ctrl+alt+t hot key doesn't open terminal

[Joe Liau]

1) Description: Ubuntu Vivid Vervet (development branch)
Release: 15.04

2) unity:
  Installed: 7.3.1+15.04.20150227-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 7.3.1+15.04.20150227-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 7.3.1+15.04.20150227-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://mirrors.accretive-networks.net/ubuntu/ vivid/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

3) ctrl+alt+t should open terminal
4) nothing happens

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04
Package: unity 7.3.1+15.04.20150227-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-9.9-generic 3.19.1
Uname: Linux 3.19.0-9-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.16.2-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun Mar 15 21:55:08 2015
DistUpgraded: 2015-03-15 19:32:57,918 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: vivid
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 bbswitch, 0.7, 3.19.0-9-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-346-updates, 346.47, 3.19.0-9-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-346-updates-uvm, 346.47, 3.19.0-9-generic, x86_64: installed
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 NVIDIA Corporation GK104 [GeForce GTX 660 Ti] [10de:1183] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. Device [3842:3662]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-21 (329 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
MachineType: System manufacturer System Product Name
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-9-generic root=UUID=d43fa8fe-98d7-4cbc-9f5a-845fe940823f ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to vivid on 2015-03-16 (0 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 05/19/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1605
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: P6T DELUXE
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev 1.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1605:bd05/19/2009:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP6TDELUXE:rvrRev1.xx:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.1+15.04.20150303-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.59+git20150310.fcff9e21-0ubuntu0ricotz~utopic
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.6.0~git20150310.5750595c-0ubuntu0ricotz3~utopic
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.6.0~git20150310.5750595c-0ubuntu0ricotz3~utopic
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.17.1-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau N/A
xserver.bootTime: Sun Mar 15 21:49:49 2015
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.devices:
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 6
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 7
 input Microsoft Microsoft IntelliMouse® Optical MOUSE, id 8
 input Darfon Wireless Keyboard & Mouse KEYBOARD, id 9
 input Darfon Wireless Keyboard & Mouse KEYBOARD, id 10
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 Output DVI-0 DisplayPort-0 HDMI-0
 product id 9896
 vendor HWP
xserver.version: 2:1.17.1-0ubuntu2
xserver.video_driver: modeset

[Stephen M. Webb (bregma)]

Testing on a fully up-to-date (as of 2015-03-06) Vivid Vervet session fails to reproduce this problem.

Please open a terminal (using eg. alt-f2 and typing x-terminal-emulator) and enter the following command.

  gsettings get org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys terminal

and paste the result into this bug report.

[newuser (newuser)]

The result of above command:

'<Primary><Alt>t'

[Stephen M. Webb (bregma)]

Also, please paste the output of "update-alternatives --display x-terminal-emulator"

[Stephen M. Webb (bregma)]

Also, please attach $HOME/.cache/upstart/unity-settings-daemon.log

[Joe Liau (joe)]

black@black-System-Product-Name:~$ gsettings get org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys terminal
'<Control><Alt>T'

black@black-System-Product-Name:~$ update-alternatives --display x-terminal-emulator
x-terminal-emulator - auto mode
  link currently points to /usr/bin/gnome-terminal.wrapper
/usr/bin/gnome-terminal.wrapper - priority 40
  slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/gnome-terminal.1.gz
/usr/bin/koi8rxterm - priority 20
  slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/koi8rxterm.1.gz
/usr/bin/lxterm - priority 30
  slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/lxterm.1.gz
/usr/bin/uxterm - priority 20
  slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/uxterm.1.gz
/usr/bin/xterm - priority 20
  slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/xterm.1.gz
Current 'best' version is '/usr/bin/gnome-terminal.wrapper'.

#HOME/.cache/upstart/unity-settings-daemon.log’: No such file or directory

[newuser (newuser)]

Now, I can't reproduce this bug. ctrl+alt+t works as expected.

[Joe Liau (joe)]

The Prt/Scr screenshot key is also not functional.

[Andrea Azzarone (azzar1)]

@newuser the terminal fails to open or it fails to get the focus?

[newuser (newuser)]

I don't have this problem anymore.

[Joe Liau (joe)]

Does anyone know if an actual fix was released? Because I still have the problem on 15.04.

Some points to note:
1) I upgraded from 14.10 -- >15.04 beta (maintain updates multiple times per day)
2) I use a non-standard keyboard layout, but have tried various layouts and none of them work.

[Stephen M. Webb (bregma)]

No, there has been no actual fix released because no one has been able to reproduce the problem. It does not appear to be a software problem in Unity, so we can not release a modification to the software to fix it.

the bugs has been marked as Fix Released because of comment 10.

[Matthew Wodrich (matthew-wodrich)]

As an added data point, I found in running

$ update-alternatives --display x-terminal-emulator
x-terminal-emulator - auto mode
  link currently points to /usr/bin/guake
/usr/bin/gnome-terminal.wrapper - priority 40
  slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/gnome-terminal.1.gz
/usr/bin/guake - priority 50
  slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/guake.1.gz
/usr/bin/koi8rxterm - priority 20
  slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/koi8rxterm.1.gz
/usr/bin/lxterm - priority 30
  slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/lxterm.1.gz
/usr/bin/uxterm - priority 20
  slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/uxterm.1.gz
/usr/bin/xterm - priority 20
  slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/xterm.1.gz
Current 'best' version is '/usr/bin/guake'.

that guake got set to the best version for me because somehow it got a priority of 50, winning out over gnome-terminal.wrapper. doing a --config allowed me to specify gnome-terminal.wrapper again, and Ctrl-Alt-t starting working as expected. Could be that this is caused for some by something during the upgrade to Vivid causing priorities to shift, and something unexpected like guake to be what actually happens when Ctrl-Alt-t is pressed.

[Daniel Manrique (roadmr)]

This bug should probably be reopened:

1- The person who said it wasn't happening anymore (newuser) is *not* the original reporter, who has said it's still happening (comment #11).
2- It's also happening to me :)

This is a fresh Vivid installation where I dist-upgraded and rebooted a couple of times. Also redefined the shortcut in question by going to system settings -> keyboard -> shortcuts, and assigning a different shortcut to "Launch terminal". I found that pretty much any other shortcut (I tried ctrl-T and ctrl-alt-Y) works. It's *only* ctrl-alt-T that doesn't work.

[Daniel Manrique (roadmr)]

Interesting, I just found (while trying to lock my screen) that ctrl-alt-l also doesn't work. I tried reassigning to ctrl-alt-t (i.e. the other shortcut I know is wonky) and it didn't work. But if I assign lock screen to ctrl-alt-a, it works. Setting it back to ctrl-alt-l makes it stop working again.

[Laurent Claudel (laurent-claudel)]

I just upgraded to Vivid and I've got this same problem. CTRL+ALT+T doesn't open a terminal and CTRL+ALT+L doesn't lock the screen. I can assign those features to other shortcuts, it works, but if I assign it back to CTRL+ALT+T, it doesn't work anymore again.

[Robert L Walton (bob-bwalton)]

I have the same symptoms as #16. ctrl+alt+t doesn't work, but ctrl+alt+y, for example, does work if I assign ctrl-alt-y to the terminal shortcut. I have 15.04 running on a System 76 Kudu Professional. ctrl-alt-l doesn't work either.

Also, as #8 mentioned, the PrtSc/SysRq button appears to do nothing -- it certainly doesn't fire up snapshot. But I can, for example, replace the "print" shortcuts with ctrl-alt-p, alt-p, shaft-alt-p, ctrl-alt-[, alt-[ and shift-alt-[, and I get normal snapshot behavior with the revised shortcuts. It is like there is something else interfering with the ctrl-alt-t, ctrl-alt-l and PrtSc/SysRq shortcuts.

Other than those items, I appear to be 100% functional.

[poglaz (poglazoff)]

As for me, I have the same bug on 15.04 and it looks like it's "linked" with https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-gnome/+bug/1427877.
Let me explain: sometimes Ctrl+Alt+T and Fn+F11 (Volume Down) and Fn+F12 (Volume Down) on my machine don't work and sometimes do (I found no reason for it), but always together.

[Marc Liechti (8-marc)]

The same here. After upgrading to 15.04 my shortcuts are not working anymore. I tried Ctrl+Alt+T, PrintScreen, Ctrl+Alt+L.

[Marco Ceresa (ceresa)]

Same here, and I'm curious how many other "same here" are needed before the bug is reopened and actually taken care of.

[Marco Ceresa (ceresa)]

Also:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-terminal/+bug/1292113
with more heat than this one.

[Marco Ceresa (ceresa)]

I found what it seems to be a breakthrough on this issue. I hope it does not only relate to my case.

I use a Colemak layout. Compared to the standard QWERTY, in Colemak the T is where the F is in QWERTY, and where T is in QWERTY Colemak has a G. See http://colemak.com/wiki/images/e/ef/Colemak_fingers.png for a visual comparison.

Well, what do you know? ctrl-alt-t does not work, but ctrl-alt-g (which is the qwerty shortcut for ctrl-alt-t) behaves as expected, firing up the terminal.

It looks like the package responsible for the CTRL-ALT-T shortcut still uses the default keyboard layout, not picking up the new layout (Colemak in my case) at startup. Perhaps a loading order bug?

Can you guys test it and see if that's the case for you too?