[SOLVED]sddm update to 0.20 loses keyboard layout and touchpad tapping

mcloaked · 2023-06-25 12:56:43

I am using sddm to login to the plasma desktop as a wayland session on all my machines. After updating three machines to include sddm 0.20.0-1 two of the machines are fine, but the third (Lenovo ideapad y510p) now boots and displays the sddm greeter with touchpad tapping disabled and the keypad set to US, with no option to change it to GB. I have looked at posts from the past that suggest how to get sddm to use a different keyboard layout, and tried adding a new file:

$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-keyboard.conf 
# Written by systemd-localed(8), read by systemd-localed and Xorg. It's
# probably wise not to edit this file manually. Use localectl(1) to
# instruct systemd-localed to update it.
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "system-keyboard"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
EndSection

in addition to the file I have already been using for years which is /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/90-libinput.conf and contains the stanza:

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput keyboard catchall"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
        Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
EndSection

and that file also contains:

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
        Option "Tapping" "on"
        Option "DisableWhileTyping" "on"
        Option "ScrollMethod" "edge"
EndSection

In addition I have tried editing this file as per:

$ cat /usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsetup
#!/bin/sh
# Xsetup - run as root before the login dialog appears

setxkbmap gb

In addition I was trying to use:

$ cat custom.conf.new 
[General]
# sddm on wayland
DisplayServer=wayland
#GreeterEnvironment=QT_WAYLAND_SHELL_INTEGRATION=layer-shell
GreeterEnvironment=QT_WAYLAND_SHELL_INTEGRATION=layer-shell,XKB_DEFAULT_LAYOUT=gb
#------
InputMethod=
Numlock=none

[Wayland]
#------
# sddm on wayland
# this may not be needed -
#CompositorCommand=kwin_wayland --no-lockscreen
#CompositorCommand=
CompositorCommand=kwin_wayland --no-lockscreen --inputmethod qt5-virtualkeyboard
#CompositorCommand=/usr/bin/weston --config /etc/weston/weston.ini
#CompositorCommand=/usr/bin/weston --config /etc/xdg/weston/weston.ini
#------
#EnableHiDPI=true
SessionCommand=/usr/share/sddm/scripts/wayland-session
SessionDir=/usr/share/wayland-sessions
SessionLogFile=.local/share/sddm/wayland-session.log

# Input method module
InputMethod=

But everything I have tried does not change from the default US keyboard layout, and the touchpad no longer has tapping enabled.

If I type the login password using the US keyboard button positions to get logged in to the plasma wayland seesion then everything works normally, with tapping and correct UK keyboard, once logged in. So it is only sddm that has the problem.

Can anyone suggest what I might try to fix those two issues? Thanks.

Last edited by mcloaked (2023-06-25 14:13:31)

Scimmia · 2023-06-25 13:41:03

xorg.conf.d and Xsetup aren't going to help if you're not running on Xorg.

Are the other 2 machines configured to use Wayland for SDDM as well?

mcloaked · 2023-06-25 13:45:13

Scimmia wrote:

xorg.conf.d and Xsetup aren't going to help if you're not running on Xorg.
Are the other 2 machines configured to use Wayland for SDDM as well?

I didn't make any change to make sddm run on wayland initially - plasma desktop has been running wayland session for me for a long time - but as far as I know sddm should have remained running on x11 by default - so perhaps I just didn't update myself on the internal changes to the new sddm and perhaps I need to make changes to one or other of the sddm conf files so that it reverts back to x11 even if once logged in to plasma it is then running as wayland as before?

Edit: I have just come across the news item at https://www.phoronix.com/news/SDDM-0.20-Released and note that is explicitly mentions wayland support in sddm is experimental, and that 'running on wayland it is not possible to select a keyboard layout' !!
So perhaps I need to check the config files to make sure it runs in x11 - though it is not obvious how to tell if sddm is running in x11 or wayland?

The other two machines were and are running as default with nothing in the sddm configs mentioning wayland.

Last edited by mcloaked (2023-06-25 14:09:16)

mcloaked · 2023-06-25 14:17:08

I decided to mv /etc/sddm.conf.d to sddm.conf.d.bak and rsynced the sddm.conf.d directory from one of the other machines where it is working fine with sddm 0.20 - and now the laptop works fine, presumably now running sddm in x11 and therefore honoring the keyboard and touchpad settings. I will look into the differences in the files to see where the problem may have been generated, but this looks like a line in one of my configs must have had a bad setting. Anyway this is resolved even though I don't know what caused the problem.

Arch Linux

#1 2023-06-25 12:56:43

[SOLVED]sddm update to 0.20 loses keyboard layout and touchpad tapping

#2 2023-06-25 13:41:03

Re: [SOLVED]sddm update to 0.20 loses keyboard layout and touchpad tapping

#3 2023-06-25 13:45:13

Re: [SOLVED]sddm update to 0.20 loses keyboard layout and touchpad tapping

#4 2023-06-25 14:17:08

Re: [SOLVED]sddm update to 0.20 loses keyboard layout and touchpad tapping

Board footer