From sureshc@sac.sfbay.sun.com Thu Sep 10 22:45:09 2009 Received: from newsunmail1brm.central.sun.com (newsunmail1brm.Central.Sun.COM [129.147.62.245]) by sac.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8) with ESMTP id n8B5j9aA014731 for ; Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:45:09 -0700 (PDT) Received: from nwk-avmta-1.SFBay.Sun.COM (nwk-avmta-1.SFBay.Sun.COM [129.146.11.74]) by newsunmail1brm.central.sun.com (8.13.7+Sun/8.13.7/ENSMAIL,v2.2) with ESMTP id n8B5j4mC039086; Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:45:08 -0600 (MDT) Received: from pmxchannel-daemon.nwk-avmta-1.sfbay.Sun.COM by nwk-avmta-1.sfbay.Sun.COM (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) id <0KPS00H1HLB63400@nwk-avmta-1.sfbay.Sun.COM>; Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:45:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: from dm-sfbay-01.sfbay.sun.com ([129.145.155.118]) by nwk-avmta-1.sfbay.Sun.COM (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) with ESMTP id <0KPS00A4ZLB4U730@nwk-avmta-1.sfbay.Sun.COM>; Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:45:04 -0700 (PDT) Received: from sac.sfbay.sun.com (sac.SFBay.Sun.COM [129.146.226.132]) by dm-sfbay-01.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8/ENSMAIL,v2.2) with ESMTP id n8B5j4If043162; Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:45:04 -0700 (PDT) Received: from sac.sfbay.sun.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by sac.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8) with ESMTP id n8B5j34v014726; Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:45:03 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from sureshc@localhost) by sac.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8/Submit) id n8B5j37u014722; Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:45:03 -0700 (PDT) Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:45:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Suresh Chandrasekharan Subject: libxklavier re-integration [PSARC/2009/483 FastTrack timeout 09/18/2009] To: PSARC-ext@sun.com Cc: desktop-discuss@sun.com, gto@sun.com Message-id: <200909110545.n8B5j37u014722@sac.sfbay.sun.com> Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-PMX-Version: 5.4.1.325704 Status: RO Content-Length: 11751 I'm submitting this fast-track with Solaris minor binding, scheduled to timeout at 09/18/2009. I think the one pager explains the case for a re-integration of this library. API info is put into materials directory. Thanks, Suresh Template Version: @(#)sac_nextcase 1.68 02/23/09 SMI This information is Copyright 2009 Sun Microsystems 1. Introduction 1.1. Project/Component Working Name: libxklavier re-integration 1.2. Name of Document Author/Supplier: Author: Suresh Chandrasekharan 1.3 Date of This Document: 10 September, 2009 4. Technical Description 2. Project Summary 2.1. Project Description: X keyboard extension or XKB extends the ability to control the keyboard over what is offered by the X Window System core protocol. libxklavier, which's a utility library to make working with XKB easier. We need this library for providing keyboard selection support at GDM and for gnome keyboard switching mechanism in the gnome desktop. This one pager proposes re-integration of this library to OpenSolaris 2010.02 2.2. Risks and Assumptions: Solaris libxklavier and the dependent functionality of gnome keyboard switching was enabled in S10 timeframe and was later removed due to many customer complains of this functionality not working as expected. libxklavier is only extensively tested with Xorg based X servers. Does not work well with Xsun. Also does not work with remote displays. Sparc Nevada systems which still have Xsun as the default xserver will be EOLed soon. We are not planning to port this to S10 updates. So the case for supporting Xsun based servers directly is weaker than before. Keyboard switching functionality was tested on Sunrays having Xnewt xserver (derived from Xorg codebase) and found to be working well. For more information, look into the technical discussion of the project in Section 4.1 3. Business Summary 3.1. Problem Area: OpenSolaris marketing requires to modernize the input method framework in the OpenSolaris PCD (INT-3 - Ensure maximum compatibility with Linux based offerings in the area of input methods and keyboard support.) G11N is planning on transitioning the input method framework from iiimf to ibus in OpenSolaris Next. Though ibus is a modern input method framework with large community following, the support for European input method is weak without the ability to select the many available keyboard layouts using gnome keyboard switcher. Another requirement to have libxklavier delivered stems from an effort to enhance LiveCD experience by providing the keyboard/language selection in GDM screen. This also requires libxklavier bindings. 3.2. Market/Requester: OpenSolaris Marketing 3.3. Business Justification: Needed for OpenSolaris modernization effort. LiveCD modernization and input method framework change from iiimf to ibus depends on this. 3.4. Competitive Analysis: All the Linux distros which have Gnome as their desktop includes libxklavier. 3.5. Opportunity Window/Exposure: OpenSolaris 2010.02, gnome-2.28 3.6. How will you know when you are done?: When libxklavier is integrated to OpenSolaris without any P1/P2 open bugs at the time of integration. 4. Technical Description: 4.1. Details: libxklavier is slightly controversial, but a very useful library for keyboard swtiching. libxklavier was integrated to Solaris in S10 timeframe, which was removed later due to many complaints of the keyboard switching functionality not working as expected. From http://sac.sfbay/LSARC/2005/734/opinion.txt ........ 4.8 libxklavier libxklavier uses private XKB configuration files [22] that are not safe to use, so if a user has a non-standard Xserver or if a user is remote logged into a computer running a different Xserver, keyboard switching will break. However, many users who are use a supported Xserver obviously find the ability to switch keyboard layout very useful. "LSARC 2004/576 libxkbfile update for GNOME 2.6" discusses the fact that Sun is now exposing the X header files used by libxklavier, but this case does not highlight the fact that this interface is considered private and unsupported by X.org. Nor does this case discuss the issues caused by using this interface discussed in this section. The project team is Advised to drive resolution on this issue with the community. The Xorg team is currently working on a more Stable solution which the GNOME team should adopt when it becomes available. The project team is Advised to work with the Xorg Sun team and the external Xorg and GNOME communities to facilitate this work. The committee recommends that the Sun GNOME team facilitate the adoption of a more stable interface to support libxklavier functionality. ........ There has not been much progress in removing the limitations of libxklavier in the community even after more than 4 years has passed since the above case. Even though there are limitations the advantages also seems to be too attractive to let this pass. So the project team is planning to integrate this to OS 2010.02. We currently have more than 460 keyboard layouts from the community in OpenSolaris which needs libxklavier for accessing them dynamically. We looked in to the various issues filed which resulted in gnome keyboard switcher mechanism and associated base library removal and found that these are the major issues. 1. libxklavier does not work when XKB is disabled 2. libxklavier not work on Xsun 3. libxklavier does not work on remote displays 4. libxklavier uses private functions provided in libxkbfile library All the above reported issues are right, they resulted from the following broader issues 1. lack of adequate patches to fix/mask some of the issues happening when XKB is disabled, Xsun is xserver and when remote Xservers was employed.. 2. lack of a opportunistic mechanism like dlopen/dlsym based loading of the libxklavier library APIs We think that through a combination of the above we can harness the power of libxklavier without succumbing to it's limitations. For integration of the dependent functionality on libxklavier, the project team advices the future projects based on libxklavier to follow a 'do no harm' policy. (in our knowledge only gnome keyboard switching and keyboard selection support at gdm are the only 2 projects depending on this library however). This means we need to mask the dependent functionality or provide patches in cases where it does not work well. Following are the issues and the solutions we foresee. 1. libxklavier does not work when XKB is disabled libxklavier supports xkb and xmodmap through the use of a compiler flag. When compiled with the default "--enable-xkb-support" and if XKB is disabled in Xserver keyboard switching does not work. Advices project teams to tackle this by masking the keyboard switching functionality in case we find XKB extension is disabled in Xserver. 2. libxklavier does not work on Xsun We are no longer constrained by Xsun as i. We are not porting this library into S10 updates where we still support Xsun Xserver ii. OpenSolaris Xserver is based of Xorg, for both sparc/x86 Xsun is being EOFed. iii. Nevada sparc is still Xsun, which will go away soon by the time this project is integrated. Even if it won't we will make sure keyboard switching is not enabled in Nevada sparc systems iv. Sunray Xserver is Xnewt which is based on Xorg codebase primary test results of the test packages of keyboard switching in Sunray seems to work fine. 3. libxklavier does not work on remote displays libxklavier ignores the X-Window client-server model and only reads the keyboard configuration files in the client, not the xserver. It's the current design limitation of the library and a general limitation of X (and a security issue) when a X client is displayed on a remote server, there is no Xlib/XKB api's which will query for and read the XML configuration files in the server from the client side. Currently due to this issue the keyboard configuration will be read from the client machine only. If server and client is in the same machine, this works, otherwise this does not unless the client and server machines are of identical Xorg based configurations. Disable keyboard switching functionality when the display is remote is the solution. 4. libxklavier uses private functions provided in libxkbfile library This is one of the long standing pain point and the reason for libxklavier not tested and fixed in non-Xorg Xserver like Xsun. libxkbfile is a private library used by Xserver and some configuration utilities which never was supposed to be used by others. libxklavier uses some of the private APIs in libxkbfile. Though 'private APIs from library libxkbfile' does not seems to be right as LSARC/2004/576 gives 'External' classification to libxkbfile and the associated headers, which's not a private classification. Eventhough libxkbfile originally was supposed to be a private interface, it's not currently. Gnome keyboard switching is used by heavily the community and any change in the libxkbfile will cause an issue in libxklavier used by linux communities and will be fixed, we don't see this as a big enough issue which force us not to use gnome keyboard switching functionality. In addition to the above, project team is advicing future consumers of libxklavier to opportunistically load the library and APIs using dlopen/dlsym calls, instead of accessing the library directly so that the associated functionality can be disabled by either using an appropriate environment variable or by removing libxklavier from the system in case of any potential issues. We are planning to bundle libxklavier 4.0 version with gnome 2.28 libxklavier will be delivered in SUNWlibxklavier 4.2. Bug/RFE Number(s): 6868433 Add gnome keyboard switcher 4.3. In Scope: None 4.4. Out of Scope: None 4.5. Interfaces: Imported Interfaces ------------------- Interface Stability Notes --------- --------- ----- From LSARC/2004/576/ /usr/X11/lib/libxkbfile.so.5 External X.Org open source implementation XKB*.h headers External X.Org open source implementation Exported Interfaces ------------------- SUNWlibxklavier /usr/lib/libxklavier.so.15.0.0 Volatile library /usr/lib/libxklavier.so.15 Volatile sym link /usr/lib/libxklavier.so Volatile sym link SUNWlibxklavier-devel /usr/include/libxklavier/xkl-enum-types.h Volatile Header File /usr/include/libxklavier/xkl_config_item.h Volatile Header File /usr/include/libxklavier/xkl_config_rec.h Volatile Header File /usr/include/libxklavier/xkl_config_registry.h Volatile Header File /usr/include/libxklavier/xkl_engine.h Volatile Header File /usr/include/libxklavier/xkl_engine_marshal.h Volatile Header File /usr/include/libxklavier/xklavier.h Volatile Header File 4.6. Doc Impact: Documentation is provided with the SUNWlibxklavier-devel package, included in materials directory 6. Resources and Schedule 6.4. Steering Committee requested information 6.4.1. Consolidation C-team Name: G11N 6.5. ARC review type: FastTrack 6.6. ARC Exposure: open From Darren.Moffat@sun.com Fri Sep 11 05:58:16 2009 Received: from newsunmail1brm.central.sun.com (newsunmail1brm.Central.Sun.COM [129.147.62.245]) by sac.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8) with ESMTP id n8BCwGdW017506 for ; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:58:16 -0700 (PDT) Received: from brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com (brm-avmta-1.Central.Sun.COM [129.147.4.11]) by newsunmail1brm.central.sun.com (8.13.7+Sun/8.13.7/ENSMAIL,v2.2) with ESMTP id n8BCwF0l010479; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:58:16 -0600 (MDT) Received: from pmxchannel-daemon.brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com by brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) id <0KPT00H095D3YL00@brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com>; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:58:15 -0600 (MDT) Received: from gmp-eb-inf-1.sun.com ([192.18.6.21]) by brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) with ESMTP id <0KPT009CV5D2QO30@brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com>; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:58:15 -0600 (MDT) Received: from fe-emea-09.sun.com (gmp-eb-lb-1-fe1.eu.sun.com [192.18.6.7] (may be forged)) by gmp-eb-inf-1.sun.com (8.13.7+Sun/8.12.9) with ESMTP id n8BCwEMt016954; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:58:14 +0000 (GMT) Received: from conversion-daemon.fe-emea-09.sun.com by fe-emea-09.sun.com (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 7u2-7.04 64bit (built Jul 2 2009)) id <0KPT005004VIBW00@fe-emea-09.sun.com>; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:57:54 +0100 (BST) Received: from [192.168.1.105] (cpc2-rdng20-2-0-cust917.15-3.cable.virginmedia.com [86.28.167.150]) by fe-emea-09.sun.com (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 7u2-7.04 64bit (built Jul 2 2009)) with ESMTPSA id <0KPT000VN5CIVD10@fe-emea-09.sun.com>; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:57:54 +0100 (BST) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:57:54 +0100 From: Darren J Moffat Subject: Re: libxklavier re-integration [PSARC/2009/483 FastTrack timeout 09/18/2009] In-reply-to: <200909110545.n8B5j37u014722@sac.sfbay.sun.com> Sender: Darren.Moffat@sun.com To: Suresh Chandrasekharan Cc: PSARC-ext@sun.com, gto@sun.com, desktop-discuss@sun.com Message-id: <4AAA4952.7020602@Sun.COM> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-PMX-Version: 5.4.1.325704 References: <200909110545.n8B5j37u014722@sac.sfbay.sun.com> User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.22 (X11/20090818) Status: RO Content-Length: 296 Suresh Chandrasekharan wrote: > Keyboard switching functionality was tested on Sunrays having > Xnewt xserver (derived from Xorg codebase) and found to be > working well. Is it safe to assume that Xvnc causes no problems either since it is an Xorg codebase server too ? -- Darren J Moffat From Suresh.Chandrasekharan@sun.com Fri Sep 11 07:50:31 2009 Received: from sunmail4.singapore.sun.com (sunmail4.Singapore.Sun.COM [129.158.71.19]) by sac.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8) with ESMTP id n8BEoUPc018749 for ; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:50:31 -0700 (PDT) Received: from nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com (nwk-avmta-2.SFBay.Sun.COM [129.145.155.6]) by sunmail4.singapore.sun.com (8.13.4+Sun/8.13.3/ENSMAIL,v2.2) with ESMTP id n8BEoSqg013825; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:50:29 +0800 (SGT) Received: from pmxchannel-daemon.nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com by nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) id <0KPT00J07AK3QZ00@nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com>; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:50:27 -0700 (PDT) Received: from sca-es-mail-2.sun.com ([192.18.43.133]) by nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) with ESMTP id <0KPT00DVBAK3NC90@nwk-avmta-2.sfbay.sun.com>; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:50:27 -0700 (PDT) Received: from fe-sfbay-10.sun.com ([192.18.43.129]) by sca-es-mail-2.sun.com (8.13.7+Sun/8.12.9) with ESMTP id n8BEoRGa018866; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:50:27 -0700 (PDT) Received: from conversion-daemon.fe-sfbay-10.sun.com by fe-sfbay-10.sun.com (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 7u2-7.04 64bit (built Jul 2 2009)) id <0KPT00B00AI9S300@fe-sfbay-10.sun.com>; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:50:27 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [192.168.1.67] ([unknown] [74.183.249.33]) by fe-sfbay-10.sun.com (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 7u2-7.04 64bit (built Jul 2 2009)) with ESMTPSA id <0KPT007SZAK0TC10@fe-sfbay-10.sun.com>; Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:50:27 -0700 (PDT) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:45:30 -0400 From: Suresh Chandrasekharan Subject: Re: libxklavier re-integration [PSARC/2009/483 FastTrack timeout 09/18/2009] In-reply-to: <4AAA4952.7020602@Sun.COM> Sender: Suresh.Chandrasekharan@sun.com To: Darren J Moffat Cc: Suresh Chandrasekharan , PSARC-ext@sun.com, gto@sun.com, desktop-discuss@sun.com Message-id: <4AAA628A.90705@sun.com> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-PMX-Version: 5.4.1.325704 References: <200909110545.n8B5j37u014722@sac.sfbay.sun.com> <4AAA4952.7020602@Sun.COM> User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.22 (X11/20090804) Status: RO Content-Length: 1123 libxklavier will work reliably only when X display is local, it is not meant to work with remote x displays (Sunrays act like a local machine with's connected with many displays and keyboards). It can only read the configuration files of the machine in which the keyboard switching program runs, in case of Xvnc which's invariably always run remotely it does not make sense to read the keyboard configuration of the remote machine and apply it locally. (Eventhough it's run in the same machine, the hosting Xserver seems to prevent keyboardgrab and keyboard switching didn't work from Xvnc session.) In our tests with remote Xvnc sessions this does not produce any issues like jumbled input, it's just that keyboard switching failed, session retained the original settings. Thanks, Suresh Darren J Moffat wrote: > Suresh Chandrasekharan wrote: >> Keyboard switching functionality was tested on Sunrays having >> Xnewt xserver (derived from Xorg codebase) and found to be >> working well. > > Is it safe to assume that Xvnc causes no problems either since it is > an Xorg codebase server too ? > From Darren.Moffat@sun.com Mon Sep 14 01:32:09 2009 Received: from sunmail2sca.sfbay.sun.com (sunmail2sca.SFBay.Sun.COM [129.145.155.234]) by sac.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8) with ESMTP id n8E8W88Y020786 for ; Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:32:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: from brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com (brm-avmta-1.Central.Sun.COM [129.147.4.11]) by sunmail2sca.sfbay.sun.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8/ENSMAIL,v2.4) with ESMTP id n8E8W4fl008465; Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:32:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: from pmxchannel-daemon.brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com by brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) id <0KPY00K0FD1J8J00@brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com>; Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:32:07 -0600 (MDT) Received: from gmp-eb-inf-1.sun.com ([192.18.6.21]) by brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-3.04 (built Jul 15 2005)) with ESMTP id <0KPY00BQFD1IKE50@brm-avmta-1.central.sun.com>; Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:32:06 -0600 (MDT) Received: from fe-emea-10.sun.com (gmp-eb-lb-1-fe1.eu.sun.com [192.18.6.7] (may be forged)) by gmp-eb-inf-1.sun.com (8.13.7+Sun/8.12.9) with ESMTP id n8E8W59L009053; Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:32:05 +0000 (GMT) Received: from conversion-daemon.fe-emea-10.sun.com by fe-emea-10.sun.com (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 7u2-7.04 64bit (built Jul 2 2009)) id <0KPY00D00CI3D500@fe-emea-10.sun.com>; Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:31:41 +0100 (BST) Received: from [192.168.1.105] (cpc2-rdng20-2-0-cust917.15-3.cable.virginmedia.com [86.28.167.150]) by fe-emea-10.sun.com (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 7u2-7.04 64bit (built Jul 2 2009)) with ESMTPSA id <0KPY00FBTCZYVR90@fe-emea-10.sun.com>; Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:31:10 +0100 (BST) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:31:09 +0100 From: Darren J Moffat Subject: Re: libxklavier re-integration [PSARC/2009/483 FastTrack timeout 09/18/2009] In-reply-to: <4AAA628A.90705@sun.com> Sender: Darren.Moffat@sun.com To: Suresh Chandrasekharan Cc: PSARC-ext@sun.com, gto@sun.com, desktop-discuss@sun.com Message-id: <4AADFF4D.30509@Sun.COM> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-PMX-Version: 5.4.1.325704 References: <200909110545.n8B5j37u014722@sac.sfbay.sun.com> <4AAA4952.7020602@Sun.COM> <4AAA628A.90705@sun.com> User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.22 (X11/20090818) Status: RO Content-Length: 894 Suresh Chandrasekharan wrote: > libxklavier will work reliably only when X display is local, it is not > meant to work with remote x displays (Sunrays act like a local machine > with's connected with many displays and keyboards). It can only read the > configuration files of the machine in which the keyboard switching > program runs, in case of Xvnc which's invariably always run remotely it > does not make sense to read the keyboard configuration of the remote > machine and apply it locally. (Eventhough it's run in the same machine, > the hosting Xserver seems to prevent keyboardgrab and keyboard > switching didn't work from Xvnc session.) > > In our tests with remote Xvnc sessions this does not produce any issues > like jumbled input, it's just that keyboard switching failed, session > retained the original settings. That seems reasonable thanks. -- Darren J Moffat