It can happen under various circumstances: - a bug in libxklavier library - a bug in X server (xkbcomp, xmodmap utilities) - X server with incompatible libxkbfile implementation X server version data: The X.Org Foundation 10503000 If you report this situation as a bug, please include: - The result of xprop -root | grep XKB - The result of gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd $ xprop -root | grep XKB _XKB_RULES_NAMES_BACKUP(STRING) = "evdev", "evdev", "us", "", "" _XKB_RULES_NAMES(STRING) = "evdev", "evdev", "us", "", "" $ gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd layouts = [dvorak,us] model = microsoft overrideSettings = false options = [grp grp:alts_toggle] Looked up older bugs that were similar, but none of the solutions worked. This happens every so often, and I usually manage to get it sorted, but this time I'm stumped. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce:
Turns out some stale gconf configuration was causing problems. I removed the ~/.gconf/desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/ directory and things started working again. Probably the switch to evdev.
