Dvorak keymap not loaded after login

[iskunk]

xrdp version

0.9.24

Detailed xrdp version, build options

xrdp 0.9.24
  A Remote Desktop Protocol Server.
  Copyright (C) 2004-2020 Jay Sorg, Neutrino Labs, and all contributors.
  See https://github.com/neutrinolabs/xrdp for more information.

  Configure options:
      --enable-ipv6
      --enable-jpeg
      --enable-fuse
      --enable-rfxcodec
      --enable-opus
      --enable-painter
      --enable-vsock
      --build=x86_64-linux-gnu
      --prefix=/usr
      --includedir=${prefix}/include
      --mandir=${prefix}/share/man
      --infodir=${prefix}/share/info
      --sysconfdir=/etc
      --localstatedir=/var
      --disable-silent-rules
      --libdir=${prefix}/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
      --libexecdir=${prefix}/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
      --disable-maintainer-mode
      --disable-dependency-tracking
      --with-socketdir=/run/xrdp/sockdir
      build_alias=x86_64-linux-gnu
      CFLAGS=-g -O2 -Werror=implicit-function-declaration -ffile-prefix-map=/build/reproducible-path/xrdp-0.9.24=. -fstack-protector-strong -fstack-clash-protection -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fcf-protection 
      LDFLAGS=-Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed
      CPPFLAGS=-Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 
      PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/build/reproducible-path/xrdp-0.9.24/pkgconfig

  Compiled with OpenSSL 3.2.2-dev 

Operating system & version

Debian sid

Installation method

dnf / apt / zypper / pkg / etc

Which backend do you use?

xorgxrdp

What desktop environment do you use?

any

Environment xrdp running on

VM

What's your client?

xfreerdp

Area(s) with issue?

Keyboard / Mouse

Steps to reproduce

From an X11 session with the Dvorak keymap loaded, log into a remote system via xrdp.

✔️ Expected Behavior

After getting past the login dialog, the Dvorak keymap (same as on the client system) is active in the remote framebuffer.

❌ Actual Behavior

The QWERTY keymap was active.

Anything else?

Please refer to the bug report I filed in Debian for more background on this issue, and the fix:
https://bugs.debian.org/1071556

[metalefty]

What is your command line option to xfreerdp?

[iskunk]

For testing, I used this invocation: xfreerdp /bpp:24 /kbd:0x00010409 /size:1200x900 /v:hostname

However, I first encountered the problem with Remmina (which correctly auto-detects the 0x10409/Dvorak keymap), logging into Ubuntu 24.04 via xrdp for the first time.

[metalefty]

OK, I wanted to confirm FreeRDP is telling to xrdp server that the client keymap is Dvorak.

To break down a problem, could you try to put the following file as startwm.sh at the top of your home directory (with execute permission)? Close all xrdp existing sessions and reconnect to a new session. Then your session will be quite simple like the attached screenshot.

#!/bin/sh
xterm

See what keyboard layout is applied.

See also xorgxrdp log (optional).

[ 52686.638] rdpRRConnectOutput:
[ 52686.638]   client can not do offscreen to offscreen blits
[ 52686.638]   client can do new(color) cursor
[ 52686.638] rdpLoadLayout: keylayout 0x00010409 variant  display 11 <-- this line
[ 52686.648] rdpkeybChangeKeyboardControl:
[ 52686.648] rdpkeybChangeKeyboardControl: autoRepeat on
[ 52686.648] rdpkeybChangeKeyboardControl:

[iskunk]

I set up an xterm-only session. The behavior is the same: if the config file has rdp_layout_us_dvorak=dvorak, I get QWERTY in the xterm. If it has rdp_layout_us_dvorak=us(dvorak), I get Dvorak. The Debian/Ubuntu packaging of xrdp does not make an xorgxrdp log available, but I do see this:

$ grep xrdp_load_keyboard_layout /var/log/xrdp.log
[20240522-02:45:11] [INFO ] xrdp_load_keyboard_layout: Keyboard information sent by the RDP client, keyboard_type:[0x04], keyboard_subtype:[0x00], keylayout:[0x00010409]
[20240522-02:45:11] [INFO ] xrdp_load_keyboard_layout: model [] variant [] layout [dvorak] options []
[20240522-02:45:34] [INFO ] xrdp_load_keyboard_layout: Keyboard information sent by the RDP client, keyboard_type:[0x04], keyboard_subtype:[0x00], keylayout:[0x00010409]
[20240522-02:45:34] [INFO ] xrdp_load_keyboard_layout: model [] variant [] layout [us(dvorak)] options []

You can confirm the behavior change using setxkbmap(1). On an old system, you can do

$ setxkbmap dvorak
$

On a new system (like Ubuntu 24.04), however, you get an error:

$ setxkbmap dvorak
Error loading new keyboard description
$ setxkbmap 'us(dvorak)'
$

Note that dvorak was an alias for us(dvorak). The latter has always been supported.