Unable to use <Ctrl+Shift+key> shortcuts with <Ctrl+Shift> keyboard layout switcher on Ubuntu MATE, 16.04 (with HWE), 17.10 and 18.04 LTS

[Norbert]

Steps to reproduce:
1. Install ubuntu-mate-desktop on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with HWE (Xorg 1.19.5), or 17.10 or 18.04 LTS.
2. Set-up two keyboard layouts - English and Russian
3. Set <Ctrl+Shift> as keyboard layout switcher
4. Try to use shortcuts starting from <Ctrl+Shift>:
4.1. Open Firefox, open new tab, go to some site in it, close tab, try to click <Ctrl+Shift+T> to restore closed tab.
4.2. Open mate-terminal, try to open new tab with <Ctrl+Shift+T>, or copy (<Ctrl+Shift+C>), or paste (<Ctrl+Shift+V>).
4.3. Open pluma, write some text, try to navigate in it with <Ctrl+Shift+arrow>.

Expected results:
<Ctrl+Shift> switches keyboard layout, shortcuts starting from <Ctrl+Shift+...> work normally.

Actual results:
<Ctrl+Shift> switches keyboard layout, shortcuts starting from <Ctrl+Shift+...> do not work.

Notes:
1. Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xorg 1.18.4) with Marco and Compton work normally with <Ctrl+Shift> keyboard layout switcher.
2. This problem was discovered before on 13.10, 14.04 and other modern versions with GNOME desktop (Metacity and Compiz) - see bug 1245473.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: marco 1.18.1-3ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-12.13-generic 4.13.3
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-12-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu1
Architecture: i386
CurrentDesktop: MATE
Date: Fri Sep 29 16:18:02 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-08-26 (33 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Alpha i386 (20170826)
SourcePackage: marco
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

Installation of Ubuntu 17.10 MATE beta2 (from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-mate/releases/17.10/beta-2/ubuntu-mate-17.10-beta2-desktop-i386.iso, SHA256SUM Checksum 21a0a00d121c2178bfb1569abbad46836d656e7b5385a0cc8b6ed51155a56bbf) gives the same result.

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

Bug exists in Ubuntu MATE 17.10 final.

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

Bug exists in 18.04 LTS (alpha).

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

Bug exists in 16.04.3 LTS after installation of HWE stack (especially `xserver-xorg-hwe-16.04`):
     sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-hwe-16.04

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

Bionic Beaver with all updates, bug exists. Ctrl+Shift as layout switcher, English+Russian layouts.

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

Same with latest MATE 1.20 on bionic.

[Roman Shchekin (mrqtros)]

This is very old and annoying bug. Can someone fix it, please???

[Buckstabue (buckstabue)]

It's still present on ubuntu 18.04

[KisChang (734615869-b)]

When i upgrade install keyboard-configuration:1.178ubuntu2.3 on Ubuntu18.04
This bug appears

Can someone fix it, Thanks!

[Rick1 (khandramay)]

Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
Have this bug

[Snaker (snaker.me)]

The same on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS with Gnome.

[Mikhail Chabanov (bolderdush)]

! SOLUTION !

For myself I created temporary hack allowing to switch Keyboard layouts (en<->ru) by Ctrl+Shift on key release. My method does not interfere with other shortcuts. I use it myself on daily basis.

It's simple Python script which listen to Ctrl+Shift key combination and switch layout on release.
It can be downloaded here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IvgvLFwe2HoGtEzuQnrUoAnEZk1ZCcSw/view?usp=sharing
Please read instructions in ReadMe.txt

[Shegon (shegon)]

Yes, I confirm the bug.

[Evgeny (jehy)]

Same with Kubuntu 20.

[Eugene Savitsky (eugene-savitsky)]

There is indeed a problem in Linux with this...

Please vote for this bug: https://github.com/xkbcommon/libxkbcommon/issues/420, I really hope they fix it. This is a stopper for me moving to Linux.