Ubuntu Server 20.04.3 (manual / autoinstall) keyboard layout not applied in console or decryption

[Flauschie]

I think the manual and autoinstall methods of Ubuntu Server 20.04.3 got a bug regarding the keyboard / keymap setup. This is not (or maybe could be) related to the setup where the configured keyboard layout gets forgotten throughout the different setup screens.

I am installing with a specified keyboard layout but it won't get recognized until the system fully booted (aka login screen). So in console or in my case the decryption phase I cannot properly enter my secret. I think it switches back to the default en_US. I tried calling `update-initramfs -u` in target (and directly, too) during the late-commands phase on an autoinstall but it doesn't change anything. It will only work calling it once the system booted and I'm logged in. After being regenerated I have the proper keymap for the decryption.

This also happens for a manual install using the live server 20.04.3 image right from source. I define the keyboard / locale in the appropriate section and it doesn't apply until the system booted.

I can reproduce this in 10/10 cases using the manual install and autoinstall method.

checked: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/subiquity/+bugs?orderby=importance&start=0

EDIT: And yes, probably cloud-init is responsible for it to be working on login. But this is simply too late. There is no excuse.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

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[Florian Lohoff (fl0l0)]

I workarounded this by

a) installing keyboard-configuration
b) reconfiguring in late-commands:

  keyboard:
    layout: de
    variant: nodeadkeys
  late-commands:
    - curtin in-target --target /target -- dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive keyboard-configuration
  packages:
    - keyboard-configuration

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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