fvwm2 key mappings stop working

Keith Thompson kst@mib.org
Fri Mar 4 20:42:00 GMT 2011


Quick summary: My fvwm2 key mappings, defined in $HOME/.fvwm2rc,
initially work, but they stop working when I switch to another MS
Windows app and back again.

This is a problem that appeared in the last few weeks.  It's likely
that I ran setup.exe and updated a few things around the time it
started; there may also have been a change in my Windows system.
(Sorry, I wish I could be less vague.)

I'm running Cygwin with the latest updates under Windows XP SP3.
I'm seeing this problem on two different (but similarly configured)
systems, a Dell laptop and a Dell desktop.

I start the X server with the command:
    XWin -engine 2 -nodecoration -emulate3buttons  &
(I had some Cygwin-specific reason for adding the "-engine 2"
option, but I don't remember what it was.  The man page says it uses
"Shadow DirectDraw".)

I then start fvwm2 with the command:
    fvwm2 &

My $HOME/.fvwm2rc file is rather large and has accumulated a lot of
cruft over the 11 years I've been using it.  I can provide a copy
if necessary, or try a stripped down version to see if it still
exhibits the problem, but for now I'll just mention the lines that
I think are relevant:

# KEYBOARD Setup
#
# press arrow + control anywhere, and scroll by 1 page
Key Left    A   C   Scroll -100 +0
Key Right   A   C   Scroll +100 +0
Key Up      A   C   Scroll +0   -100
Key Down    A   C   Scroll +0   +100

What this *should* do is, for example, let me press
control-left-arrow to jump left by one page, or control-right-arrow
to jump right by one page.

And in fact that's exactly what happens -- but only initially.
When I first launch the X server and window manager, these and my other
fvwm2 key bindings work correctly.

But as soon as I use alt-tab to switch to another MS Windows
application, then switch back to X, they stop working.  Instead,
pressing control-left-arrow sends the sequence ^[[D (escape,
left-bracket, D) to the X application that currently has focus
(typically xterm).

(Unfortunately, staying in X Windows forever is not an option.)

Is this a known problem?  Any suggestions for fixing it or working
around it?

Thanks.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Nokia
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"

--
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
Documentation:         http://x.cygwin.com/docs/
FAQ:                   http://x.cygwin.com/docs/faq/



More information about the Cygwin-xfree mailing list