showkey couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console

[artemsnisarenko]

showkey doesn't work with --scancodes or --keycodes (default) options. Saying that it

Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console

Windows build 14393.953

$ strace showkey
execve("/usr/bin/showkey", ["showkey"], [/* 15 vars */]) = 0
brk(0) = 0x15f4000
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
mmap(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f1f36840000
access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=20672, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 20672, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f1f3684a000
close(3) = 0
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\2\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0\320\37\2\0\0\0\0\0"..., 832) = 832
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1840928, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 3949248, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x7f1f36230000
mprotect(0x7f1f363eb000, 2093056, PROT_NONE) = 0
mmap(0x7f1f365ea000, 24576, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x1ba000) = 0x7f1f365ea000
mmap(0x7f1f365f0000, 17088, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f1f365f0000
close(3) = 0
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f1f36830000
mmap(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f1f36820000
arch_prctl(ARCH_SET_FS, 0x7f1f36820740) = 0
mprotect(0x7f1f365ea000, 16384, PROT_READ) = 0
mprotect(0x602000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0
mprotect(0x7f1f36822000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0
munmap(0x7f1f3684a000, 20672) = 0
brk(0) = 0x15f4000
brk(0x1615000) = 0x1615000
open("/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2919792, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 2919792, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f1f35f67000
close(3) = 0
open("/proc/self/fd/0", O_RDWR) = 3
ioctl(3, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or SNDRV_TIMER_IOCTL_NEXT_DEVICE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
ioctl(3, KDGKBTYPE, 0x7fffe9233c4f) = -1 ENOTTY (Inappropriate ioctl for device)
close(3) = 0
open("/dev/tty", O_RDWR) = 3
ioctl(3, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or SNDRV_TIMER_IOCTL_NEXT_DEVICE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
ioctl(3, KDGKBTYPE, 0x7fffe9233c4f) = -1 ENOTTY (Inappropriate ioctl for device)
close(3) = 0
open("/dev/tty0", O_RDWR) = -1 EIO (Input/output error)
open("/dev/tty0", O_WRONLY) = -1 EIO (Input/output error)
open("/dev/tty0", O_RDONLY) = -1 EIO (Input/output error)
open("/dev/vc/0", O_RDWR) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/vc/0", O_WRONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/vc/0", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/systty", O_RDWR) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/systty", O_WRONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/systty", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/console", O_RDWR) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/console", O_WRONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/console", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
ioctl(0, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or SNDRV_TIMER_IOCTL_NEXT_DEVICE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
ioctl(0, KDGKBTYPE, 0x7fffe9233c4f) = -1 ENOTTY (Inappropriate ioctl for device)
ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or SNDRV_TIMER_IOCTL_NEXT_DEVICE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
ioctl(1, KDGKBTYPE, 0x7fffe9233c4f) = -1 ENOTTY (Inappropriate ioctl for device)
ioctl(2, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or SNDRV_TIMER_IOCTL_NEXT_DEVICE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
ioctl(2, KDGKBTYPE, 0x7fffe9233c4f) = -1 ENOTTY (Inappropriate ioctl for device)
open("/usr/share/locale/locale.alias", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2570, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f1f36810000
read(3, "# Locale name alias data base.\n#"..., 512) = 512
read(3, "PURPOSE. See the\n# GNU General "..., 512) = 512
read(3, " entries are case independent.\n\n"..., 512) = 512
read(3, "859-1\nfinnish fi_FI.ISO-"..., 512) = 512
read(3, "R\nko_KR\t\tko_KR.eucKR\nlithuanian "..., 512) = 512
read(3, "SO-8859-9\n", 512) = 10
read(3, "", 512) = 0
close(3) = 0
munmap(0x7f1f36810000, 4096) = 0
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/kbd.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/kbd.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/kbd.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/kbd.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/kbd.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/kbd.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/kbd.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/kbd.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/kbd.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/kbd.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/kbd.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/kbd.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
write(2, "Couldn't get a file descriptor r"..., 56Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console
) = 56
exit_group(1) = ?
+++ exited with 1 +++

[stehufntdev]

Thanks for reporting the issue. Based on the strace above, this is due to WSL not supporting the virtual console device (i.e. /dev/tty0). This is an interesting device for WSL since there isn't a direct mapping of virtual console, though one idea would be to use the top most bash console window. Please help us prioritize this scenario by giving feedback on user voice - https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/266908-command-prompt-console-bash-on-ubuntu-on-windo/.

[mxdog]

stdbuf -oL showkey -s | while read line
do
if [[ "$line" =~ '^0x' ]]
then
for code in ${(z)line}
do
printf "0%o " $code
done
echo
else
echo $line
fi
done

I was trying to work some key-press issues in some scripts and ran into this also.

[vbrozik]

Please help us prioritize this scenario by giving feedback on user voice - https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/266908-command-prompt-console-bash-on-ubuntu-on-windo/.

This UserVoice instance is no longer available.

Is there any voting replacement instead of the discontinued UserVoice instance?

[KattKriger]

Same as @vbrozik
I cannot use the command in Xubuntu20

[max-len]

Works with sudo showkey on my machine.

Windows Terminal
Version: 1.13.11431.0
5.10.102.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

[gamepad-coder]

❌ showkey does not work for me.
✅ showkey -a does work for me.

Sudo not required on my machine for showkey -a.