[SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

kjozsa · 2025-01-15 13:59:59

Hi,

running a daily updated Arch, Wayland, GNOME, terminator as my terminal and fish shell. I use the alt-gr+dot key combination a lot, for the last command's argument. This has been working since - I believe - yesterday, maybe since 2 days ago, not sure. Now whatever I try, the AltGr (my right Alt key) key works as a no-op: running eg. `cat` and pressing alt-gr+<any key>, it shows the key literal.

Trying to hunt down the issue with `xev`, alt-gr+dot shows:

KeyPress event, serial 38, synthetic NO, window 0x3000001,
    root 0x4f9, subw 0x0, time 10242599, (76,113), root:(276,391),
    state 0x80, keycode 0 (keysym 0x1ff, abovedot), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 2 bytes: (cb 99) "˙"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

and DeepSeek tells me the "abovedot" part shows that it's a "dead key". I verified the issue running `weston` to avoid any GNOME-related setting playing games with me, and it also happens there.

Any ideas what could have wrong here in the last 2 days?

Last edited by kjozsa (2025-01-16 16:22:35)

kjozsa · 2025-01-15 14:03:11

Some additional debugging info:

$ setxkbmap -query
WARNING: Running setxkbmap against an Xwayland server
rules:      evdev
model:      pc105
layout:     us
variant:    intl

$ xmodmap -pm
xmodmap:  up to 3 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):

shift       Shift_L (0x32),  Shift_R (0x3e)
lock        Caps_Lock (0x42)
control     Control_L (0x25),  Control_R (0x69)
mod1        Alt_L (0x40),  Alt_L (0xcc),  Meta_L (0xcd)
mod2        Num_Lock (0x4d)
mod3        ISO_Level5_Shift (0xcb),  Hyper_L (0xcf)
mod4        Super_L (0x85),  Super_R (0x86),  Super_L (0xce)
mod5        ISO_Level3_Shift (0x5c)

seth · 2025-01-15 16:13:27

For weston and gnome (likely on wayland) xev and setxkmap aren't authorative - let alone xmodmap.
=> You'd ideally test the behavior on X11

Regardless, on X11 xev shoudl™ show altgr (by itself) as ISO_Level3_Shift, if that's not happening check whether "evtest" and "libinput debug-events" register the physical key at all.

Any ideas what could have wrong here in the last 2 days?

Do you have a spare keyboard?
Local humidity changes like from a radiator or a wildfire or so?
(Depending on the keyboard hardware this can lead to static build-up and block the electrical signal in the keyboard)

kjozsa · 2025-01-15 18:52:43

@seth this is a 1 month old HP ZBook Firefly laptop, I would score out any hardware related issues. I digged through the BIOS but I also think it's set up correctly.

Now I tested the problem throughoutly in the evening, and I'm getting sure it's a GNOME issue. Previously:
- I claimed the issue exists on weston - not true, the issue only exists on weston started within my gnome session from a terminal (it starts in a nested window)
- starting from gdm, neither weston nor hyprland has the problem, alt-gr+dot works flawlessly in terminals there. Also started from gdm, GNOME on X.org does have the issue though.

At this point I believe that my terminal setup, my fish shell and Wayland does not cause any trouble, but GNOME does.. and I still believe it's a recent issue introduced in the last few days.

Reviewing the upgraded packages in `pacman.log` from the last day, I suspect maybe one these might have caused it:

[2025-01-15T09:55:56+0100] [ALPM] upgraded util-linux-libs (2.40.3-1 -> 2.40.4-1)
[2025-01-15T09:55:57+0100] [ALPM] upgraded systemd-libs (257.2-1 -> 257.2-2)
[2025-01-15T09:55:57+0100] [ALPM] upgraded brltty (6.7-2 -> 6.7-3)
[2025-01-15T09:55:57+0100] [ALPM] upgraded cryptsetup (2.7.5-1 -> 2.7.5-2)
[2025-01-15T09:55:57+0100] [ALPM] upgraded docker-compose (2.32.2-1 -> 2.32.3-1)
[2025-01-15T09:55:57+0100] [ALPM] upgraded intel-gmmlib (22.5.4-1 -> 22.5.5-1)
[2025-01-15T09:55:57+0100] [ALPM] upgraded linux-firmware-whence (20241210.b00a7f7e-1 -> 20250109.7673dffd-1)
[2025-01-15T09:55:57+0100] [ALPM] upgraded linux-firmware (20241210.b00a7f7e-1 -> 20250109.7673dffd-1)
[2025-01-15T09:55:57+0100] [ALPM] upgraded python-anyio (4.7.0-2 -> 4.8.0-1)
[2025-01-15T09:55:57+0100] [ALPM] upgraded util-linux (2.40.3-1 -> 2.40.4-1)
[2025-01-15T09:55:58+0100] [ALPM] upgraded systemd (257.2-1 -> 257.2-2)
[2025-01-15T09:55:59+0100] [ALPM] upgraded systemd-sysvcompat (257.2-1 -> 257.2-2)
[2025-01-15T10:01:29+0100] [ALPM] upgraded google-chrome (131.0.6778.264-1 -> 132.0.6834.83-1)
[2025-01-15T10:01:29+0100] [ALPM] upgraded firefox-gnome-theme (133.1-1 -> 134-1)
[2025-01-15T11:06:35+0100] [ALPM] upgraded firefox (134.0-1 -> 134.0.1-1)
[2025-01-15T11:06:35+0100] [ALPM] upgraded git (2.48.0-1 -> 2.48.1-1)
[2025-01-15T11:06:36+0100] [ALPM] upgraded polkit (125-1 -> 126-1)
[2025-01-15T11:06:36+0100] [ALPM] upgraded gnome-color-manager (3.36.0+r74+g19b6f67d-1 -> 3.36.2-1)
[2025-01-15T11:06:36+0100] [ALPM] upgraded gnome-software (47.3-1 -> 47.4-1)
[2025-01-15T11:06:36+0100] [ALPM] upgraded gupnp-av (0.14.1-2 -> 0.14.3-1)
[2025-01-15T11:06:36+0100] [ALPM] upgraded libwnck3 (43.1-1 -> 43.2-1)
[2025-01-15T11:06:36+0100] [ALPM] upgraded ollama (0.5.4-3 -> 0.5.5-1)
[2025-01-15T11:06:36+0100] [ALPM] upgraded qt6-webengine (6.8.1-1 -> 6.8.1-2)
[2025-01-15T11:06:36+0100] [ALPM] upgraded rsync (3.3.0-2 -> 3.4.0-1)
[2025-01-15T11:06:36+0100] [ALPM] upgraded tree-sitter (0.24.6-1 -> 0.24.7-1)
[2025-01-15T11:06:36+0100] [ALPM] upgraded xdg-user-dirs-gtk (0.11-3 -> 0.12-1)
[2025-01-15T11:08:20+0100] [ALPM] upgraded aws-cli-v2 (2.22.34-1 -> 2.22.35-1)

seth · 2025-01-15 21:01:46

The only thing w/ a remote impact on the situation should be systemd[-libs] and possibly util-linux[-libs], but it would be very odd if they only impacted gnome.

On gnome/X11, what's the actual complete "xev -event keyboard" ouput when trying to enter altgr+˙ ?

kjozsa · 2025-01-16 09:12:08

it looks like this (press + release):

KeyPress event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x2200001,
    root 0x4f9, subw 0x2200002, time 4732827, (67,46), root:(605,481),
    state 0x0, keycode 108 (keysym 0xfe03, ISO_Level3_Shift), same_screen YES,
    XKeysymToKeycode returns keycode: 92
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyPress event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x2200001,
    root 0x4f9, subw 0x2200002, time 4732995, (67,46), root:(605,481),
    state 0x80, keycode 60 (keysym 0x2e, period), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (2e) "."
    XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (2e) "."
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x2200001,
    root 0x4f9, subw 0x2200002, time 4733097, (67,46), root:(605,481),
    state 0x80, keycode 60 (keysym 0x2e, period), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (2e) "."
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x2200001,
    root 0x4f9, subw 0x2200002, time 4733219, (67,46), root:(605,481),
    state 0x80, keycode 108 (keysym 0xfe03, ISO_Level3_Shift), same_screen YES,
    XKeysymToKeycode returns keycode: 92
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

seth · 2025-01-16 09:23:44

AltGr+. is perfectly recognized but apparently there's no 3rd level defined in the current layout

setxkbmap -print -query # on X11 this will actually tell what's currently used

kjozsa · 2025-01-16 09:33:01

$ setxkbmap -print -query
WARNING: Running setxkbmap against an Xwayland server
xkb_keymap {
	xkb_keycodes  { include "evdev+aliases(qwerty)"	};
	xkb_types     { include "complete"	};
	xkb_compat    { include "complete"	};
	xkb_symbols   { include "pc+us+inet(evdev)"	};
	xkb_geometry  { include "pc(pc105)"	};
};
rules:      evdev
model:      pc105
layout:     us

The strange part is that I get the exact same output when logged on to Hyprland from GDM, and it works there in the terminal..

seth · 2025-01-16 09:38:56

That's not from an X11 session?
Try to use the "intl" variant, the basic us layout doesn't use the 3rd level shift

kjozsa · 2025-01-16 09:47:39

No, that all happens on Wayland (but I had the same result from GNOME over X11). I switched to the intl variant but same effect, only a dot char gets printed to terminals.
Now it looks like this:

$ setxkbmap -print -query
WARNING: Running setxkbmap against an Xwayland server
xkb_keymap {
	xkb_keycodes  { include "evdev+aliases(qwerty)"	};
	xkb_types     { include "complete"	};
	xkb_compat    { include "complete"	};
	xkb_symbols   { include "pc+us(intl)+inet(evdev)+level3(ralt_switch)"	};
	xkb_geometry  { include "pc(pc105)"	};
};
rules:      evdev
model:      pc105
layout:     us
variant:    intl
options:    lv3:ralt_switch

seth · 2025-01-16 09:55:39

Please try this on an X11 session - setxkbmap isn't authorative nor can control the keyboard layout in a gnome/wayland session.
That aside, does the xev output change? Does the input behave differently in xterm (ie. an actual xwayland client)?

kjozsa · 2025-01-16 16:13:42

I had an idea and created a brand new local user, logged on to it (using GNOME on Wayland) and alt-gr+dot works there also. That means that must be some local setting in my user's home...

Note that `setxkbmap` output looks exactly the same for the new user and my own:

setxkbmap -print -query
WARNING: Running setxkbmap against an Xwayland server
xkb_keymap {
	xkb_keycodes  { include "evdev+aliases(qwerty)"	};
	xkb_types     { include "complete"	};
	xkb_compat    { include "complete"	};
	xkb_symbols   { include "pc+us+inet(evdev)"	};
	xkb_geometry  { include "pc(pc105)"	};
};
rules:      evdev
model:      pc105
layout:     us

I'm a bit lost on how to find the difference between the two user's local settings though.

kjozsa · 2025-01-16 16:22:21

DeepSeek helped to solve it: `dconf reset -f /org/gnome/desktop/input-sources/`, and relogin - now it's all good.. *pheeew*. Thanks much @seth for trying to help me out on that one, appreciated!

Last edited by kjozsa (2025-01-16 16:25:24)

seth · 2025-01-16 16:24:07

Input method configuration?
Again: setxkbmap and an empty bag on wayland are worth the bag. It doesn't mean a lot and especially not for native wayland clients.
The relevant configuration is the gnome settings, https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help … ts.html.en

Edit: F5

Last edited by seth (2025-01-16 16:34:52)

Arch Linux

#1 2025-01-15 13:59:59

[SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#2 2025-01-15 14:03:11

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#3 2025-01-15 16:13:27

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#4 2025-01-15 18:52:43

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#5 2025-01-15 21:01:46

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#6 2025-01-16 09:12:08

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#7 2025-01-16 09:23:44

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#8 2025-01-16 09:33:01

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#9 2025-01-16 09:38:56

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#10 2025-01-16 09:47:39

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#11 2025-01-16 09:55:39

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#12 2025-01-16 16:13:42

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#13 2025-01-16 16:22:21

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

#14 2025-01-16 16:24:07

Re: [SOLVED] Alt-gr key stopped working

Board footer