non latin keyboard doesn't suffice for installation

Bug #2018943 reported by Claus7
28
This bug affects 5 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
ubuntu-desktop-provision
New
Low
Unassigned
subiquity (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Using the new ubuntu installer and picking up a non latin keyboard is not possible to finish the installation. The following names:
-computer
-user
are not recognized unless latin keyboard is used.

edit (adding more info):
the new installation process of ubuntu is not new under Mantic Minotaur. It had already started from Lunar Lobster where it had some (serious) issues that in the process were getting better and better. Now that a new version is under way, I fired it up and I noticed the following:
1) the installation doesn't hung and the display of the first image of the installation process has improved a lot, time-wise
2) it is still slow overall though, without showing any progress
3) there is no meaning of choosing a non-english keyboard, since installation cannot be completed this way

the last one is directly related to this bug report: during installation one has the option to choose one's keyboard. I can do so by typing only a couple of characters and greek keyboard is readily recognized. I follow the slideshow with the available options until the credentials of the new installation are required. Typing any name as my name, using different keyboards chosen at the beginning of the installation (either greek or english), that process is working fine. The problem arises when the computer name and user name is required: it doesn't pick up non-english characters. Maybe in general non-latin ones.

In old ubuntu versions (e.g. 10.10) the user has the ability to switch keyboards by tapping Alt+Shift during the installation process. This is not the case now. I tried also Super+space to no avail.

Revision history for this message
sudodus (nio-wiklund) wrote :

I tested with a cloned copy of the Ubuntu 23.04 Desktop iso file in a Dell Precision M4800. I used the new installer once before with the standard latin keyboard and it worked. Now I tried with Greek and I failed in the same way as described above.

The problem is that I could not find any convenient way to switch keyboard temporarily for example to Swedish when the computer name and user name should be entered.

Finally I fixed it by preparing a terminal window with the two command lines

setxkbmap se
setxkbmap gr

and fetched them via up-arrow in the terminal window to switch keyboard. But we should not expect an average user to do that, and a beginner will definitely get lost.

Alt 1: The latin keyboard should be set automatically in the input fields where it must be used (and probably English (US) which is standard).

- computer name
- user name
- password

Please notice that I tested with Greek letters in the password, but it did not work (I could create an installed system, but could not log in into it).

I started again, and entered Latin characters also into the password, and now it works to log into the installed system (even with the same password as the user name 'asdf'). In the installed system in the login screen and in the desktop I can switch between US English and Greek keyboard. So the password should also be locked to Latin characters, maybe all these critical input fields should be limited to ascii 33-126.

See the attached file (from the first attempt).

Alt 2: If possible Ubuntu should tolerate non-latin characters, but it might be too difficult and/or cause new problems (using non-ascii characters).

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in subiquity (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
sudodus (nio-wiklund)
tags: added: 23.04
sudodus (nio-wiklund)
tags: added: mantic
Claus7 (lastexile7gr)
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa) wrote :

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
https://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/2018943

tags: added: iso-testing
Revision history for this message
Olivier Gayot (ogayot) wrote (last edit ):

Hello,

Thanks for the bug report. Adding ubuntu-desktop-installer.

Subiquity supports configuring the "toggle" key binding. That said there is no default key binding for it.

For the server installer, the UI shows a dialog to configure the key binding when a non-latin layout it selected. But it looks like this dialog is not there on the desktop UI.

The following API call can tell if a given keyboard layout requires a toggle:

GET a/keyboard/needs_toggle?layout_code=...&variant_code=...

Non-ASCII characters _are_ supported in subiquity. I quickly tested in the server installer and I could login using greek characters after install + reboot. I am going to test with the desktop installer as well.

Update: I confirm that after finishing a desktop install (using a greek password), I can't authenticate ..

Thanks,
Olivier

Revision history for this message
sudodus (nio-wiklund) wrote :

Hi Olivier,

How did you modify the keyboard while running the installer? Are you happy with that method?

And please let Claus and me know, if/when you need more testing feedback from us.

Revision history for this message
Olivier Gayot (ogayot) wrote :

> How did you modify the keyboard while running the installer? Are you happy with that method?

It was a struggle. I have a cloud-init configuration that installs a SSH server in the live environment for debugging. So I used SSH to get a shell with my usual keyboard layout. This is definitely a hack.

Now, there must be a more standard way to configure keyboard layouts from Gnome but I don't know how to. I would expect to see either an icon in the system tray or at least a widespread key combination such as meta+space.

Revision history for this message
sudodus (nio-wiklund) wrote (last edit ):

> Now, there must be a more standard way to configure keyboard layouts from Gnome but I don't know how to.

Maybe yes, but it is still 'not in the workflow' of the installer. Would it be possible to set the latin keyboard automatically in the input fields where it must be used (and probably English (US) which is standard)? That would make things straightforward. If that is hard, maybe use two windows, one with the local keyboard, that might be non-latin, and one with English (US) for input of computer name, user name and password.

Or allow non-ascii characters generated by non-latin keyboards. But that must also work when logging into virtual consoles (via ctrl+alt+F2 etc). Otherwise it is better to force latin characters at least for user name and password.

Revision history for this message
Claus7 (lastexile7gr) wrote (last edit ):

Hello,

ubuntu 10.10 had the ability to change keyboard during installation. No extra button required other than just pressing Alt+Shift.

I do not know if it is related, yet Alt+Shift is suffering in xorg sessions too, while renaming files or folders using latin and non latin characters.

I tried the installation of maverick again using Greek keyboard. I can use non latin characters for password as well.

If more testing for the new installer is required please let me know.

Regards!

Revision history for this message
Tim Andersson (andersson123) wrote :

Hi, has this been confirmed recently at all?

Revision history for this message
Claus7 (lastexile7gr) wrote :

Testing ubuntu 23.10 beta I came across and additional bug, which I think that is related:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/glibc/+bug/2037790

Still greek keyboard doesn't suffice for the installation.

In addition I tried to use greek for the password as well. Restarting after installation, didn't allow me to log in either using a us or gr keyboard.

affects: ubuntu-desktop-installer → ubuntu-desktop-provision
Changed in ubuntu-desktop-provision:
importance: Undecided → Low
Revision history for this message
Aluyama (aluyama) wrote :

I got a task to change the OS of 50 devices from windows to ubuntu 24.04 LTS but i couldn't find a way to put computer name and username in same script. So we had to give-up. :(

I also tested ubuntu 24.10. See the attached screenshot. The installer allows adding "your name", "password" in any language but we can't use other scripts for "computer name" and "username".

Language: Sinhala (si)
Script: Sinhala

If i need to file a separate bug report, please let me know.

Revision history for this message
Aluyama (aluyama) wrote :
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