Xpra: Ticket #1465: Bad keyboard translations and some modifier keys not working in combos

I'm experiencing two problems with the keyboard.

My setup:

Here is a log from using "-d keyboard" where I press all of the problem keys once in the order of "< > | alt+e": attachment/ticket/1465/t-o.log Here is the output of "xmodmap -pke": attachment/ticket/1465/t--.txt

First problem is that the keys < and | are translated to > key. This problem only happens if I attach a shadow display, not regular xpra display.

Xev output for these three keys are all the same

KeyPress event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x4600001,
    root 0x44f, subw 0x0, time 73765672, (-289,434), root:(994,470),
    state 0x1, keycode 94 (keysym 0x3e, greater), same_screen YES,
    XKeysymToKeycode returns keycode: 60
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (3e) ">"
    XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (3e) ">"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

Second problem is that some modifier keys show up in xev but don't actually work. This problem happens whether I attach a shadow display or regular xpra display.

Control and shift have no problem. Alt has a problem.

KeyPress event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x4600001,
    root 0x44f, subw 0x0, time 73724840, (-89,410), root:(1194,446),
    state 0x0, keycode 134 (keysym 0xffea, Alt_R), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

It shows up in xev but doesn't work in combos, pressing something like Alt+e will act as if I had pressed Alt then e separately. And when I assign a key to a modifier key with xmodmap, which I have to do for the Super key to ensure I don't activate Windows shortcuts, the same thing will happen, shows up in xev, but doesn't work in combos.



Tue, 14 Mar 2017 03:12:35 GMT - Antoine Martin: attachment set

keyboard debug log


Tue, 14 Mar 2017 03:13:10 GMT - Antoine Martin: attachment set

xmodmap -pke


Tue, 14 Mar 2017 03:16:22 GMT - Antoine Martin: owner, description changed

Can you please include the matching server "-d keyboard" log?

And any other useful information from wiki/Keyboard.

(I have converted the logs to attachments so they don't bitrot)


Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:46:07 GMT - vival: attachment set

-d keyboard log from client


Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:47:07 GMT - vival: attachment set

-d keyboard log from server


Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:47:56 GMT - vival: attachment set

Keymap_info.exe run on client machine


Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:48:54 GMT - vival: attachment set

keymap.py run inside xpra session


Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:49:49 GMT - vival: attachment set

setxkbmap -print run inside xpra session


Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:50:22 GMT - vival: attachment set

setxkbmap -query run inside xpra session


Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:50:59 GMT - vival: attachment set

xmodmap -pke run inside xpra session


Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:51:33 GMT - vival: attachment set

xmodmap -pm run inside xpra session


Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:55:32 GMT - vival:

Sorry about disappearing, I've uploaded a bunch of files that the keyboard page asks for. I don't have any special input method and the bug is still present with --no-keyboard-sync.


Fri, 14 Jul 2017 16:43:07 GMT - Antoine Martin: owner, status changed; milestone set

Not had time to take a look, sorry. In the meantime, keyboard grabs may help you - see #1195


Thu, 20 Jul 2017 07:11:47 GMT - Antoine Martin:

See also #1482.


Mon, 04 Dec 2017 14:08:03 GMT - Antoine Martin: owner, status changed

Sorry for taking so long to look into this. The problem was limited to this particular combination:

The fix turns out to be trivial, and server-side only: r17563. You may or may not also need the fixes from ticket:1665#comment:3 (I have not checked this).

For more information on the nasty AltGr workarounds we have to apply on ms windows, see #923 and #1119 (ancient tickets: #7 and #62 - original changesets: r1755, r1756, r1757, r1758, r1759, r1760, r1769, r1770, r1771)

@vival: please close if this works for you.


Sat, 23 Dec 2017 12:58:55 GMT - Antoine Martin: status changed; resolution set


Tue, 07 Apr 2020 07:53:08 GMT - Antoine Martin:

A recent regression in the 3.0 series had similar symptoms (this is fixed in 3.0.9

For older 3.0 versions, use:

XPRA_SIMULATE_MODIFIERS=0 xpra start ...

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 05:25:01 GMT - migration script:

this ticket has been moved to: https://github.com/Xpra-org/xpra/issues/1465