Bug#661295: #661295 A running xterm is confused by new xkb settings

On 2026-04-14 11:45:16 +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> On 2026-04-14 03:56:26 -0400, Thomas Dickey wrote:
> > The given severity "important" falls short of the guidelines, because this
> > refers to an event used by few people (your experience may differ).
> 
> By very few people (due to an unusual USB keyboard), but this is
> extremely annoying: each time the USB keyboard is reconnected,
> which can occur quite often for a laptop one uses at home and
> at work, all the xterms need to be quit and started again.
> 
> BTW, it seems that the issue that needs xkb setting change with
> this keyboard is now handled at the driver level via the module
> option "options hid_apple swap_opt_cmd=1" (actually for quite a
> long time, but this was not the case yet when I reported the bug
> in 2012... I'll have to try):
> 
>   https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AppleKeyboard

I've looked at my config and its history more closely, and
this wasn't related to this specific Apple keyboard. IIRC,
I got confused just because only USB keyboards are affected
(Debian bug 633849) and because this is the only USB keyboard
I've used in this context. So, with a USB keyboard, I need to
restore the XKB settings, and lv3:lalt_switch is probably what
triggers the issue with xterm.

So this bug should affect any xterm user who
  * has a USB keyboard that is not permanently plugged in;
  * uses an XKB option like lv3:lalt_switch;
  * restores the XKB settings due to Debian bug 633849; for this
    one, other users have complained in the upstream bug:
      https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/-/work_items/266

Note: I have not tested for a long time since with my current
laptop, I systematically switch it off when I need to connect
it to the dock (where the USB keyboard is connected) due to a
kernel bug.