ca_enhanced layout does not work correctly

[François Bouffard]

Since at least yesterday (oct. 6), a recent Breezy update caused the ca_enhanced
keyboard layout to stop working correctly. Problems that I have seen up to now
are that some accent keys work (such as the grave and circonflex accents dead
keys, producing the "à" and "ê" characters, for example) but others don't (such
as the e acute key, and the cedilla dead key). More importantly, the alt key
behavior is weird and does not produce any characters, so that many are
unavailable (such as the tilde, brackets, and arrobas characters). Also, alt-key
combinations do not work, so that it's impossible to switch virtual consoles,
for example.

It is probably a separate issue, but I'm unable to add or even change keyboard
layouts using the keyboard preferences menu. Each attempt to do so produces the
error mentioned in bug 19493.

[François Bouffard (fbouffar)]

I tried to reinstall xkeyboard-config 0.6-2, which was made available in the
discussion following bug 21264 and which I knew contained correct layout
definitions for ca_enhanced, and it did not fix the problem. So I guess the
problem is not restricted to ca_enhanced, and not caused by xkeyboard-config
afterall.

[François Bouffard (fbouffar)]

Sorry if I appear to spam this bug, but it seems I got it wrong again. The
ca_enhanced layout really seems broken right now. Using the command line
setxkbmap command, issuing "setxkbmap -layout ca_enhanced" produces an error. In
KDE, this shows up as an "err" icon instead of the habitual "ca" layout icon.

The ca_enhanced keyboard, however, now seems to be implemented in the fr variant
of the ca keyboard. Issuing "setxkbmap -layout ca -variant fr" produces no error
and provides the correct "ca_enhanced" layout, with a correctly functionning alt
key.

The keyboard switcher in KDE works well; however, the one in Gnome refuses to
switch between the added keyboards, so that seem to be another issue. However,
getting rid of the ca_enhanced layout in the selected layouts list fixed the
error popup-up at login and each time the list was updated.

So if the correct keyboard layout is implemented in the ca layout, fr variant, I
guess the buggy ca_enhanced layout can now be thrown away.

[Daniel Stone (daniels)]

so setxkbmap just says 'error loading keyboard description'?

could you please run xkbcomp - :0, with the following input:
xkb_keymap {
        xkb_keycodes { include "xfree86+aliases(qwerty)" };
        xkb_types { include "complete" };
        xkb_compat { include "complete" };
        xkb_symbols { include
"pc(pc104)+ca(fr)+group(rctrl_switch)+group(ctrls_toggle)+ctrl(nocaps)+compose(ralt)"
  };
        xkb_geometry { include "pc(pc104)" };
};

(press ^D after the last '};'), and attach the output to this bug, as well as
the output from running xkbcomp -xkb :0 -, after that? it'll be long.

[Daniel Stone (daniels)]

sorry, use this input to xkbcomp - :0, instead:
xkb_keymap {
        xkb_keycodes { include "xfree86+aliases(qwerty)" };
        xkb_types { include "complete" };
        xkb_compat { include "complete" };
        xkb_symbols { include "pc(pc104)+ca(fr)+group(rctrl_switch)" };
        xkb_geometry { include "pc(pc104)" };
};

[François Bouffard (fbouffar)]

Created an attachment (id=4631)
Output from xkbcomp as per Daniel Stone's instructions

[François Bouffard (fbouffar)]

> so setxkbmap just says 'error loading keyboard description'?

The situation right now is that

setxkbmap -layout ca -variant fr

works correctly, and I get the layout I was getting two weeks ago with the
ca_enhanced layout, and everything works fine. It is to be noted that the layout
and variant are also stated in my xorg.conf file. If I enter:

setxkbmap -layout ca_enhanced

I get the error: "Error loading new keyboard description". Trying to add the
Canada (Multilingual) layout in the Keyboard Preferences results in two "Error
activating XKB configuration" pop-ups. The layout switcher applet still doesn't
work, with or without the the CaE layout included, but this is probably a
separate bug.

I'm not familiar with xkbcomp so I simply did exactly what you said, and
attached the standard output.

[Tollef Fog Heen (tfheen)]

This works just fine for me in dapper; can you retry there? (Even with a live CD would be fine.)

[François Bouffard (fbouffar)]

Sorry for the delay. I just came around to installing Dapper on a secondary setup. On Flight 6, everything is fine as for the keyboard switcher applet. I can add any layout and switch between layouts without any error pop-up.

That being said, the layout I normally work with (the one that once was "ca_enhanced") is again missing. I was under the impression that it is the most popular layout in Quebec, but maybe I'm simply a user of an old layout being phased out ;)

In Breezy, this layout is found under the "Canada French" name. Alas, in Dapper, there is "Canada French (Dvorak)", "Canada French (Legacy)", and three "Canada Multilingual", but none of these is the layout that is obtained using:

setxkbmap -layout ca -variant fr

[Etienne Goyer (etienne-goyer-outlands)]

For a possible fix to the ca_enhanced (which, I believe, have been superceded by ca_fr), you can check the bug I just posted at https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/xkeyboard-config/+bug/62686

[Etienne Goyer (etienne-goyer-outlands)]

Disregard my comment above, it was wrong. It's been pointed to me that just choosing the Canadian layout, with no variant, is what we have to do since ca(fr) _is_ the default Canadian layout variant. It's backward from what we used to do in the past, but it work !

[wolfger (wolfger)]

Marking as "new" since this bug doesn't seem to be waiting on any more info. Does the problem still exist?

[François Bouffard (fbouffar)]

The use of two pull-down menus in Gutsy, namely one for the layout and the other for the variant, is much clearer now -- just selecting the "Canada" layout selects the correct layout (as mentioned by Etienne, in the previous UI, one could believe that selecting a variant in the submenu was mandatory). I for one would say that this bug can be closed.

[wolfger (wolfger)]

Looks like this was fixed in xkeyboard-config (0.8-11). Is confirmed working in xkeyboard-config (0.9-4ubuntu3)