Ubuntu – Switch keyboard layouts with i3

16.04ibuskeyboard

I have a fresh i3 version 4.11 (2015-09-30, branch "4.11") installed over my Ubuntu 16.04.
Actually I need to use 3 different keyboard layouts for example en, fr and ru with the possibility to switch between them by using some keyboard shortcut.

I have tried some methods but neither was completely satisfactory:

  • Using ibus-daemon almost works but I cannot use any shortcuts for change layouts.

  • My actual setup is configuring setxkbmap when I start i3:

    exec --no-startup-id "setxkbmap -model pc105 -layout fr,us,ru -option grp:alt_shift_toggle"

So I can switch between my layouts but sometimes I have no idea which layout I am actually in use because there is not any tray icon for that in this setup.

For conclusion my needs are:

  • Be able to switch layouts by pressing some hotkeys.

  • Some indications(preferably, tray icon) for layout I am actually in use.

Is there some work around about this? Or maybe there is some i3 plugin tha t actually does the job? Some third software?

Best Answer

You can do it with xkblayout-state and i3blocks

For xkblayout-state:

I assume you have git.

~$ git clone https://github.com/nonpop/xkblayout-state.git
~$ cd xkblayout-state
~$ make

Now copy compiled xkblayout-state somewhere in your PATH, for example:

~$ `cp xkblayout-state /usr/local/bin/`

Now for i3blocks:

sudo apt-get install i3blocks
cp /etc/i3blocks.conf ~/.i3blocks.conf

In your i3 config file (~/.config/i3/config) replace i3status with i3blocks, 

# Start i3bar to display a workspace bar (plus the system information i3status
# finds out, if available)
bar {
        status_command i3blocks
        tray_output primary                                               
}
# in case of layout change event - send signal to i3blocks
bindsym ISO_Next_Group exec pkill -RTMIN+1 i3blocks

And restart i3wm (mod+shift+R), you should now see that i3blocks appeared.

Open your ~/.i3blocks.conf and add somewhere (for example, right above [VOLUME] section):

#Language indicator
[language]
#label=LNG
command=xkblayout-state print %s | awk '{print toupper($0)}'
interval=once
signal=1

Again, restart i3wm (mod+shift+R), and you should see your locales in status bar, switching.

Check out xkblayout-state --help, there is many options for different output.

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