[Bug 1787267] Re: Can't type | ( pipe ) over vnc

[ Christian Ehrhardt ]

Well actually you did most of it Phillip, thanks!
I just tested and reviewed and did a bit patch polishing.

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Title:
  Can't type | ( pipe ) over vnc

Status in qemu source package in Bionic:
  In Progress
Status in qemu source package in Cosmic:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [Impact]

  After upgrading from 16.04 to 18.04, users are unable to type a | or >
  in their virtual machines when accessing them via vnc.  This happened
  because upstream added a key to the keymap that can also produce these
  symbols and exists only on European keyboards, but it uses different
  modifier keys to produce these symbols so trying to type a | or a >
  results in a < instead.  Simply removing this new non-existent scan
  code from the keymap resolves the issue.

  [Test Case]

  Start a virtual machine and connect to it via vnc.  I am using
  "tightvnc" on Windows, and upstream indicated that some vnc clients
  send the raw scan code instead of keysyms, in which case this issue
  would not arise.

  [Regression Potential]

  There should be no regression potential for actual en-us keyboards
  since this key does not exist.  European keyboards may be unable to
  use this other key they have unless they set the correct keymap, but
  all of its symbols are duplicates from other keys on the keyboard,
  rendering it fully redundant.

  [Notes]

  Upstream has already added logic to pick the mapping the matches the
  current modifier keys to resolve this, so cosmic should be unaffected
  and so this patch only applies to bionic.

  [Original Description]

  I tried booting some Ubuntu images today on my Xen server where I use
  VNC to remotely access the VM, and am unable to type a | ( pipe ).  I
  opened the keyboard layout utility and when I press the \ key, it
  recognizes it, but when I hold shift and press the key, it claims that
  I am pressing some key between left shift and Z that does not actually
  exist on US keyboards, and that types a > instead.

  This did not used to happen, and probably started when I upgraded the
  server from 16.04 to 18.04 a while back and I just haven't been
  testing VMs since then.

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