https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=519988
Bug ID: 519988
Summary: Ctrl+Alt+F1..F12 do not switch virtual terminals from
a KWin Wayland session
Classification: Plasma
Product: kwin
Version First 6.6.4
Reported In:
Platform: Arch Linux
OS: Linux
Status: REPORTED
Severity: normal
Priority: NOR
Component: wayland-generic
Assignee: [email protected]
Reporter: [email protected]
Target Milestone: ---
On a KWin Wayland session, the standard kernel/console keybindings
Ctrl+Alt+F1 .. Ctrl+Alt+F12 do not change the active virtual terminal
(VT). The keypresses are silently consumed by KWin / xkbcommon and
never reach logind / the kernel, so the user remains in the Plasma
session with no visual feedback.
This breaks a critical recovery path: when the Plasma compositor
freezes or fails to render (e.g. KWin hangs, GPU regression, blank
screen at session start), the user cannot fall back to a TTY to
investigate or restart services. The only workarounds today are:
1. Run `sudo chvt N` from an already-open terminal — useless if
the session is unresponsive or has no terminal open.
2. Connect via SSH from another machine and run `sudo chvt N`.
3. Hard-reboot.
Note that the reverse direction works correctly: once on a TTY,
Ctrl+Alt+F<N> returns to the Plasma VT without issue, because the
kernel handles VT switching directly when no Wayland compositor is
holding the session.
In an X11 Plasma session (or a console-only login), Ctrl+Alt+F<N>
works as expected, since Xorg forwards the keys to the kernel.
Steps to reproduce
------------------
1. Log into a Plasma 6 Wayland session (verified on 6.6.4).
2. Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 (or any other F2..F12 not occupied by the
current session).
Actual result
-------------
Nothing happens. The Plasma session continues unchanged.
`/var/log/journal` shows no VT switch event from logind.
Expected result
---------------
KWin should forward the key combination to the seat manager (logind /
seatd) so the kernel performs the VT change, matching X11 behaviour.
Equivalently, KWin could expose default global shortcuts "Switch to
VT 1" .. "Switch to VT 12" bound to Ctrl+Alt+F1..F12, with a default
action of `chvt N` via logind's SwitchTo() D-Bus method.
Suggested fix
-------------
- Register default KWin global shortcuts for VT switching (Switch to
VT 1..12) bound to Ctrl+Alt+F1..F12 on Wayland, mirroring what the
kernel/Xorg does on X11.
- The action should call into systemd-logind's
`org.freedesktop.login1.Seat.SwitchTo(uint32 vtnr)` D-Bus method, which already
exists and works without root.
Workaround
----------
From any open terminal:
sudo chvt 1
or via systemd-logind D-Bus (no sudo):
busctl call org.freedesktop.login1 /org/freedesktop/login1/seat/seat0 \
org.freedesktop.login1.Seat SwitchTo u 1
Once on a TTY, Ctrl+Alt+F<N> works in both directions.
System
------
- KWin: 6.6.4
- plasma-workspace: 6.6.4
- plasma-desktop: 6.6.4
- KDE Frameworks: 6.26.0
- Qt: 6.11.0
- libinput: 1.31.1
- systemd: 260.1
- Kernel: 7.0.4 (xanmod1)
- Distribution: Arch Linux (rolling) — using CachyOS x86_64-v3
repositories prepended over upstream Arch repos.
This is *not* a CachyOS-installed system.
- Session: Wayland (XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland, XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=KDE)
- Display server: KWin Wayland with SDDM autologin on VT2.
- GPU: AMD Radeon RX 580 (amdgpu / Polaris10).
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