Ubuntu – How to specify keyboard layout vairant in org.gnome.desktop.input-sources

gnomexkb

I have a Thinkpad laptop with an external Apple keyboard. I like to remap the keys for the external keyboard so I have adjusted the relevant parts (the section for mac) in xkb/symbols/us and xkb/symbols/de as I type both in German and English. Ultimately I would like to be able to have an English and a German keyboard with remapped keys available when the Apple keyboard is plugged in and a basic English and German keyboard available when the external keyboard is not attached.

I wanted to use gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources to switch the available keyboards. This works fine for basic keyboards, e.g.
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources sources "[('xkb', 'us'),('xkb'),'de')]"
provides the choice between the basic English and German keyboard.

The problem however is this. Running
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources sources "[('xkb', 'de(mac)')]" does not seem to work. So the variant de(mac) for some reason cannot be added like this. Switching with setxkmap, however, works setxkbmap -layout "de(mac)".

Say I started with the us(mac) keyboard

setxkbmap -layout "us(mac)"
setxkbmap -print
xkb_keymap {
xkb_keycodes  { include "evdev+aliases(qwerty)" };
xkb_types     { include "complete"  };
xkb_compat    { include "complete"  };
xkb_symbols   { include "pc+us(mac)+inet(evdev)+terminate(ctrl_alt_bksp)"   };
xkb_geometry  { include "pc(pc105)" };
};

Then I try to switch but the keyboard remains on us(mac).

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources sources "[('xkb', 'de(mac)')]"`
setxkbmap -print
xkb_keymap {
xkb_keycodes  { include "evdev+aliases(qwerty)" };
xkb_types     { include "complete"  };
xkb_compat    { include "complete"  }; 
xkb_symbols   { include "pc+us(mac)+inet(evdev)+terminate(ctrl_alt_bksp)"        };
xkb_geometry  { include "pc(pc105)" };
};

Anybody know how to reference a variant in org.gnome.desktop.input-sources?

Thanks a lot!

Best Answer

The correct syntax seems to be 'us+mac' instead of 'us(mac)':

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources sources "[('xkb', 'us+mac'),('xkb','de+mac')]"

Creating custom keyboard layout

For example, I'm looking to add a new modified English (international AltGr dead keys) US layout with swapped r,R & t,T. I will name it XY swapped:RT English (international AltGr dead keys).

Create new symbols file:

sudo nano /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/xy

 default  partial alphanumeric_keys
 xkb_symbols "basic" {

    name[Group1]= "XY swapped:RT English (international AltGr dead keys)";

    include "us(altgr-intl)"

 // my custom changes:

    key <AD04> { [        t, T,           ediaeresis,   Ediaeresis      ] };
    key <AD05> { [        r, R,           thorn,        THORN           ] };


    include "level3(ralt_switch)"
 };

include "us(altgr-intl)" means it inherits all key from that layout only key overridden here.

You may use Keyboard Layout Editor which is a GUI program that helps create or edit XKB keyboard layouts. Thanks to @Glutanimate

Add the new layout declaration to /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml (copy & modify us layout section)

Reference: Make new variant keyboard layout available in Settings?

sudo gedit /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml

 ...
 <layout>
   <configItem>
     <name>xy</name>

     <shortDescription>en</shortDescription>
     <description>XY swapped:RT English (international AltGr dead keys)</description>
     <languageList>
              <iso639Id>eng</iso639Id>
              <iso639Id>fra</iso639Id>
              <iso639Id>ger</iso639Id>
     </languageList>
   </configItem>
   <variantList>
   </variantList>
 </layout>
 ...

Delete xkb cache.
```
 sudo rm /var/lib/xkb/*.xkm
```
Notes:

To load changes to the layouts menu simply restart gnome-keyboard-preferences; relaunching the window manager should not be necessary.

There is a change in Ubuntu version 13.10 which causes the keyboard settings cache to not refresh after files in "/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols" are modified. It looks like changes just don't get applied. To force the cache refreshing a one should delete *.xkm files from "/var/lib/xkb".

^{Reference: Howto: Custom keyboard layout definitions}

or
```
 sudo dpkg-reconfigure xkb-data
```
^{Reference: Why did 13.10 break my custom keyboard layout?}

Reply to fix OP modifications

(Update #1 wrong parent layout) You have modified xkb_symbols "pes_part_basic" which is in irwinxp file: that's ok.

but xkb_symbols "pes" in irwinxp file still:
```
  include "ir(pes_part_basic)"
```
which should be:
```
  include "irwinxp(pes_part_basic)"
```

(Update #2 custom icon) If <shortDescription>en</shortDescription> changed to <shortDescription>xy</shortDescription>. So the new layout will distinct from En and it will appear as Xy.

Most probably there will be no icon for it in ubuntu-mono. Then the indicator will dynamically generate new one which may not follow current theme.

Copy any layout icons for dark/light mono themes:

 sudo cp /usr/share/icons/ubuntu-mono-dark/status/22/indicator-keyboard-En.svg /usr/share/icons/ubuntu-mono-dark/status/22/indicator-keyboard-Xy.svg
 sudo cp /usr/share/icons/ubuntu-mono-light/status/22/indicator-keyboard-En.svg /usr/share/icons/ubuntu-mono-light/status/22/indicator-keyboard-Xy.svg

SVG files are just XML. Open then for editing and change text value from En to Xy:

 sudo nano /usr/share/icons/ubuntu-mono-dark/status/22/indicator-keyboard-Xy.svg
 sudo nano /usr/share/icons/ubuntu-mono-light/status/22/indicator-keyboard-Xy.svg

Example:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
 <svg width="22" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1" height="22">
  <defs>
   <mask id="m">
    <rect y="0" x="0" style="fill:#fff" height="22" width="22"/>
    <text y="15.5" x="5" style="font-size:12;font-family:Ubuntu;font-weight:500;fill:black">Xy</text>
   </mask>
  </defs>
  <rect style="fill:#dfdbd2" mask="url(#m)" rx="2" height="20" width="20" y="1" x="1"/>
 </svg>

Update theme cache:

 sudo update-icon-caches /usr/share/icons/ubuntu-mono-*/

Logout/login

Other Helpful References

How to modify a keyboard layout in Linux (thanks to @Rmano)
Building an XKB Keyboard (thanks to @Glutanimate)

Ubuntu – Ubuntu 18.04 input slow when Portuguese (Brazil) layout among keyboard input sources

The comment below was the solution that worked for me. I found it at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/meta-gnome3/+bug/1777708 and the author of this answer is Pedro Palhares.

After being annoyed by this bug for a long time, i started digging and found a workaround. Today i found that the bug is only present when i'm using certain keyboard layouts ("Portugues (Brasil)") and was not present when i changed the layout to EUA and language to English (need to set them both to English).

After some digging i found out the culprit is the ScrollLock key and that can be fixed by editing the layout file, which in my case is found at /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/br. The only modification i did was to remove or comment the line: modifier_map Mod3 { Scroll_Lock }; After that, set the language and layout back to Portugues (Brasil) and the problem was gone!

No more delays between typings. (Fedora and Ubuntu)

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to add a new keyboard layout (Custom keyboard layout definition)

Creating custom keyboard layout

Reply to fix OP modifications

Other Helpful References

Ubuntu – Ubuntu 18.04 input slow when Portuguese (Brazil) layout among keyboard input sources

Related Question