Indicator-applet forcibly overrides Super+m key combo

[Jason Harvey]

Binary package hint: indicator-applet

The Super+m key combo has been used for some time now to entirely invert the screen colours via Compiz. The "invert" compiz plugin is enabled by default, if you turn on visual effects.

This key combo is now used to select drop down the indicator-applet menu, nullifying the ability to completely invert the screen via compiz.

Repro'd on amd64 Lucid Beta 1. All packages up-to-date.

[Jason Harvey (jason-alioth)]

It appears that after running the desktop for some time, this behavior becomes inconsistent. Super+m sometimes will drop down the indicator app, and sometimes invert the screen.

[Lothar Gesslein (lgesslein)]

It also conflicts with the default awesome maximize window keyboard shortcut. Which might be acceptable as awesome is not a very widespread window manager, but lacking some option to configure/disable it is a very serious need for me.

Or did i just miss the option and someone can tell me how to switch the hotkey or disable it altogether?

[Ingo Ruhnke (grumbel)]

Here is a quick&dirty workaround patch that simply disabled the hotkey completly.

[Thomas Koster (tkoster)]

I am also inconvenienced by the indicator applet hijacking my hotkeys. It seems none of the indicator applet keyboard shortcuts (Super+M, Super+S, etc.) are configurable. I strongly feel the indicator applets are simply unfinished without these shortcuts configurable.

If System->Preferences->Keyboard shortcuts is not a good place because not everyone has the indicator applets on their panel (like the Tomboy applet's shortcuts), then the shortcuts ought to be configurable in a Preferences dialog and gconf, cf. hamster applet and Tomboy applet.

[Eric Mill (konklone)]

My Super+S global command shortcut is also being overridden, without configurability. The indicator applet takes complete precedence. This interferes with the way I'm used to using my system, so some level of configurability is needed.

[Luca Ferretti (elle.uca)]

A little note from my duplicate bug: in Compiz <Super>+M is used in both /apps/compiz/plugins/mag/allscreens/options/initiate and /apps/compiz/plugins/neg/allscreens/options/screen_toggle_key GConf key.

[eval- (eval-)]

It's rather absurd the indicator applet allows no choice to the user, and moreover hijacks the default bindings of other programs. How arrogant of the developers, this totally disrupts how I'm used to 'maximumizing' in xfce4(+compiz) and almost makes me want to go back (if there weren't showstopper bugs in the tasklist. sigh) Thanks for the patch Ingo!!

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

changing the tag to patch-needswork since the change is a workaround not something to use

[otakuj462 (otakuj462)]

This bug affects me as well. Very annoying. I would remove the indicator-applet entirely, except that the default volume control applet seems to be married to it.

[Jacob B (j-bottelberghe)]

I have attached a patch which allows for the hotkey to be used by other applications.

[Mikael Fridh (frimik)]

Keyboard shortcut for The Poweroff menu, which I use once a month is not very well spent.

[Mikael Fridh (frimik)]

Thank you Ingo and Jacob. Built myself a patched version using Jacob's patch.

[Alex Beels (arbeels-ossf)]

I am also affected by this bug. Running fully-updated Maverick beta (upgraded from Lucid).

<Super>+m (configured via gnome-keybinding-properties for toggle-maximization) was my single most used keyboard shortcut until indicator-applet took it over last week when I upgraded to Maverick beta. Because of this, and because it also introduces an incompatibility with my main (Karmic) machine, so that I can't have the same workflow on both machines, this bug is "critical" for me.

Needless to say, indicator-applet should get an entry in the gnome-keybinding-properties and read its shortcuts from there. If that is not feasible, then there should be a preferences dialog in indicator-applet that allows the user to choose and/or disable the shortcuts. At the very worst, there should be a way to configure this using gconf, together with the appropriate documentation.

In the meantime, I have Jacob's patch.

Finally, re Mikael Fridh's comment, do we not already have a keyboard shortcut setting for "Log Out" (defaulting to Ctrl+Alt+Del)? Indicator-applet-session should use this shortcut setting instead of introducing a new shortcut for the exact same function (albeit handled by a different program).

[Luca Ferretti (elle.uca)]

Alex, sorry, who allowed you to change the summary?!?!?

[Alex Beels (arbeels-ossf)]

Indeed, I was very surprised to find that Launchpad policy allows me to edit the summary. I really would have expected that only the original poster, whoever has the bug assigned and the site admin could change it. But hey, I'm new around here.

As long as I was allowed to, I thought that "forcibly overrides" reflected the problem much better than "conflicts with compiz", since compiz is only one of the many programs that are affected by indicator-applet's use of Super+m, and most of the people reporting the bug are reporting conflicts with non-compiz-default bindings.

[Alex Beels (arbeels-ossf)]

Non-patch workaround:

If you only suffer from indicator-applet overriding <super>+m and don't care about <super>+s, you can replace indicator-applet with indicator-applet-complete, and get <super>+m back. (indicator-applet-complete only uses <super>+s) This avoids running a locally-patched version of indicator-applet.

[Alex Beels (arbeels-ossf)]

Inconsistent behavior:

Interestingly, after I tried the above workaround, I reverted back to indicator-applet + indicator-applet-session just to check the consistency of the workaround, and I found that indicator-applet no longer overrode <super>+m on my system.

After switching back and forth among a number of different combinations of indicator-applet configurations on the panel (and logging out and back in each time) it seems that indicator-applet night only override the user's own keyboard shortcut for <super>+m if /usr/lib/indicator-applet/indicator-applet runs before /usr/bin/gtk-window-decorator at session startup. As the run order is not always consistent, sometimes indicator-applet overrides <super>+m and sometimes not.

This goes a long way to explain how this bug could exist at the same time as its "duplicate" (actually inverse) Bug #577226. They are both reflections of a deeper problem: there currently seems to be sense of precedence among programs when it comes to setting global key bindings.

Right now I am using <super>+m to toggle maximization with no problems, even though indicator-applet is running. Don't know if that will still be true tomorrow...

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

duplicate bug #554713?

[S. D. (akjag)]

Super annoying!! :-(

[S. D. (akjag)]

Yeah, looks like a dupe, Sebastien.

[matejcik (matejcik)]

seems to be fixed in Maverick

[matsonfamily (david-matsonfamily)]

Who in the frick actually *wants* a key that drops down the Indicator Applet, but doesn't bring it back up??? And what's the purpose of it?? It asks me if I want to setup email, broadcasting, and messaging.... now I have to bring my mouse on over there to close it back.

yes, i realize that's just a rant, but it sure seems that a lot of energy has been put forth into a feature that nobody's screaming for...

Alex Beels: running "/usr/bin/gtk-window-decorator --replace" after logging in doesn't bring back my windows+m key (using the default of inverse colors for entire screen). Of course windows+n always works (inverse colors for current window). Because this is after the Indicator Applet has ran it's "/usr/lib/indicator-applet/indicator-applet", I'm thinking the order does not matter. I randomly can use the windows+m to do my compiz goodie of inversing the colors, but I haven't been able to detect a rhyme or reason to it.

How do you replace indicator-applet with indicator-applet-complete? Can you give the details? Thanks!

[Denys Rtveliashvili (rtvd)]

This bug is really annoying. I have Super+M set as "toggle maximize" shortcut. Indicator applet just intercepts it and there is no proper way to disable this behaviour. And without the indicator applet the keyboard indicator does not show what is the name of the current keyboard layout. This is sooo bad...

Indicator applet should at the very least have this shortcut in gconf instead of being hardcoded.

For now, I have brutally hacked the applet on my PC by commenting out the line which sets the shortcuts. It kind of works... Until the next upgrade, I suppose.

[Denys Rtveliashvili (rtvd)]

BTW, it is unbelievable that the priority of this bug was set to "Low". Would it be a "low priority" problem had a pen would work only on sheets on paper bought in a very specific store or it would be possible to enter a car only though one of its four doors?

[Alex Beels (arbeels-ossf)]

@matsonfamily: To replace indicator-applet with indicator-applet-complete:,

1) Install indicator-applet-complete.
2) Remove both indicator-applet (the mail icon) and indicator-session (the on-off button) from the gnome panel.
    (Right click on icon, and choose "Remove From Panel" from the menu.)
3) Add indicator-applet-complete to the gnome panel.
    (Right click on panel background, and choose "Add to Panel..." from the menu.)

The important part is to prevent indicator-applet from running in your session. There is no need to remove it from your machine.

If you do not remove indicator-session from your session, you will end up with two on-off buttons on your panel, which won't kill you. However, I don't remember what happens to the conflicting Super+s shortcut if you leave indicator-session running. (I have since gotten so frustrated with the whole indicator-* family that I have removed them entirely. I just use the old fashioned logout menu and volume controls now, and I am much happier. Maybe the next step is to get rid of the rest of Gnome...)

I did not test running /usr/bin/gtk-window-decorator by hand after indicator-applet to see if it would steal back the key bindings. I just observed inconsistent behavior with the bindings and looked at the position of indicator in the execution order in each case. Perhaps there is something deeper going on than simply execution order.

[Sam Spilsbury (smspillaz)]

On Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 5:20 PM, Denys Rtveliashvili <email address hidden> wrote:
> BTW, it is unbelievable that the priority of this bug was set to "Low".
> Would it be a "low priority" problem had a pen would work only on sheets
> on paper bought in a very specific store or it would be possible to
> enter a car only though one of its four doors?

It was set as "low priority" since the binding needs some discussion
and also there are much more pressing issues to work on at the moment.

>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a member of Indicator
> Applet Developers, which is the registrant for Indicator Applet.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/558581
>
> Title:
>  Indicator-applet forcibly overrides Super+m key combo
>
> Status in Indicator Applet:
>  New
> Status in “indicator-applet” package in Ubuntu:
>  Triaged
> Status in “indicator-messages” package in Ubuntu:
>  New
>
> Bug description:
>  Binary package hint: indicator-applet
>
> The Super+m key combo has been used for some time now to entirely invert the screen colours via Compiz. The "invert" compiz plugin is enabled by default, if you turn on visual effects.
>
> This key combo is now used to select drop down the indicator-applet menu, nullifying the ability to completely invert the screen via compiz.
>
> Repro'd on amd64 Lucid Beta 1. All packages up-to-date.
>
>
>

--
Sam Spilsbury

[matsonfamily (david-matsonfamily)]

Alex Beels,

    Thanks for the walkthrough; I'm going to try it this weekend! :)

- david matson

On 01/05/2011 06:22 AM, Alex Beels wrote:
> @matsonfamily: To replace indicator-applet with indicator-applet-
> complete:,
>
> 1) Install indicator-applet-complete.
> 2) Remove both indicator-applet (the mail icon) and indicator-session (the on-off button) from the gnome panel.
> (Right click on icon, and choose "Remove From Panel" from the menu.)
> 3) Add indicator-applet-complete to the gnome panel.
> (Right click on panel background, and choose "Add to Panel..." from the menu.)
>
> The important part is to prevent indicator-applet from running in your
> session. There is no need to remove it from your machine.
>
> If you do not remove indicator-session from your session, you will end
> up with two on-off buttons on your panel, which won't kill you.
> However, I don't remember what happens to the conflicting Super+s
> shortcut if you leave indicator-session running. (I have since gotten
> so frustrated with the whole indicator-* family that I have removed them
> entirely. I just use the old fashioned logout menu and volume controls
> now, and I am much happier. Maybe the next step is to get rid of the
> rest of Gnome...)
>
> I did not test running /usr/bin/gtk-window-decorator by hand after
> indicator-applet to see if it would steal back the key bindings. I just
> observed inconsistent behavior with the bindings and looked at the
> position of indicator in the execution order in each case. Perhaps
> there is something deeper going on than simply execution order.
>

[Sergey Shepelev (temoto)]

Awful behavior. Not fixed in Maverick.

Now 11 months passed since bug is confirmed.

[Sean (phantasmigoria99)]

This bug is incredibly annoying, and doubtlessly will continue to be until the keybindings are no longer hardcoded.

Personally, I am affected by the super+s combo, because I use it for grouping windows with compiz, so switching to indicator-applet-complete is not even a temporary fix.

Seriously, just some obscure, hidden dialog in gconf would be preferable to using the patched version (if I *can* screw it up, I will).

Regardless of incoming upgrades, please don't forget those of us who plan on using 10.04 as long as possible.

[Mikhail S. Pobolovets (styx-mp)]

I'm now on 11.04 and still suffer from Super+S override. I'm using Xmonad + Gnome. This was a fresh install. But I also have a dist upgraded variant of 11.04 and there is no such a problem. This bug kills me :(

[FlashBuster (flashbuster)]

It only got a lot worse in Natty!
Now i can't even assign <Super>+1 (or 2, 3, 4...).
I used that heavily to move windows to different desktops!
Even reassigning the unity key from <Super> to something else doesn't help.
Please fix those bugs, over the last releases my workflow was disrupted by those, as now nearly all my keyboard combos i was using stopped working!
Why is it an option to set those shortcuts when they don't work in the end!?

[matejcik (matejcik)]

FlashBuster,
what you're seeing is one of numerous Unity bugs, not an indicator-applet problem. Please try using "Ubuntu Classic" instead, or report a bug for Unity separately

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Olli Ries (ories)]

adding design to confirm whether this is a conscious decision

[John Lea (johnlea)]

Hi MPT, could you talk a look at this bug, thx!

[TomasHnyk (sup)]

I think this is obsolete, no? There is no invert plugin on 12.04 in Compiz, indicator message does not seem to respond to Super + M at all (either under unity, where it opens the music lens, or in gnome fallback session with Compiz or with Metacity).

[tsbertalan (09rp9wq1q-tom-anzd5soo2)]

I've been using indicator-applet-complete since 10.10, but, now that I've upgrade to 12.04 (keeping gnome-classic), it has started hijacking super+s. Although Super+m is still fine.

It seems that keyboard shortcuts are generally a mess in Ubuntu, and 12.04 only made it worse. Any shortcuts I assign with <Super> in System Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts won't work until I change "<Super>" to "<Mod4>" in gconf-editor. And programs like compiz, unity, or even the lowly indicator-applet(-complete) seem to ignore any settings in either of those places at will.

Does anyone know what the schedule is for unifying the setting and unsetting of keyboard shortcuts? Will we have to wait for Quantal Quetzal or beyond for this to be fixed? As things stand, Ubuntu needs a lot fewer "innovations", like Unity, and more bugfixes.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

The messaging menu no longer uses Super+M.