#482592 numlockx: fails to toggle numlock led

Package:
numlockx
Source:
numlockx
Description:
enable NumLock in X11 sessions
Submitter:
Roman Cheplyaka
Date:
2026-08-15 11:23:05 UTC
Severity:
normal
Tags:
#482592#5
Date:
2008-05-23 19:31:20 UTC
From:
To:
After the last upgrade of X server, numlockx stopped toggling the
numlock led (although it still toggles numlock mode correctly).
Numlock key still toggles both numlock mode and led.
#482592#10
Date:
2008-05-24 06:11:24 UTC
From:
To:
Thank you for reporting this. This bug already bit Ubuntu users a
while back, because they adopted X.org core 1.4 before we did.

This being said, since our package hasn't changed one bit, I instead
suspect changes in X.org core to be the source of the problem. It
could be as simple as certain prototypes having changed location and
therefore requiring a different file to #include in the source code.
Let's see what the X Task Force has to say.
#482592#15
Date:
2008-05-24 07:14:02 UTC
From:
To:
Martin-Éric Racine wrote:

Probably just another input related bug in xorg-server. Firt thing to
try is the latest xserver-xorg-core from unstable.

No, Ubuntu switched to 1.4 after releasing 7.10, while it entered
unstable on mid-september 2007. But it took quite a bit before it
entered testing (about 2 weeks ago) since it had many bugs. Anyway, this
bug might well have existed in unstable for a long time.

Brice
#482592#20
Date:
2008-05-24 07:47:33 UTC
From:
To:
No, that's not it.  Probably whatever interface numlockx uses isn't
hooked up properly in the server, so that needs someone taking the time
to debug it.
The X Strike Force gladly accepts patches.

Cheers,
Julien
#482592#25
Date:
2008-05-24 08:18:16 UTC
From:
To:
* Brice Goglin <Brice.Goglin@ens-lyon.org> [2008-05-24 09:14:02+0200]

% apt-show-versions xserver-xorg-core
xserver-xorg-core/sid uptodate 2:1.4.1~git20080517-1

The bug is still there.
#482592#30
Date:
2008-05-29 09:41:59 UTC
From:
To:
Seems that fdo bug 16145 is relevant.

Cheers,
Julien
#482592#35
Date:
2008-08-01 11:48:18 UTC
From:
To:
If anyone has a patch to fix this, please add it to the bug.

I'll mention in passing that while upstream still is an active KDE
developer, numlockx itself hasn't seen any new release in a long time.

However, upstream still welcomes patches, such as the recent one I
submitted to autoreconf the packge for X.org 7 compatibility, which
resulted in a minor upstream release.
#482592#40
Date:
2010-09-13 15:29:47 UTC
From:
To:
this issue is not present under the sarge or lenny version of linux.

A fix would be so great. best regards
#482592#45
Date:
2010-12-01 15:56:37 UTC
From:
To:
Hi

I've tried to reproduce this issue with 1.2 and it does not seem to
happen anymore. Are you able to reproduce it?
#482592#48
Date:
2010-12-01 15:56:37 UTC
From:
To:
Hi

I've tried to reproduce this issue with 1.2 and it does not seem to
happen anymore. Are you able to reproduce it?
#482592#53
Date:
2011-01-09 15:18:00 UTC
From:
To:
I still have this issue. When my num lock is off and I call numlockx, I can
type the numbers but the led's ligth still turned off. The inverse is true.
#482592#60
Date:
2011-01-17 15:47:40 UTC
From:
To:
affects 482592 xserver-xorg-input-keyboard
forwarded 482592 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16145
thanks

Hi

I don't think this is actually bug in numlockx, see upstream bug report:

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16145
#482592#77
Date:
2011-09-22 12:04:09 UTC
From:
To:
/* I write that... it works well on my squeeze */

#include <X11/XKBlib.h>
#include <X11/extensions/XKB.h>
#include <X11/keysym.h>
int main(){
    	Display *disp = XOpenDisplay (NULL);
    	if(disp == NULL) return 1;
    	unsigned int nl_mask = XkbKeysymToModifiers (disp, XK_Num_Lock);
    	XkbLockModifiers (disp, XkbUseCoreKbd, nl_mask, nl_mask);
    	XCloseDisplay (disp);
return 0;}
/*
	dep : libx11-dev
	compil : gcc numlockx.c -lX11 -o /usr/bin/numlockx
*/

/* Paul */
#482592#82
Date:
2011-09-27 15:55:14 UTC
From:
To:
I can confirm that this simple program works fine on squeeze. KDM users
can launch it from /etc/kde4/kdm/Xsetup in order to have NumLock turned
on right from the login screen.
#482592#91
Date:
2026-08-15 11:22:00 UTC
From:
To:
Which was fixed 2014 in commit 45fb3a934dc0db51584aba37c2f9d73deff9191d.