Keyboard stopped working in Opera

cparke

cparke

This is really weird, though by searching I see it has happened to some people from time to time.

I have Opera installed on Linux via the Snap.
Opera One(version: 118.0.5461.60)

It's been working fine for a long time. But recently, the keyboard will not let me type inside Opera. The keyboard itself is working fine in other application and the desktop environment, but in Opera it is like dead. Well, almost... some special keys like Ctrl-F12 to bring up the Settings page still work, as does all of the browser functionality by using the mouse (including right-click copy/paste). Typing into the URL box or using arrows or trying to fill any text entry forms on web pages, for all of this the keyboard just doesn't work anymore.

I've tried Recovery, and even uninstalling and reinstalling, disabled all extensions, etc., but still it doesn't fix the problem. I don't know what caused this to just start happening. Furthermore, I don't think this is some bug or new incompatibility upon an update with my hardware or operating system (Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS), because I do not have the keyboard issue if I install this same Opera snap version into a Live boot of the OS instead (though the kernel version is not the same if that could matter)..

I really would like a clue on how to get Opera working again or find the problem. I'm fine with fully purging the application if there is some configuration left behind even after uninstalling that could be causing the issue, but where is all of the system config files for Opera? I'd be happy too to try installing an older snap (I can't use the .deb on this older Linux version), but how can I get an older version in snap form? Is there a log file for Opera somewhere that might offer a clue?

cparke

cparke @cparke

@cparke Just as mysteriously as this began happening for no apparent reason, today the issue went away on its own and keyboard works again. We really should find a way to explain this really odd application behavior!

cparke

cparke @cparke

@cparke And the problem is back again!

Seriously, nobody knows why Opera does this on-again, off-again?

sgunhouse

sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer @cparke

@cparke Are you still the same version, or was there an update since your first post?

cparke

cparke @sgunhouse

@sgunhouse You're right, it had auto-updated to a newer version:

Opera One(version: 118.0.5461.83)
System:Ubuntu Core 22 (x86_64; ubuntu:GNOME)
Chromium version:133.0.6943.143

Furthermore, new version 118.0.5461.104 is available. Just updated to that (keyboard still not working):

Opera One(version: 118.0.5461.104)
System:Ubuntu Core 22 (x86_64; ubuntu:GNOME)
Chromium version:133.0.6943.143

This is madness if keyboard locks up upon every update. It seems to be something intentional by Opera, never seen anything like before in any other application. I need a clue why it is doing this and how to stop it from happening.

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer

See https://www.reddit.com/r/operabrowser/wiki/opera/enable_logging/ for how to enable logging. You'll have to adapt those commands for Linux and your snap version though. Not sure if the log will reveal anything though.

At https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/how-to-install-specific-version-of-snap/39254, there's a discussion on downloading a specific version of a snap package, but not sure if any of that will work or even you'd really even want to try.

Every time there's a problem with a Snap package, the first thing I think about is that it's a permission issue of some sort.

cparke

cparke @burnout426

@sgunhouse @burnout426 After trying to follow your advice (partially successful), I think I've discovered the issue and how to fix it.

Running opera from the command line, I noticed the followed warnings output to the console:

(opera:20884): IBUS-WARNING **: 12:34:31.739: Unable to connect to ibus: Could not connect: Connection refused

Furthermore, on every keystroke that got lost (at least after the first few keys), the following was output:

(opera:20884): IBUS-WARNING **: 12:34:48.252: Events queue growing too big, will start to drop.

Researching those more generic errors, ibus is the "Input Bus" and I came across this remarkably similar issue report:

thunderbird: keyboard does not work: Unable to connect to ibus #3379

That issue was described as cropping up on a number of applications, including Firefox (although I do not have this issue there).

The final resolution there after a lot of discussion:
"deleting .config/ibus/bus did the trick and the keyboard now works"

Same circumstances on my system, same happy ending with my Opera too. Thank you.

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer @cparke

@cparke Nice!