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Bug Businesses OS X Operating Systems Apple

Mac OS X 10.2.x Disables Modifier Keys? 50

Posted by pudge from the works-for-me dept.
drunkToaster writes " Adobe's support pages note that Mac OS X 10.2.x fails to re-enable modifier keys after an authentication session. The keys are disabled during the user/password dance as a security measure. Adobe explains a workaround for the problem which drastically effects many of its applications (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc)." This makes no sense to me; I authenticate to various servers etc. all day long, and never have problems with modifier keys. The Adobe explanation seems wholly inadequate.
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Mac OS X 10.2.x Disables Modifier Keys? More

Mac OS X 10.2.x Disables Modifier Keys?

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  • GetCurrentModifierKeys() (Score:5, Insightful)

    by calumr ( 175014 ) on Thursday March 06, 2003 @08:32AM (#5448176)
    It's only true if the application in question uses GetKeys() to determine the state of the modifier keys. In some recent posts to the mac-games-dev mailing list (many games still use this function) this was acknowledged by Apple as a known bug (#3149605).

    The proper way to do it is call GetCurrentModifierKeys(), as GetKeys() is one of the bits of rot that didn't get dropped when Apple moved to OS X.
    • It would seem like this would be a very easy bug to fix and distribute with a software update. If they had a fix for a seldom used SSH feature why not this? (Which appears to affect a large number of people) I'd expect to see an update over the next few days.

      When did Apple acknowledge this bug?

  • They're on crack (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ydna ( 32354 ) <andrew@sweger. n e t> on Thursday March 06, 2003 @09:03AM (#5448258) Homepage
    When you activate an authentication process in Mac OS X (for example, you enter a password, access an SMB server, or allow access to password-protected volumes via the system preferences), the operating system switches to a secure input mode and disables the Shift and Option keys and the spacebar (also called modifier keys). Disabling these keys prevents other network connections from accessing the keyboard input stream and compromising security.

    (emphasis mine)

    If the password dialog caused the shift key to be disabled, how the heck am I able to log in with my mixed-case password, huh? I use my Mac OS X constantly and I've never run into any problem that looks remotely like this. They're on crack.

    • Re:They're on crack (Score:5, Insightful)

      by RalphBNumbers ( 655475 ) on Thursday March 06, 2003 @09:14AM (#5448291)
      I believe they mean that they disable the pubilcaly accessible API for accessing the keyboard, and use their own private API to make it more difficult for another app to intercept your password.

      It sounds like a reasonable precaution.

      They just forgot to re-enable an semi-deprecated function for getting modifier keys afterwards. Sounds like a fairly minor bug, and I'm sure it'll be fixed in the next point release now that it's gotten coverage on /.

    • Re:They're on crack (Score:3, Informative)

      by realgone ( 147744 )

      I use my Mac OS X constantly and I've never run into any problem that looks remotely like this. They're on crack.

      In defense of the howling crackheads -- erm, Adobe -- this bug has been a verifiable and hugely annoying problem among my agency's art directors for a while now. The option and shift keys -- used in Illustrator for drag-copying and constraining to angles, respectively -- would stop responding at random times, requiring a full log out to clear things up again. (Judging from the technote, the fact that we often need to access SMB servers during the day might have something to do with it.)

      Frustrating in the middle of a deadline push, to say the least...

    • If the password dialog caused the shift key to be disabled, how the heck am I able to log in with my mixed-case password, huh? I use my Mac OS X constantly and I've never run into any problem that looks remotely like this. They're on crack.

      I use capslock personally...

  • Happened to me yesterday (Score:3, Informative)

    by presearch ( 214913 ) on Thursday March 06, 2003 @10:32AM (#5448639)
    I was reinstalling 10.2.4 on a Rev A iBook and as I was rolling up the various
    updates to get things current, I had to authenticate several times. I've got
    some punctuation in my password and suddenly it was rejecting my pass.
    I thought it was a hardware problem with the keyboard. I finally figured out
    what happened, rebooted, and things started working ok again.

  • Ah, so SMB is to blame (Score:5, Informative)

    by Brendor ( 208073 ) <`brendan.e' `at' `gmail.com'> on Thursday March 06, 2003 @11:08AM (#5448852) Journal
    My friend, a fellow designer, has been complaining about this problem on his work machine for quite a while. It only affected me very rarely. This is odd because i have the same quicksilver g4 at home as he has at work. The key difference would seem that he connects to SMB/Samba servers daily, which I never connect to.

    And for those of you questioning the validity of this issue . . as realgone mentioned, option and shift are vital to successful use of Adobe design products. Option allows you to de-select items and subtract from the currently selected pixel area while shift allows you to select additional items and and additional pixels. Also option is used to define the cloned area for the cloning stamp.

  • FileMaker, Stupid Solutions and the number 42 (Score:4, Informative)

    by coyote4til7 ( 189857 ) on Thursday March 06, 2003 @12:31PM (#5449393) Homepage
    FileMaker Pro running under classic (at least versions 4.1 and 5.0) has a wonderful problem. When you drag things in layout mode, FileMaker drag copies. This problem began in 10.2.3 or possibly earlier, so I suspect this little keyboard problem is the cause.

    The solution Adobe gives is a _bad_ workaround. I really don't like leaving my machine completely open to the world by turning off the screensaver password. They should have to know more than the average script kiddie to break into my machine. ;} Has anyone figured out a better workaround?
    • WHAT Solution?

      I followed their instructions to the letter, and found that my settings were ALREADY how the document described. So no luck.

      Has anyone actually had this problem _go away_?

      Especially after following Adobe's instructions?
    • That Layout Mode bug makes me crazy!! I still have many clients running FM 4, and I have to develop for them, which means that I have to cut and paste to change object locations. That is a real pain when trying to move many items and keep them lined up.

      I wish Apple or FileMaker would fix this bug! FileMaker Inc is a subsidiary of Apple, so there can be no finger-pointing excuses. Fix this!

      Oh, I get the "you have no modifier keys anymore, ha ha" bug in FileMaker 6.0v4 for OS X, as well. Restarting the application does not fix this issue. I'd like to see FileMaker work on building OS X products that don't have major interface issues. How about when you try to see what related fields a sort is based on, but the column is too narrow to see the whole field? Just resize the window, right? Nope! We're still stuck with non-resizable dialog boxes all over the place!

      FMI, please get your act together! You have a great lead in the easy database development arena, but these flaws are wearing away at your edge in convenience.
    • Having the screensaver password turned off will only help a script kiddie if he is *sitting at the machine.* All this does is keep the password box from popping up when the screensaver shuts down due to activity. It doesnt disable the password mechanism for remote connection or anything else like that as far as I can tell. It doesnt tell you to eliminate the password altogether. From what I see it doesnt even log a certain account onto the machine automatically on boot. The screensaver password is just that... a screensaver password.
  • This is absolutely the most infuriating OS X problem i've run into yet... Perhaps even moreso than having to reboot when you forget to trash a network drive after you've left the office. Why? Because it's _unpredictable_. I.E. right now, everything's fine. But will it be 15 minutes from now??

    Lord knows.

    I can't IMAGINE how Apple could leave this unfixed. Makes no sense.

    • Re:Yup, I deal with this every day. (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You shouldn't have to reboot to disconnect the network drive even after you left the office, that happens to me (off of my home smb server) all the time, and it just takes a little bit longer, but it does unmount it.
      • Again, it seems to depend. Sometimes I can forget to disconnect, wake up my laptop at home, and it's fine after twenty seconds or so. Sometimes it sends my machine into the spinning beachball of death, and sometimes even spreads beyond Finder.app, and once other apps need to access the filesystem they start spinning as well... I swear it's gotten worse since 10.2, but I could be wrong.

  • Wow. (Score:1)

    by azav ( 469988 )
    I know some director coders who were getting this error and couldn't track it down. Hopefully, this is the issue.

    To whomever caught it, good catch!

  • Grrrr! I'm constantly annoyed that Adobe thought that it would be cool in Illustrator if Cmd-H hides/shows object edges, rather than hiding the application (unlike every other OSX app!) Even if I'm not getting the error in the story, that particular modifier key is useless to me because I can't remember to use some different key combination to hide Illustrator!
    • I too find frustration at the key combo's Adobe chooses - but I generally understand why that they are the way that they are. I agree that it's very irritating to intend one action with another result.

      For you, the solution may be to change the shortcut key. You can do this by choosing "Edit" --> "Keyboard Shortcuts" and then choosing "Menu Commands" in the popup menu that, by default, is labeled "Tools" (Rather, the "Tools" menu item is chosen by default.) You'll find that under the section titled "View" (turn down the arrow next to it by clicking) there's an item for "Show/Hide Edges." If you click on the actual text indicated as a shortcut you can enter a new key combo. Hit "OK" and resume your work in a frustration-free manner.

      I know you probably could've used a much simpler explaination but there are many who would've asked questions or may not have been able to completely understand how to find what I was talking about. Besides, when my students ask this question now I can point them here and be done with it. [Kidding!]
    • I don't know about illustrator but Photoshop uses the same control+h to hide the marquee edges. Has done as long as I can remember and I've been using Photoshop since v2.5.

      It's annoying that they conflict but since designers like me live in Photoshop for a large portion of a days work keyboard shortcuts are ingrained.

      There is a preference option to change the behavour. However once I'd changed this I still had problems, I'd expect control+h to read my mind and know what I wanted it to do since I'd still attempt to use if for both functions :P

  • I've noticed this. (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I noticed this, but couldn't figure out what caused the problem. (I have a new iBook).

    There is a game called Deimos Rising bundled that uses modifier keys. When it stopped working moving from 10.2.3 to 10.2.4 I was damn angry, even if I never play it.

    My photoshop is also effected. I can use commands like cmd-q, but I can't do things like hold the option to change my lasso type!

    About time someone releases a knowledgebase. I'm dissapointed that it wasn't Apple however. There must be lots of apps effected.
  • I use Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign all day, every day. I am running 10.2.4. I even connect to SMB servers at work.

    So what's the deal? I tried recreating the conditions in the Adobe article by doing exactly the opposite of their instructions. No problem here. I have logged out, back in, and have all 3 programs running...I'm using modifying keys all over the place! Wait a minute...let's reboot the machine and see...just a second...Oh yeah! I'm modifying, baby!

    Maybe somebody out there enabled the root user, screwed up their permissions, and then complained to Adobe about it.
  • I can verify that this IS a problem.

    It doesn't affect too many people, and happens very rarely, but now and then I find that holding down shift in Photoshop does NOT cause a pen to draw in a straight line as it should. It's as if I have not pressed the key at all.

    The only way out afaik is to reboot.

    Becasue I have had extreme difficulty in reproducing the bug on command I can uderstand how this has taken a long time to get noticed properly.

    -Nex
  • I had this problem in 10.1.2, then it went away in 10.1.3 and came back in 10.1.4 and has never left. A fix in the past was to turn on 'Full Keyboard Access' in the Keyboard preference pane. This is a temporay fix and requires a logout/login to take effect, and sometime a complete reboot. I have noticed that this 'modifier key strangeness' only happens when i connect to some SMB servers, and not all. I wonder if it depends on the version of Windows running on the box with the shared volumes and how that version of winbloz id authenticating. It sure pisses me off when it happens though, and I wish Apple would get off their collective asses and fix it.

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