"Caps Lock is also a Ctrl" setting stops working when connecting an external keyboard

[Bruce Phillips]

In Tweaks, I've set the "Caps Lock is also a Ctrl" setting. However, when I connect my external keyboard via USB, the setting stops taking effect. If I go to Tweaks, the setting still appears to be enabled, but I have to disable it and re-enable it to make it take effect again.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: linux-image-5.4.0-52-generic 5.4.0-52.57
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-52.57-generic 5.4.65
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-52-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.11
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: mgummelt 2175 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC1D7p: mgummelt 2175 F...m pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: mgummelt 2175 F.... pulseaudio
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sun Nov 8 21:15:48 2020
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=b92322bb-a24e-4286-8452-f6e2272a4fb3
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-03-26 (959 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Release amd64 (20180105.1)
MachineType: LENOVO 20ENCTO1WW
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 i915drmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-52-generic root=UUID=ab4a36d6-e419-424e-9f0d-3635cd2543b5 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-5.4.0-52-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-5.4.0-52-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.187.3
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2020-07-09 (122 days ago)
WifiSyslog:

dmi.bios.date: 08/28/2019
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: N1EET86W (1.59 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 20ENCTO1WW
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: SDK0J40697 WIN
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: None
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrN1EET86W(1.59):bd08/28/2019:svnLENOVO:pn20ENCTO1WW:pvrThinkPadP50:rvnLENOVO:rn20ENCTO1WW:rvrSDK0J40697WIN:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNone:
dmi.product.family: ThinkPad P50
dmi.product.name: 20ENCTO1WW
dmi.product.sku: LENOVO_MT_20EN_BU_Think_FM_ThinkPad P50
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad P50
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Johannes Tanzler (johannes-tanzler)]

Can confirm. I also tried to manually invoke the setting:

$ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources xkb-options "['ctrl:nocaps']"

Doesn't work, too. My current workaround is using setxkbmap directly:

$ setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps