Multiple Increase/Decrease/Mute Volume entires in Global Shortcuts

[Mountain Man]

This problem actually started prior to 20.04. As you can see from the attached image, I have several dozen each of "Decrease Volume", "Increase Volume", and "Mute Volume" entries in Global Shortcuts. Setting any of them as a shortcut doesn't allow me to use that key to adjust the volume.

Any ideas how to fix it?

[Valdo]

I'd suggest you fix your post title (entires -> entries) for successful search results on this keyword.
Still using Kubuntu 18.04.4 at the time of writing (Plasma 5.12.9) and I don't face this issue. That said, duplicated entries (for e.g. in the file Open With > Other... dialog box, or in some application shortcuts) is something I also observed in past LTS releases (maybe in early 18.04.x as well, I can't recall for sure). I never tried to investigate this kind of issue though, sorry.

EDIT: just did a fresh install of 20.04, I don't face this issue.

[Mountain Man]

Like I said, it started some time before 20.04. I don't remember the exact version I was on, but since I found a workaround, I've lived with it. I just decided that I would like to solve it once and for all, and since 20.04 is the latest version, I figured I would start a thread here.

If folks are wondering about the workaround, I made custom shortcuts with the following commands:

Toggle mute:
amixer -D pulse sset Master toggle

Volume down:
amixer -D pulse sset Master 2%-

Volume up:
amixer -D pulse sset Master 2%+

This works. I just don't get KDE's onscreen volume indicator.

[Mountain Man]

As usual when I post a question, it gets me thinking along other lines, and now I'm 90% of the way to getting the problem solved. A more general search about where KDE shortcuts are stored brought up a thread in another forum with the following helpful information:

The following files store the keyboard shortcuts of KDE Plasma 5 and of some of its associated applications such as Konsole and KWrite:

~/.config/kdeglobals
~/.config/kglobalshortcutsrc
~/.config/khotkeysrc
~/.config/kwinrc
~/.config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc
~/.local/share/kxmlgui5/katepart/katepart5ui.rc
~/.local/share/kxmlgui5/konsole/konsoleui.rc
~/.local/share/kxmlgui5/konsole/sessionui.rc
~/.local/share/kxmlgui5/kwrite/kwriteui.rc

The culprit is kdeglobals where the [kmix] sections contains:

[kmix]
Decrease volume  - Analog Mix, SB Audigy 1 \x5bSB0090\x5d=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Audigy Analog/Digital Output Jack, SB Audigy 1 \x5bSB0090\x5d=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Audigy CD, SB Audigy 1 \x5bSB0090\x5d=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Aux, SB Audigy 1 \x5bSB0090\x5d=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Aux2, SB Audigy 1 \x5bSB0090\x5d=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Bass, SB Audigy 1 \x5bSB0090\x5d=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Beep, SB Audigy 1 \x5bSB0090\x5d=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - CD, SB Audigy 1 \x5bSB0090\x5d=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Capture 2, HDA ATI SB=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Capture, HDA ATI SB=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Center, HDA ATI SB=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Center, SB Audigy 1 \x5bSB0090\x5d=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Digital, HDA ATI SB=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Front Mic Boost, HDA ATI SB=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Front Mic, HDA ATI SB=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Front, HDA ATI SB=none,none,Decrease Volume
Decrease volume  - Front, SB Audigy 1 \x5bSB0090\x5d=none,none,Decrease Volume
...

And so on for several dozen more lines. I have no idea why KDE auto populated the shortcut files will all those entries, but now it's just a matter of figuring out which entries to delete and leaving only the three I care about.

Edit: Well never mind... it seems that whatever changes I manually make to the file are immediately overwritten by something else.

[jlittle]

I suggest you add another user, and log in as that user instead of your normal one, and see if the problem is present. If it isn't, some kind of corruption in your home directory is provoking this bad behaviour. Then, you could tediously work through all the settings directories and files to find the culprit.

If the new user sees the problem, you could do a separate, fresh install, carefully, and see if that shows the problem...

[Valdo]

Like I said, it started some time before 20.04.

Just to clarify things: the screenshot you shared in your OP does belong to a Kubuntu 20.04 installation, right? If so, can you detail how you installed this distribution please?
The reason why I'm asking is that on my own fresh Kubuntu 20.04 install, there is no [kmix] section in ~/.config/kdeglobals (no surprise since the 'kmix' package isn't installed on my PC - what about yours?).

Here is the list of sections I can see in my ~/.config/kdeglobals file:

[$Version]
[ColorEffects:Disabled]
[ColorEffects:Inactive]
[Colors:Button]
[Colors:Complementary]
[Colors:Selection]
[Colors:Tooltip]
[Colors:View]
[Colors:Window]
[DirSelect Dialog]
[General]
[Icons]
[KDE]
[KFileDialog Settings]
[KShortcutsDialog Settings]
[PreviewSettings]
[WM]

[Mountain Man]

If so, can you detail how you installed this distribution please?

It was an in-place upgrade from the previous version of Kubuntu, but I've had the same home directory for a very long time, so there's probably a lot of junk that could be cleaned out. I've thought about blowing away all the KDE settings and starting from scratch, but getting everything back to the way I like would be a bit of a pain.

Oh, and clarification, it's not kdeglobals but kdeglobalshortcutsrc. I even deleted the file entirely, but when I rebooted, it was recreated, so it's apparently an automatically generated file. I just need to figure out where it's being generated from.

[Valdo]

It was an in-place upgrade from the previous version of Kubuntu, but I've had the same home directory for a very long time, so there's probably a lot of junk that could be cleaned out. I've thought about blowing away all the KDE settings and starting from scratch, but getting everything back to the way I like would be a bit of a pain.

I fully understand your point, since I was in the same situation. Initially a fresh Kubuntu 14.04 install, later upgraded to 16.04 and finally to 18.04. Although it was still working pretty well, I considered it was preferable to start over with a fresh install Once every 5-6 years can't be a bad move. Getting things back the way I like didn't take that long finally, hardly a day. No regrets! It was the best choice IMO, especially since I was moving from an HDD to an SSD for the first time on this machine, I really wanted to get the best out of this new LTS. No one can live with the same home directory forever without facing issues one day or another...

Oh, and clarification, it's not kdeglobals but kdeglobalshortcutsrc. I even deleted the file entirely, but when I rebooted, it was recreated, so it's apparently an automatically generated file. I just need to figure out where it's being generated from.

~/.config/kglobalshortcutsrc
So it appears I do have a [kmix] entry as well, even though kmix isn't installed... Here is what this section looks like (sorry for the French localization):

[kmix]
_k_friendly_name=Volume audio
decrease_microphone_volume=Microphone Volume Down,Microphone Volume Down,[COLOR=#800080]Diminuer le volume du microphone[/COLOR]
decrease_volume=Volume Down,Volume Down,[COLOR=#800080]Diminuer le volume[/COLOR]
increase_microphone_volume=Microphone Volume Up,Microphone Volume Up,[COLOR=#800080]Augmenter le volume du microphone[/COLOR]
increase_volume=Volume Up,Volume Up,[COLOR=#800080]Augmenter le volume[/COLOR]
mic_mute=Microphone Mute,Microphone Mute,[COLOR=#800080]Couper le son du microphone[/COLOR]
mute=Volume Mute,Volume Mute,[COLOR=#800080]Couper le son[/COLOR]

And you're right, the timestamp of this file equals the day of my last boot.
I'm afraid you'll spend (much) more time trying to fix your issue (with no guarantee of success) than reinstalling Kubuntu from scratch... But the final choice is yours.

Or maybe a hope... I've just noticed it's possible to export some global shortcuts as a model (text file). I've exported mine (not modified, as fresh as my distribution is), that you can download from https://webcloud.zaclys.com/index.php/s/cok76VVefz9P643
Maybe you could try to import it on your machine? Cf. the "File" button in the lower right corner of the Global shortcuts window. Hopefully it will replace your strange configuration?... (but this is a feature I never tested myself, so use at your own risk ^^)