kbd_mode - "Couldn't get fd referring to console"

Sorry for using your bug reporting mechanism directly. 'ubuntu-bug'/'apport-cli' do not seem to agree with modifications to the text that they generate (:@{).

Actually, bug #1621824 does fairly well in describing the problem. Unfortunately, that was a xenial {"ubuntu 16.04"?) bug and the report is closed. This bug is in "ubuntu 18.04" (bionic) and it is still occurring. Below is output from 'apport-cli' with a bit of ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. Right now 'apport-cli' rejects the text below as "damaged".

-- Thanks,
-- Paul Townsend

ProblemType: Bug
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Jul 31 22:31:41 2018
Dependencies:
 adduser 3.116ubuntu1
 apt 1.6.3
 apt-utils 1.6.3
 ca-certificates 20180409
 console-setup 1.178ubuntu2.3
 console-setup-linux 1.178ubuntu2.3
 debconf 1.5.66
 debconf-i18n 1.5.66
 dpkg 1.19.0.5ubuntu2
 gcc-8-base 8-20180414-1ubuntu2
 gpgv 2.2.4-1ubuntu1.1
 init-system-helpers 1.51
 kbd 2.0.4-2ubuntu1
 keyboard-configuration 1.178ubuntu2.3
 libacl1 2.2.52-3build1
 libapt-inst2.0 1.6.3
 libapt-pkg5.0 1.6.3
 libattr1 1:2.4.47-2build1
 libaudit-common 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu1
 libaudit1 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu1
 libbz2-1.0 1.0.6-8.1
 libc6 2.27-3ubuntu1
 libcap-ng0 0.7.7-3.1
 libdb5.3 5.3.28-13.1ubuntu1
 libffi6 3.2.1-8
 libgcc1 1:8-20180414-1ubuntu2
 libgcrypt20 1.8.1-4ubuntu1.1
 libgmp10 2:6.1.2+dfsg-2
 libgnutls30 3.5.18-1ubuntu1
 libgpg-error0 1.27-6
 libhogweed4 3.4-1
 libidn2-0 2.0.4-1.1build2
 liblocale-gettext-perl 1.07-3build2
 liblz4-1 0.0~r131-2ubuntu3
 liblzma5 5.2.2-1.3
 libnettle6 3.4-1
 libp11-kit0 0.23.9-2
 libpam-modules 1.1.8-3.6ubuntu2
 libpam-modules-bin 1.1.8-3.6ubuntu2
 libpam0g 1.1.8-3.6ubuntu2
 libpcre3 2:8.39-9
 libseccomp2 2.3.1-2.1ubuntu4
 libselinux1 2.7-2build2
 libsemanage-common 2.7-2build2
 libsemanage1 2.7-2build2
 libsepol1 2.7-1
 libssl1.1 1.1.0g-2ubuntu4.1
 libstdc++6 8-20180414-1ubuntu2
 libtasn1-6 4.13-2
 libtext-charwidth-perl 0.04-7.1
 libtext-iconv-perl 1.7-5build6
 libtext-wrapi18n-perl 0.06-7.1
 libudev1 237-3ubuntu10.3
 libunistring2 0.9.9-0ubuntu1
 libzstd1 1.3.3+dfsg-2ubuntu1
 openssl 1.1.0g-2ubuntu4.1
 passwd 1:4.5-1ubuntu1
 perl-base 5.26.1-6ubuntu0.2
 tar 1.29b-2
 ubuntu-keyring 2018.02.28
 xkb-data 2.23.1-1ubuntu1
 zlib1g 1:1.2.11.dfsg-0ubuntu2
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: kbd 2.0.4-2ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcCpuinfoMinimal:
 processor : 3
 vendor_id : GenuineIntel
 cpu family : 6
 model : 142
 model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-8130U CPU @ 2.20GHz
 stepping : 10
 microcode : 0xffffffff
 cpu MHz : 2208.000
 cache size : 256 KB
 physical id : 0
 siblings : 4
 core id : 1
 cpu cores : 2
 apicid : 0
 initial apicid : 0
 fpu : yes
 fpu_exception : yes
 cpuid level : 6
 wp : yes
 flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave osxsave avx f16c rdrand
 bogomips : 4416.00
 clflush size : 64
 cache_alignment : 64
 address sizes : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
 power management:
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=C.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Microsoft 4.4.0-17134.137-Microsoft 4.4.35
SourcePackage: kbd
Tags: bionic uec-images
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-17134-Microsoft x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
_MarkForUpload: True

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

- To duplicate the problem -
  $ (sudo) kbd_mode
  Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console
  $

- A 'kbd' problem that is very similar is noted for xenial in the closed bug
  report #1621824 <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kbd/+bug/1621824>
  You could probably substitute 'kbd_mode" for the 'loadkeys' invocations
  specified in the text. I encountered the problem when I ran 'setupcon' and
  that script uses both 'kbd_mode' and 'loadkeys'.

- If the xenial fix is still around, how do I get it. "xenial-proposed" does
  not seem to have it.

- It really does not indicate as such above but this 'ubuntu 18.04' sits on
  top of "Windows Subsystem for Linux" (WSL).

- This is a (fairly} fresh install (see "UpgradeStatus" above) with the
  latest/greatest 'apt update/upgrade' plus a number of installs executed.