Bug#1038762: [src:systemd]: login (gnome) uses wrong keyboard layout

[Lyndon Brown]

package: src:systemd
version: 253-3
severity: critical

The latest package update (to unstable) has broken login keyboard-
layout support. I'm marking this as critical due to the chaotic
potential for locking many users out of their accounts / systems, some
of whom unlike myself may have no clue what's wrong and how to get
around it, if they can.

I'm from the UK and my locale / keyboard-layout is setup accordingly.

Systemd packages were updated from 252.11-1 to 253-3 today on my
unstable/sid system. I happened to hit an OOM condition that killed my
user session a little while after having installed these updates,
kicking me back to the Gnome login screen. I tried to log back in but I
couldn't. After many tries, confident I was typing in my password
correctly, and rebooting having made no difference, I toggled the
feature to see what I was typing and discovered that a certain special
character was not matching what I typed. I was able to find a key with
which to enter the correct symbol and thus was able to get back in. I
presume it's defaulting to US layout for some reason.

I checked out the updates that had been installed today and I then
tried downgrading all of the systemd packages (listed below) to those
from testing (252.11-1). This solves the problem.

With 253-3 installed, if I lock my account it seems to be using the
correct layout, but if I logout or reboot then it's using the wrong
one. With the 252.11-1 downgrade everything uses the correct layout
again. Reinstating 253-3 the problem is back, confirming that the
problem relates to the upgrade of systemd packages.

Apt package log (systemd only):
Install: systemd-dev:amd64 (253-3, automatic)
Upgrade: udev:amd64 (252.11-1, 253-3), systemd-container:amd64 (252.11-
1, 253-3), libnss-myhostname:amd64 (252.11-1, 253-3), libpam-
systemd:amd64 (252.11-1, 253-3), libsystemd0:amd64 (252.11-1, 253-3),
libudev-dev:amd64 (252.11-1, 253-3), systemd:amd64 (252.11-1, 253-3),
libudev1:amd64 (252.11-1, 253-3), libnss-mymachines:amd64 (252.11-1,
253-3), libsystemd-shared:amd64 (252.11-1, 253-3), systemd-sysv:amd64
(252.11-1, 253-3), libsystemd-dev:amd64 (252.11-1, 253-3)

Apt term log (systemd only):
Preparing to unpack .../0-libnss-mymachines_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libnss-mymachines:amd64 (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../1-systemd-container_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking systemd-container (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../2-systemd-oomd_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking systemd-oomd (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../3-libpam-systemd_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libpam-systemd:amd64 (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../4-systemd_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking systemd (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../5-libsystemd-shared_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libsystemd-shared:amd64 (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../6-libsystemd0_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libsystemd0:amd64 (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Setting up libsystemd0:amd64 (253-3) ...
Preparing to unpack .../archives/udev_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking udev (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package systemd-dev.
Preparing to unpack .../systemd-dev_253-3_all.deb ...
Unpacking systemd-dev (253-3) ...
Setting up systemd-dev (253-3) ...
Setting up libsystemd-shared:amd64 (253-3) ...
Setting up systemd (253-3) ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/systemd/journald.conf ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/systemd/system.conf ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/systemd/user.conf ...
Preparing to unpack .../systemd-sysv_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking systemd-sysv (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libsystemd-dev_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libsystemd-dev:amd64 (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libudev-dev_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libudev-dev:amd64 (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libudev1_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libudev1:amd64 (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Setting up libudev1:amd64 (253-3) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libnss-myhostname_253-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libnss-myhostname:amd64 (253-3) over (252.11-1) ...
Setting up systemd-sysv (253-3) ...
Setting up udev (253-3) ...
Setting up libnss-myhostname:amd64 (253-3) ...
Setting up libudev-dev:amd64 (253-3) ...
Setting up systemd-container (253-3) ...
Setting up libpam-systemd:amd64 (253-3) ...
Setting up systemd-oomd (253-3) ...
Setting up libsystemd-dev:amd64 (253-3) ...
Setting up libnss-mymachines:amd64 (253-3) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.142) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.3.0-1-amd64
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.36-9) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.11.2-2) ...
Processing triggers for dbus (1.14.8-1) ...

I noticed that the systemd changelog for 253-rc2-1 states "make
/etc/default/locale a symlink to /etc/locale.conf". With 253-3
installed I indeed have this symlink (with owner root:root and
permissions 777).

My locale.conf, which has owner root:root and permissions 644 has the
following content:
LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
LC_NUMERIC=en_GB.UTF-8
LC_TIME=en_GB.UTF-8
LC_MONETARY=en_GB.UTF-8
LC_PAPER=en_GB.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=en_GB.UTF-8

I also note that the systemd v253 changelog has an entry mentioning a
change relating to /etc/vconsole.conf and /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-
keyboard.conf files. I don't have the latter file. The contents of the
former file is simply:
KEYMAP=uk