tty: Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F1..F6, and VT_SETMODE actually works
Alt+1..6 was a worse choice than the Alt+F-keys it replaced, and the reason
is the one that matters: anything the kernel swallows is taken from every
program that will ever run here, permanently.
Alt+<digit> is Meta-digit. zsh's own line editor binds it as digit-argument --
Alt+1 Alt+2 x repeats x twelve times -- and every readline editor does the
same. Yesterday's chord broke that system-wide, which is exactly the failure
mode of picking a chord applications want.
Working the whole space instead of one axis of it:
the HOST takes Alt+F4, Alt+F2, Ctrl+Alt+F1..F6
APPLICATIONS want Alt+anything (Meta), Ctrl+letter, Ctrl+Shift+digit
(Ctrl+Shift+2 types ^@), bare F-keys
the LAYOUT wants AltGr+letter -- Polish diacritics
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F1..F6 is in none of those sets. Display managers bind the same
chord without Shift, so adding it steps out of the host's way, and no terminal
application binds a triple-modified function key.
Which chords actually reach a guest was measured rather than assumed: a
temporary probe in kbdgetc logged every modified keypress and QEMU's sendkey
fired each candidate at it. Everything reached the guest, Ctrl+Alt+F2
included -- so that conflict is the host's display manager, not QEMU. The same
probe corrected an earlier claim: `sendkey altgr-2` produces no event at all,
so the previous commit's "AltGr+2 did not fire" was never actually tested.
And the escape hatch is real now. VT_SETMODE was accepted and ignored, so a
program could ask to own the chord, be told yes, and still not get it.
VT_PROCESS genuinely stops the kernel switching. Together with the EVIOCGRAB
path -- which kbdgetc already checks before the chord is recognised -- there
are three honest layers: nothing, VT_PROCESS, exclusive grab.
What VT_PROCESS still does not do is the VT_RELDISP handshake; struct vt_mode
carries relsig/acqsig for when Schcom needs to release the GPU before the
screen changes hands.
Verified by screendump hash: Alt+2 reaches zsh as Meta, Ctrl+Alt+F2 and
Ctrl+Shift+F2 leave the screen untouched, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F2 switches.
schfs-check passes.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01VQ7Qx8E1q1M1bbCq8QLHS2
This commit is contained in:
Nexoniarz
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9 changed files with 170 additions and 58 deletions
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@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ its distribution.
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| API | **SchAPI** | The native programming interface — *designed, not built* |
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| Compositor | **Schcom** | Owns the display; v0 runs |
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Six virtual terminals sit under all of it -- `/dev/tty1`..`tty6`, Alt+1..6 --
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Six virtual terminals sit under all of it -- `/dev/tty1`..`tty6`,
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Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F1..F6 --
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each with its own screen, line discipline and foreground process group. See
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[terminals.md](terminals.md).
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@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
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<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 -->
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# Virtual terminals
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Six of them, `/dev/tty1` through `/dev/tty6`, reached with **Alt+1 .. Alt+6**
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or with `chvt N`. Each one is an independent terminal: its own screen, its own
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Six of them, `/dev/tty1` through `/dev/tty6`, reached with
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**Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F1 .. F6** or with `chvt N`. Each one is an independent terminal: its own screen, its own
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cursor, its own line discipline, its own foreground process group and its own
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session. Two shells on two terminals are two unrelated processes that happen to
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share a keyboard and a screen.
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A seventh is deliberately not bound. That is where a display server goes.
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A seventh is deliberately not bound. That is where a display server goes,
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and it will claim switching with `VT_SETMODE` rather than a chord.
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---
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@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ Linux's numbers, because they do Linux's job.
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## The keyboard
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`kbd.c` recognises Alt+1..6 and returns `KEY_ALT_F1 + n`, which is above
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`kbd.c` recognises Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F1..F6 and returns `KEY_VT_SWITCH + n`, which is above
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0xFF on purpose: every value that fits in a byte is already either a character
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or a UTF-8 continuation byte, and a chord that collided with one would be typed
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into the terminal instead of switching away from it.
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@ -106,32 +107,68 @@ into the terminal instead of switching away from it.
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What the chord *means* is decided in `console.c`, where the terminals are. The
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keyboard driver names it and stops.
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### Why the number row, and why left Alt
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### Why this chord
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Everything else was already spoken for:
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**Anything the kernel swallows is taken from every program that will ever run
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here, permanently.** That is the whole difficulty, and it took two wrong
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answers to see it. The obvious candidates are all spoken for on one side or
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the other:
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| | |
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|---|---|
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| `Alt+F4` | the host window manager closes the QEMU window |
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| **The host takes it** | |
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| `Alt+F4` | the window manager closes the QEMU window |
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| `Alt+F2` | GNOME and KDE open a run dialog |
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| `Ctrl+Alt+F1..F6` | the host switches its **own** virtual terminals |
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| `AltGr+`anything | Polish diacritics — ą ć ę ł ń ó ś ź ż — and on some setups AltGr *is* Ctrl+Alt |
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| `Ctrl+Shift+`key | widely bound inside applications |
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| Scroll Lock | not present on many keyboards |
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| `Ctrl+Alt+F1..F6` | the display manager switches its **own** terminals |
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| **Applications want it** | |
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| `Alt+`anything | Meta. zsh's own line editor binds Meta-digit as `digit-argument`; so does every readline editor |
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| `Ctrl+`letter | control characters |
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| `Ctrl+Shift+`digit | types a character — `Ctrl+Shift+2` is `^@` |
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| `F1..F6` alone | help, and whatever a full-screen program wants |
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| **The layout wants it** | |
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| `AltGr+`letter | Polish diacritics — ą ć ę ł ń ó ś ź ż — and on some setups AltGr *is* Ctrl+Alt |
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`Alt+1..6` survives all of it.
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`Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F1..F6` is in none of those sets. Display managers bind the
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same chord *without* Shift, so adding it steps out of the host's way, and no
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terminal application binds a triple-modified function key. Four keys is more
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than one wants to press, which is right for something done rarely and on
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purpose — `chvt N` covers everything else.
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Which chords actually reach a guest was **measured, not assumed**: a temporary
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probe in `kbdgetc` logged every modified keypress, and QEMU's `sendkey` fired
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each candidate at it. Everything reached the guest, including `Ctrl+Alt+F2` —
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so the host conflict is the host's display manager, not QEMU.
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The modifier test is an **equality**, not a mask:
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```c
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if ((shift & (CTL | SHIFT | ALT | RALT)) == ALT && ...)
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if ((shift & (CTL | SHIFT | ALT | RALT)) == (CTL | ALT | SHIFT) && ...)
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```
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`shift & ALT` would fire on `Ctrl+Alt+1` and on `AltGr+1` too, so a chord aimed
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at the host — or an ordinary Polish keystroke — would switch terminals behind
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your back. Right Alt is tracked as its own bit (`RALT`) for exactly this
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reason; it used to share `ALT`, which is harmless for typing, because neither
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is used to look up a character, and wrong for chords.
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A mask would fire on any superset, so a chord aimed at the host would switch
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terminals behind your back. Right Alt is tracked as its own bit (`RALT`) for
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the same reason; it used to share `ALT`, which is harmless for typing — neither
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is used to look up a character — and wrong for chords.
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### Taking the chord back
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Three layers, in increasing order of how much a program is claiming:
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| | |
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|---|---|
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| **`VT_SETMODE(VT_PROCESS)`** | the terminal's owner handles switching itself. The kernel stops acting on the chord entirely. This is what a display server uses. |
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| **`EVIOCGRAB` on `/dev/input/event0`** | an exclusive keyboard grab. Checked in `kbdgetc` *before* the chord is even recognised, so a grabbing program receives every scancode including this one. |
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| nothing | the kernel switches, which is the default and right for a plain terminal |
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`VT_SETMODE` used to be accepted and ignored — a program could ask for the
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chord, be told yes, and still not get it. It works now.
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What `VT_PROCESS` does **not** do yet is the release handshake: Linux signals
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the owning process on every switch request and blocks until it answers
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`VT_RELDISP`, which is how a display server releases the GPU before the screen
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changes hands. Nothing here has anything to release, so the kernel simply
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stops switching rather than negotiating. `struct vt_mode` already carries
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`relsig`/`acqsig` for when Schcom needs it.
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Input goes to whichever terminal is on screen. That is what makes a terminal a
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terminal: the keyboard follows the eyes.
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@ -167,9 +204,10 @@ sequence -- clears the debt.
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- **No reflow on resize.** The geometry is read once at `vt_init()`. Nothing
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resizes a framebuffer console today; a compositor will, and that is when this
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has to grow.
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- **No process-mode switching.** `VT_SETMODE` is accepted and ignored. A
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display server that wants to veto a switch — which is what `VT_PROCESS` is
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for — cannot yet, and will need to before Schcom owns Alt+F7.
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- **No `VT_RELDISP` handshake.** `VT_PROCESS` stops the kernel switching, but
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the kernel does not signal the owning process and wait for an answer. A
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display server that needs to release the GPU *before* the screen changes
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hands will need that, and `struct vt_mode` already has the fields.
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- **No terminal past 6.** Linux allows 63. Six is what the chords reach and
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what the grids are sized for.
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- **Only 240x75 of any screen.** Larger framebuffers work; the grid is clamped
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