xcape generates multiple escape keystrokes

[IngoMeyer441]

Hey, thanks for xcape. It makes life in Vim a lot more comfortable. :slightly_smiling_face: I use xcape for generating escape when capslock is released and setxkbmap for maping capslock to ctrl when pressed with another key:

# Use capslock as ctrl
setxkbmap -option 'caps:ctrl_modifier'
# But capslock alone acts as escape
xcape -e 'Caps_Lock=Escape'

That works. However, I recognized that xcape generates multiple escape keystrokes when capslock is released. You can test this with the following small Python script:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import os
import sys
import termios

fd = sys.stdin.fileno()

def setup_terminal():
    old_term_settings = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
    new_term_settings = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
    new_term_settings[3] = new_term_settings[3] & ~termios.ICANON & ~termios.ECHO  # unbuffered and no echo
    termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSAFLUSH, new_term_settings)
    return old_term_settings

def reset_terminal(old_term_settings):
    termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSAFLUSH, old_term_settings)

def main():
    old_term_settings = setup_terminal()
    print(os.read(fd, 80))
    reset_terminal(old_term_settings)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Pressing escape prints b'\x1b'. Pressing capslock generates (for me) b'\x1b\x1b\x1b\x1b\x1b\x1b\x1b\x1b\x1b\x1b\x1b'. Any idea why this happens?

[IngoMeyer441]

Ok, my fault. Xcape was executed by a script multiple times which was causing repeated escape key sequences.