[systemd-devel] systemd should not call KDSKBMODE on a VT with X

[Arthur Taylor]

This is an old thread from February. Sorry I can't reply to the original email.

Apparently I failed to notice this question. My bad.

>> Hello systemd developers
>>
>> TL;DR: On a VT which X is running, messing with KDSKBMODE on
>> underneath X at best has no affect and at worst breaks keyboard input
>> badly. In the short term, systemd should stop calling this ioctl
>> because it has no benefit and makes no sense.
>
> It sounds to me we indeed want to set K_UNICODE only if K_OFF (or
> something else like it) is currently not set.
>
> However, before we change this, there's one thing that makes me wonder:
> what does X11 do on shutdown? Does it put the kbd back to K_UNICODE? Or
> back to K_XLATE?
>
> Lennart


Provided the behaviour hasn't been changed in the last six months,
Xorg remembers the VT KBMODE on start, set it to whatever it needs
(sometimes more than once :-/ ) and restores it to the value it was on
start upon exit.

(Of course if X crashes hard it isn't restored, and that is why
SysRq+R was invented.)


-- 
Arthur Taylor
art at ified.ca
taylora at csc.uvic.ca