Unwanted VT switch from alt + arrow keys

[Erno Kuusela]

Recently the VT switching shortcut keys changed from ctrl+alt+arrowkeys and ctrl+alt+F-keys to just alt+arrowkeys/f-keys. This conflicts with many application keybindings, such as Firefox history back/forward.

I don't know which package is to blame, xorg-server is my best guess.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.19.6-1ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-33.36-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-33-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity_support_test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.2
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sun Sep 9 12:29:24 2018
DistUpgraded: 2018-08-23 19:06:02,004 DEBUG package 'libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37-gtk2' has unwanted removals, skipping
DistroCodename: bionic
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0126] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [17aa:21da]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-04-23 (1234 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20150218.1)
MachineType: LENOVO 4291Y2S
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-33-generic root=UUID=c7819f92-db3d-4e27-b7fa-297cdcda1875 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=1
SourcePackage: xorg-server
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2018-08-23 (16 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 05/13/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8DET45WW (1.15 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 4291Y2S
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: E1YZD
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr8DET45WW(1.15):bd05/13/2011:svnLENOVO:pn4291Y2S:pvrThinkPadX220:rvnLENOVO:rn4291Y2S:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.family: ThinkPad X220
dmi.product.name: 4291Y2S
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X220
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.13.1+18.04.20180302-0ubuntu1
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.91-2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 18.0.5-0ubuntu0~18.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 18.0.5-0ubuntu0~18.04.1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.19.6-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.10.5-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:18.0.1-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20171229-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.15-2
xserver.bootTime: Thu Aug 23 17:40:20 2018
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:
 Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist, 0)
 Failed to load module "vesa" (module does not exist, 0)
 Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist, 0)
 Failed to load module "vesa" (module does not exist, 0)
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 4204
 vendor AUO
xserver.version: 2:1.18.4-0ubuntu0.8

[Erno Kuusela (erno-iki)]

I found a discussion of this bug at https://askubuntu.com/questions/886593/alt-f4-switches-to-tty4 and a workaround (kbd_mode -s). No clue to what gets it in the wrong mode to begin with, though.

[Erno Kuusela (erno-iki)]

There is also a bug filed in 2015 about the same problem, with a barrage of recent comments from 18.04 users: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/+bug/1508146

I hesitate to mark this a duplicate though, since the 2015 bug is not necessarily the same.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Yes, according to my records bug 1508146 is still the current bug for this issue.