In my /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-keymap.fdi there's this configuration: <merge key="input.xkb.layout" type="string">de,ru</merge> <merge key="input.xkb.variant" type="string">nodeadkeys,</merge> xkb 0.5.3.2 recognizes both keyboard layouts correctly. On the first start it uses the keyboard layout de as it is supposed to do. It also uses nodeadkeys correctly. And it show the German flag or "de" depending on its settings. When I click onto the plugin in the panel it switches to the keyboard layout ru as expected, but it doesn't change the flag or "de" to the Russian flag or "ru". It still shows the German flag or "de". And another click doesn't switch the keyboard layout back to the German layout. Switching back to the German keyboard layout is only possible in the settings dialog.
Created attachment 2202 10-keymap.fdi
Created attachment 2203 10-x11-input.fdi
Created attachment 2204 xorg.conf
Heiko, I could not reproduce the issue that you describe. In fact the attached HAL configuration files (10-keymap.fdi and 10-x11-input.fdi) do not setup the keyboard layouts at all. In the previous bug (#4889) I've somehow uploaded a wrong fdi file, I'll attach the actual fdi file which actually sets my keyboard layouts correctly. I've stumbled across another issue though (probably the same, causing bug #5036) and released version 0.5.3.3 of the plugin. Could you try this version using HAL settings as specified in the attached fdi file and see if it makes any difference?
Created attachment 2218 preferences.fdi
I tried your and my HAL settings with version 0.5.3.2 and 0.5.3.3, but there's no difference. The bug is still there.
Now I also tried to switch between the keyboard layouts in the Xfce settings -> Keyboard -> Layout. This works without any problems. So the bug must be somewhere in the panel plugin.
Do you, by any chance, run archlinux with libxi 1.1.4 or later? If so, then this bug might be duplicate to bug #5086: http://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5086
I'm indeed running Arch Linux x86_64 with libxi 1.1.4 and Xfce 4.6.0.
Marking as duplicate ot #5086 *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 5086 ***