Bug 454223

> There's a ton of bugs like this, so I'm definitely not alone:
First I've heard of it. Thanks for reporting it.

> ...but, I know this will never get fixed. So, I will not use KDE ever again. Gnome, here I come.
Does that mean that if I ask you questions to try to find out where the bug is, you won't be able to answer them?

> ask you questions

That was just a joke, sorry. I'd be happy to cooperate and get the issue fixed.
Let me post some details bout my system to get started:

OS: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Kernel: x86_64 Linux 5.15.0-30-generic
Uptime: 0m
Packages: 2283
Shell: bash 5.1.16
Resolution: 1920x1080
DE: KDE 5.92.0 / Plasma 5.24.4
WM: KWin
GTK Theme: Breeze [GTK2/3]
Icon Theme: breeze-dark

Though it says Ubuntu, I actually started out at Kubuntu. I guess it was 20.04, a pretty old version. And then I've updated the distro a few times.

I've noticed that when text input is focused, I can actually switch languages. But when the desktop is in focus, it just gets stuck to US and there's nothing I can do. Even if I remove US from the list of input languages whatsoever.

Here's more lines from about page.

Operating System: Kubuntu 22.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.92.0
Qt Version: 5.15.3
Kernel Version: 5.15.0-30-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz
Memory: 31,3 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M/PCIe/SSE2

It actually worked fine on 20.04, so your best bet would be to reproduce it like this:

1. Install Kubuntu 20.04
2. Add 1 more input language
3. Update the distro to 21.10. I guess I've used this manual: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/JammyUpgrades/Kubuntu
4. Reboot. 
5. Update to the "latest and greatest" distro- 22.10
6. Reboot
7. Observe the issue.

I don't think there's a big chance the bug will appear, but it might be worth giving it a try.

(In reply to comment #4)

> 1. Install Kubuntu 20.04
> 2. Add 1 more input language

And while on 20.04, you might log out, switch to wayland, try to log in (it'll fail) and reboot. IDK if that's important.

Where exactly are you adding 1 more input language?

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #6)
> Where exactly are you adding 1 more input language?

System Settings - Input Devices - Layouts - Add - Japanese - OK - Apply

What do you have the "Switching policy" set to on that page?

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #8)
> What do you have the "Switching policy" set to on that page?

Global. It changes nothing, though. The bug is still there when I switch to the different one.

Do you have some ibus stuff installed maybe?

(In reply to Andrey from comment #10)
> Do you have some ibus stuff installed maybe?

Not that I know of. At the very leasy, ibus package from apt is not installed.

(In reply to stalkermar from comment #0):
> https://askubuntu.com/questions/1330324/kde-plasma-5-undesireable-keyboard-
> layout-switching-behavior
Did you try to follow the tips suggested?

(In reply to stalkermar from comment #4)
> It actually worked fine on 20.04, so your best bet would be to reproduce it
> like this:
> 
> 1. Install Kubuntu 20.04
> 2. Add 1 more input language
> 3. Update the distro to 21.10. I guess I've used this manual:
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/JammyUpgrades/Kubuntu
> 4. Reboot. 
> 5. Update to the "latest and greatest" distro- 22.10
> 6. Reboot
> 7. Observe the issue.

So it might be upgrade issue, can you reproduce yourself in VM?

(In reply to stalkermar from comment #3)
> Graphics Platform: X11
What's on Wayland?

I've managed to determine what's causing the issue.
There was a widget called Input Method. And as soon as I removed it from the panel, everything just started working again. I'm sure I didn't add it, the thing have just appeared on me after the update. No matter how many times I close it, the thing just re-appears after a reboot.

When I click on a desktop, it's tooltip says "No input window". And I can't switch the language.
But when I click on any input field, it changes to "Keyboard - English (US)" and I can start typing.

Some of the most annoying cases (for those who think this is intended behavior):
1. Address bar in Chrome changes language every time I press backspace
2. VS Code changes language every time I click on the text

When I click on the Configure option of the widget, I get the following error message (and nothing happens):
"You're currently running KDE, but KCModule for fcitx couldn't be found, the package name of this KCModule is usually kcm-fcitx or kde-config-fcitx. Now it will open config file with default text editor."

"Online Help" option of the widget leads into nowhere (nothing happens as well).

I guess it's somehow connected to the virtual keyboard I didn't know existed and I've never used in my life. I wonder if this is an intended behavior (and how do I get rid of it).

(In reply to stalkermar from comment #15)
> There was a widget called Input Method. And as soon as I removed it from the
> panel, everything just started working again. I'm sure I didn't add it, the
> thing have just appeared on me after the update. No matter how many times I
> close it, the thing just re-appears after a reboot.
Input Method is the usual source of such problems.
But I completely unaware how it was introduced and why it re-appears.
You can try forcibly disable the applet in Systray settings.

> You can try forcibly disable the applet in Systray settings.

There's no way to do that, though. There's no delete button, only "Show when relevant" or "Always hidden". In case I hide it, the issue persists. So, I have to right click the widget and click "Exit" every time I turn on my laptop.
Feels bad, man. Hope it's fixable.

(In reply to stalkermar from comment #17)
> > You can try forcibly disable the applet in Systray settings.
> 
> There's no way to do that, though. There's no delete button, only "Show when
> relevant" or "Always hidden". 
It's strange as I have one: "Disabled" for the IM applet.
BTW, are you able to attach the files here? Wanted to attach the screenshot but couldn't.

Can you take a screenshot of the IM applet in your system tray so we can be sure what it is?

Created attachment 149211 [details]
screenshot 1

Created attachment 149212 [details]
screenshot 2

Created attachment 149213 [details]
screenshot 3

And a screenshot #3. Man, this GUI is so outdated. I wish it would allow to drag and drop multiple files in 1 go. It feels like I'm back in the 90s

(In reply to stalkermar from comment #22)
> Created attachment 149213 [details]
> screenshot 3
> 
> And a screenshot #3. Man, this GUI is so outdated. I wish it would allow to
> drag and drop multiple files in 1 go. It feels like I'm back in the 90s

We see two IM applets, maybe that is the problem? Can you disable at least one?

(In reply to Andrey from comment #23)
> We see two IM applets, maybe that is the problem? Can you disable at least one?

The one that's causing the problem cannot be disabled. There's no such option. And disabling the other one gives no effect.

As I only have one IM applet, I wonder if the other one was left after upgrade.
Can you check on new install?

(In reply to Andrey from comment #25)
> new install?

No, thank you. I know it's possible to fix issues like this by reinstalling my system, but I'm not doing that.

I'm not suggesting to reinstall your system but rather try in on VM, so we would know what upgrade path producing it, if any.

It's confusing because there is a 1st-party applet called "Input Method" that is used to control the Maliit virtual keyboard. You appear to have a second applet which has the same name, but does different things. As far as I can tell, that second one is a 3rd-party applet that's not developed by KDE, so I would recommend that you contact its developers and inform them of this issue. Thanks!

Hi, I just searched everywhere online and I am having the same issue. The exiting of "Input Method" in the system tray does work as a workaround for this issue. Once the "Input Method" is closed, everything works as intended. 

I have also upgraded from Kubuntu 20.04 to 22.04, so it must be an upgrade issue. This was driving me nuts, but at least we have a workaround available. I've found this a little while later, which might be related: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/529822/kde-how-to-get-rid-of-ibus-keyboard-selector

I did have zoom installed on 20.04 (before the upgrade), which I uninstalled on 22.04. This might be related, as ibus seems to be a dependency for zoom. 

I'm also having this issue, where the terminal changed to a secondary language after adding a second language: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1407214/adding-language-failure-in-terminal-and-system-kde-kubuntu
I had to modify this file "~/.config/plasma-localerc" and set it back to get the default english terminal language back.
[Translations]
LANGUAGE=en_US

Upgrading to 22.04 is really not going well for me as I have other issues to look through.

(In reply to ptkory from comment #29)
> I have also upgraded from Kubuntu 20.04 to 22.04, so it must be an upgrade
> issue. This was driving me nuts, but at least we have a workaround
> available. I've found this a little while later, which might be related:
> https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/529822/kde-how-to-get-rid-of-ibus-
> keyboard-selector
Thanks. Coexisting with IM/IBus is not very well tested, so might produce unexpected results like this.

> I'm also having this issue, where the terminal changed to a secondary
> language after adding a second language:
> https://askubuntu.com/questions/1407214/adding-language-failure-in-terminal-
> and-system-kde-kubuntu
> I had to modify this file "~/.config/plasma-localerc" and set it back to get
> the default english terminal language back.
> [Translations]
> LANGUAGE=en_US
Could you check if it's reported and if not, make a report?

> Upgrading to 22.04 is really not going well for me as I have other issues to
> look through.
Usually we try to carry about the upgrade paths, so you are welcome to report all the bugs you found.