(161,181),
    state 0x0, keycode 211 (keysym 0x5c, backslash), same_screen YES,
    XKeysymToKeycode returns keycode: 51
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (5c) "\"
    XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (5c) "\"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x80, subw 0x0, time 2808272285, (156,133), root:(161,181),
    state 0x0, keycode 211 (keysym 0x5c, backslash), same_screen YES,
    XKeysymToKeycode returns keycode: 51
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (5c) "\"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyPress event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x80, subw 0x0, time 2808272679, (156,133), root:(161,181),
    state 0x0, keycode 52 (keysym 0x7a, z), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (7a) "z"
    XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (7a) "z"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x80, subw 0x0, time 2808273058, (156,133), root:(161,181),
    state 0x0, keycode 52 (keysym 0x7a, z), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (7a) "z"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

On the other hand, if I press, say "/", press "z", release "z", release "/", xev correctly says: KeyPress "/" -> KeyPress "z" -> KeyRelease "z" -> KeyRelease "/".

It seems the following three keys on JP106 keyboards have the same behavior:

<AB11> keycode=211
<HKTG> keycode=208
<PAUS> keycode=110 (less than 128...? because of some other reason?)

First, I thought it must be related to key type configuration in XKB JP106 layout, so I edited the following two lines in xkb/keycode/xfree86:

    <RTSH> =  62;
           :
           :
    <AB11> =   211;             // backslash/underscore

to:

    <AB11> =  62;
           :
           :
    <RTSH> =   211;             // backslash/underscore

and rebooted.  Then, keymap was changed correctly, but the behavior of KeyRelease event for the key 211 did not change.

Other things I found:

1. On the console, key press/release event for the key 211 is normal.  I tested it with showkey command.
2. On X, the behavior above happens even with twm, so gnome does not seem related.
3. It happens both with the keyboard on a laptop and a USB connected keyboard, so probably not a hardware problem.

Are those findings of any help?  If there is anything I can do to provide more information, please let me know. This is a quite serious problem for me because I cannot map <AB11> "the key at the position where the shift key should be" to the shift key!!

Here is a probably related bug, with a possible workaround :

The idea is to bind some keys to perform automatically CTRL+C/V/X/Z.

Let's say that I have the following mapping (the >127 keycode change nothing for the base key) in xkb_symbols:

    key <I73> { [ v ] };

I now want to do something like :

    key <I7C> { actions[group1] = [ Redirect(keycode=<I73>, modifiers=Control) ] };      // ctrl-v


But this does not work and results in :

X Error of failed request:  BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation)
  Major opcode of failed request:  150 (XKEYBOARD)
  Minor opcode of failed request:  9 (XkbSetMap)
  Value in failed request:  0x23fa0001
  Serial number of failed request:  107
  Current serial number in output stream:  113


However if I use a < 127 keycode for the redirection, this works :

    key <FK15> { actions[group1] = [ Redirect(keycode=<I73>, modifiers=Control) ] };      // ctrl-v


Here is now the promised workaround. In the xkb_compatibility section, interpret an unused symbol:

    interpret F33 {
        action = Redirect(Key=<I73>, modifiers=Control);
    };

Then in the xkb_symbols section, there is no need for the redirect anymore :

    key <I7C> { [ F33 ] };      // ctrl-v

Now this works, even for this > 127 keycode.


Both the <127 keycode and the workaround solution work when additionnally used as overlay (hence double-indirection):

    key <AB04> {
        // key definition here: type[group1] = ..., [...]
        overlay1 = <I7C>
    };
 
This works with overlay1 = <I7C> using the workaround, or with overlay1 = <FK15> for the <127 solution.


Hope this helps,

Nicolas Brodu

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