I found the root cause. Unity uses legacy keygrabber code depending on xdg env variable DESKTOP_SESSION. But since artful DESKTOP_SESSION is "unity" and not "ubuntu".
The fix is in unity7-desktop ppa. https://code.launchpad.net/~unity7maintainers/+archive/ubuntu/unity7-desktop In 18.10, add the ppa (ppa:unity7maintainers/unity7-desktop)and upgrade unity-settings-daemon and libunity-settings-daemon. Now custom shortcuts works as expected. Note: The ppa also the fix for sharing panel. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to unity-settings-daemon in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1755106 Title: /org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/ fails to load Status in unity-settings-daemon package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: $ dconf dump /org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/ [custom1] binding='<Primary><Alt>BackSpace' command='gnome-session-quit --power-off' name='gnome-session-quit --power-off' [custom0] binding='<Primary><Alt>g' command='gnome-terminal --geometry=80x99-0+0' name='gnome-terminal --geometry=80x99-0+0' $ In spite of the above, time to time, not always, but since 18.04 much much more frequently this settings fails to become active just after booting, ... my account is logged in automatically just after boot. If I log out and log in again, then these key bindings work. If I go to the system settings, and define again, then these work again. Earlier, before 18.04 this phenomenon was rare, namely once a week at most. But since 18.04 it is almost guaranteed, not deterministic, but highly probable, that after an initial boot or a warm reboot these key bindings will not work. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity-settings-daemon/+bug/1755106/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
