Modifications in xmodmap not taking effect

[anna seppala]

I'm having difficulties in remapping some of my keys on Ubuntu 20.04 and gnome-control-center version 3.36.2. The problem is similar to Bug #1867548 but manifests itself even with gnome-control-center versions with this bug fixed.

I follow the below steps to exchange the Control_L key and XF86WakeUp key (Fn on German keyboards):
I execute xev to discover the Control_L and XF86WakeUp keycodes:

KeyRelease event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x4600001,
    root 0x5dd, subw 0x0, time 4165720, (668,636), root:(902,854),
    state 0x4, keycode 37 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x4600001,
    root 0x5dd, subw 0x0, time 4166218, (668,636), root:(902,854),
    state 0x0, keycode 151 (keysym 0x1008ff2b, XF86WakeUp), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

Then, I run
    $ xmodmap -e "keycode 37 = XF86WakeUp"
and
    $ xmodmap -e "keycode 151 = Control_L"

After which xev shows:

KeyRelease event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3c00001,
    root 0x5fd, subw 0x0, time 1691367, (1390,1888), root:(1584,2066),
    state 0x0, keycode 151 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3c00001,
    root 0x5fd, subw 0x0, time 1692110, (1390,1888), root:(1584,2066),
    state 0x0, keycode 37 (keysym 0x1008ff2b, XF86WakeUp), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

Saving this to a .Xmodmap file and looking at the content correctly shows the change:
$ xmodmap -pke ~./Xmodmap
$ cat ~/.Xmodmap
-- snip --
keycode 37 = XF86WakeUp NoSymbol XF86WakeUp
keycode 151 = Control_L NoSymbol Control_L
-- snip--

However, the system still treats key 37 as Control_L, and key 151 as XF86WakeUp. Setting 'xmodmap .Xmodmap' to ~/.xinitrc and rebooting also doesn't work.

[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.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1881527/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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