/etc/default/keyboard ignored after upgrade to 16.04

[bmaupin]

I just upgraded Xubuntu 14.04 to 16.04, and I noticed my compose key wasn't working in any application in X. I verified my compose key was still set up in /etc/default/keyboard:

XKBOPTIONS="compose:ralt"

I googled around and ran these two commands:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
sudo update-initramfs -u

But the problem persists. I notice that the compose key works fine in the console, but it doesn't work in any X application, including the terminal.

Here's my current workaround:
echo "setxkbmap -option compose:ralt" >> ~/.xprofile

It looks like I'm not the only one experiencing this, and it doesn't seem limited to Xfce:

https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/setxkbmap-option-in-etc-default-keyboard-not-working/4054

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS
Release: 16.04
$ apt-cache policy keyboard-configuration
keyboard-configuration:
  Installed: 1.108ubuntu15.2
  Candidate: 1.108ubuntu15.2

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: keyboard-configuration 1.108ubuntu15.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-31.50-generic 4.4.13
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-31-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Sat Aug 13 09:04:10 2016
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-05-08 (827 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: console-setup
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2016-08-05 (7 days ago)

[Oliver Grawert (ogra)]

your missed one command .. see the top of /etc/default/keyboard. it points to the documentation at /usr/share/doc/keyboard-configuration/README.Debian that tells what you have to do after manually changing the config..

[bmaupin (bmaupin)]

I'm game.

1. $ head -n 1 /etc/default/keyboard
# Check /usr/share/doc/keyboard-configuration/README.Debian for

2. In /usr/share/doc/keyboard-configuration/README.Debian, I see this:

"While it will be safe to edit directly the configuration files
(/etc/default/keyboard and /etc/default/console-setup) perhaps it will
be easier to use

dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
dpkg-reconfigure console-setup"

Hmm, to me that implies that I should only run those commands if I don't want to edit /etc/default/keyboard directly. In addition:

"console-setup
   This package is responsible for the actual configuration of the
   console (font and keyboard). It is responsible for the
   configuration file /etc/default/console-setup."

implies that console-setup doesn't even have anything to do with /etc/default/keyboard.

I had already run the first command as previously mentioned, so I ran the second command. Removed my fix from ~/.xprofile, rebooted. Didn't work.

Am I missing something?

I've attached the whole file just in case I'm missing something.

[bmaupin (bmaupin)]

For what it's worth, I recently upgraded to 18.04 and this no longer seems to be an issue. I removed my ~/.xprofile and the compose key seems to work with the /etc/default/keyboard setting alone.