[regression] pbbuttonsd KBDMode=fkeysfirst doesn't work anymore

[Herbert V. Riedel]

Binary package hint: pbbuttonsd

After upgrading to feisty, the function keys on my 2005 15" powerbook aren't accessible anymore without having to press the 'fn' together. They now behave as brightness/volume keys (which they previously did when pressed together with the 'fn' key)

[vjrj (vjrj)]

I confirm this bug in my PG G4 15".

[macluvjay (jay-thigpen-deactivatedaccount)]

I can also confirm this bug on my PowerBook G4 15" (Feb 2005)

[Herbert V. Riedel (hvr)]

After upgrading to gutsy, and still suffering from this regression I did some debugging, and that's what I found out:

I fetched the latest pbbuttonsd from upstream, pbbuttonsd-0.8.1a, compiled that and it worked

I compared it with the version currently in gutsy, 0.7.9-2ubuntu3, which didn't work

the difference is simply that 0.7.9 tries to access only "/sys/module/usbhid/parameters/pb_fnmode" which doesn't exist on my powerbook, whereas 0.8.1a as fallback tries to access "/sys/module/hid/parameters/pb_fnmode" as well...

it would be rather easy to backport the following snippet from 0.8.1a to 0.7.9 (or maybe even better just upgrade gutsy to the newest pbbuttonsd 0.8.1a):

pbbuttonsd-0.8.1a/src/module_pmac.c:

void
keyboard_set_config (int config)
{
...
        } else {
                if ((fd = open ("/sys/module/usbhid/parameters/pb_fnmode", O_WRONLY)) < 0)
                        fd = open ("/sys/module/hid/parameters/pb_fnmode", O_WRONLY);
...

[Herbert V. Riedel (hvr)]

still an issue with hardy... so I'm trying desperately to get some attention for this rather trivial (but annoying) bug :-/

[rdaneel (mpeddie)]

confirmed in Gutsy and seconded . . . seems like perhaps it's too late to be fixed in time for hardy now

[Andreas Moog (ampelbein)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Can you try with latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

[Herbert V. Riedel (hvr)]

Since Intrepid has the very same pbbuttonsd version, it's still an issue...

[Andreas Moog (ampelbein)]

Could you try the following patch?

1. Create empty directory in your home-folder and cd to it:

mkdir pbbuttonsd
cd pbbuttonsd

2. Get the source of pbbuttonsd

apt-get source pbbuttonsd

3. Download these files:

wget http://www.warperbbs.de/pbbuttonsd/pbbuttonsd_0.7.9-2ubuntu4.diff.gz
wget http://www.warperbbs.de/pbbuttonsd/pbbuttonsd_0.7.9-2ubuntu4.dsc

4. Apply the patch:

dpkg-source -x pbbuttonsd_0.7.9-2ubuntu4.dsc

5. Download pbuilder and create build environment:

sudo apt-get install pbuilder debootstrap devscripts
sudo pbuilder create

6. Create the package:

sudo pbuilder -build pbbuttonsd_0.7.9-2ubuntu4.dsc

7. Install the created package:

sudo dpkg -i /var/cache/pbuilder/result/pbbuttonsd_0.7.9-2ubuntu4.deb

Does it work now for you? Or are you encountering any issues?

[Marten Veldthuis (marten-veldthuis)]

Andreas:

This fails for me at the pbuilder create step:

 % sudo pbuilder create
W: /home/marten/.pbuilderrc does not exist
Distribution is hardy.
Building the build environment
 -> running debootstrap
/usr/sbin/debootstrap
I: Retrieving Release
I: Retrieving Packages
I: Retrieving Packages
I: Retrieving Packages
I: Resolving dependencies of required packages...
I: Resolving dependencies of base packages...
W: Failure trying to run: chroot /var/cache/pbuilder/build/24627/. mount -t proc proc /proc
pbuilder: debootstrap failed
 -> Aborting with an error
 -> cleaning the build env
    -> removing directory /var/cache/pbuilder/build//24627 and its subdirectories

[Marten Veldthuis (marten-veldthuis)]

Trying to build it manually with

sudo apt-get build-dep pbbuttonsd
dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -rfakeroot

fails with a compilation error:

module_pmac.c: In function ‘keyboard_set_config’:
module_pmac.c:1736: error: expected declaration or statement at end of input

Not sure if that's the effect of your patch, though...

- Marten