... using any application ...

I think so, thats usually what they mean by "global hotkey" or "system wide hotkey"

gtk apparently doesn't have a global hotkey capability built-in -- if the app/window doesn't have focus, it can't get events -- python/c/cpp folks apparently use libkeybinder (whatever that is)

the OP issue appears to be that Gtk2->main; is blocking (or the other piece of code is blocking) ... so needs to poll, something along the lines of Re: AnyEvent + Wx, Gtk2/3 or Tk ?

In reply to Re^2: Gtk2 X11 GrabKey by Anonymous Monk
in thread Gtk2 X11 GrabKey by basiliscos

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