196 lines
7.2 KiB
Plaintext
196 lines
7.2 KiB
Plaintext
The XKB Configuration Guide
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Kamil Toman, Ivan U. Pascal
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25 November 2002
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Abstract
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This document describes how to configure X11R6.8 XKB from a user's
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point a few. It converts basic configuration syntax and gives also
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a few examples.
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1. Overview
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The XKB configuration is decomposed into a number of components. Selecting
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proper parts and combining them back you can achieve most of configurations
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you might need. Unless you have a completely atypical keyboard you really
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don't need to touch any of xkb configuration files.
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2. Selecting XKB Configuration
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The easiest and the most natural way how to specify a keyboard mapping is to
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use rules component. As its name suggests it describes a number of general
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rules how to combine all bits and pieces into a valid and useful keyboard
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mapping. All you need to do is to select a suitable rules file and then to
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feed it with a few parameters that will adjust the keyboard behaviour to ful-
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fill your needs.
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The parameters are:
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o XkbRules - files of rules to be used for keyboard mapping composition
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o XkbModel - name of model of your keyboard type
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o XkbLayout - layout(s) you intend to use
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o XkbVariant - variant(s) of layout you intend to use
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o XkbOptions - extra xkb configuration options
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The proper rules file depends on your vendor. In reality, the commonest file
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of rules is xorg. For each rules file there is a description file named <ven-
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dor-rules>.lst, for instance xorg.lst which is located in xkb configuration
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subdirectory rules (for example /etc/X11/xkb/rules).
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2.1 Basic Configuration
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Let's say you want to configure a PC style America keyboard with 104 keys as
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described in xorg.lst. It can be done by simply writing several lines from
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below to you xorg.conf configuration file (previously known as
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/etc/X11/XF86Config-4 or /etc/X11/XF86Config):
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Section "InputDevice"
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Identifier "Keyboard1"
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Driver "kbd"
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Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
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Option "XkbLayout" "us"
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Option "XKbOptions" ""
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EndSection
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The values of parameters XkbModel and XkbLayout are really not surprising.
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The parameters XkbOptions has been explicitly set to empty set of parameters.
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The parameter XkbVariant has been left out. That means the default variant
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named basic is loaded.
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Of course, this can be also done at runtime using utility setxkbmap. Shell
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command loading the same keyboard mapping would look like:
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setxkbmap -rules xorg -model pc104 -layout us -option ""
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The configuration and the shell command would be very analogical for most
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other layouts (internationalized mappings).
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2.2 Advanced Configuration
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You can use multi-layouts xkb configuration. What does it mean? Basically it
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allows to load up to four different keyboard layouts at a time. Each such
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layout would reside in its own group. The groups (unlike complete keyboard
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remapping) can be switched very fast from one to another by a combination of
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keys.
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Let's say you want to configure your new Logitech cordless desktop keyboard,
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you intend to use three different layouts at the same time - us, czech and
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german (in this order), and that you are used to Alt-Shift combination for
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switching among them.
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Then the configuration snippet could look like this:
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Section "InputDevice"
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Identifier "Keyboard1"
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Driver "kbd"
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Option "XkbModel" "logicordless"
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Option "XkbLayout" "us,cz,de"
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Option "XKbOptions" "grp:alt_shift_toggle"
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EndSection
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Of course, this can be also done at runtime using utility setxkbmap. Shell
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command loading the same keyboard mapping would look like:
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setxkbmap -rules xorg -model logicordless -layout "us,cz,de" \
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-option "grp:alt_shift_toggle"
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2.3 Even More Advanced Configuration
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Okay, let's say you are more demanding. You do like the example above but you
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want it to change a bit. Let's imagine you want the czech keyboard mapping to
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use another variant but basic. The configuration snippet then changes into:
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Section "InputDevice"
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Identifier "Keyboard1"
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Driver "kbd"
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Option "XkbModel" "logicordless"
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Option "XkbLayout" "us,cz,de"
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Option "XkbVariant" ",bksl,"
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Option "XKbOptions" "grp:alt_shift_toggle"
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EndSection
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That's seems tricky but it is not. The logic for settings of variants is the
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same as for layouts, that means the first and the third variant settings are
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left out (set to basic), the second is set to bksl (a special variant with an
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enhanced definition of the backslash key).
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Analogically, the loading runtime will change to:
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setxkmap -rules xorg -model logicordless -layout "us,cz,de" \
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-variant ",bksl," -option "grp:alt_shift_toggle"
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2.4 Basic Global Options
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See rules/*.lst files.
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3. Direct XKB Configuration
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Generally, you can directly prescribe what configuration of each of basic xkb
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components should be used to form the resulting keyboard mapping. This
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method is rather "brute force". You precisely need to know the structure and
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the meaning of all of used configuration components.
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This method also exposes all xkb configuration details directly into
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xorg.conf configuration file which is a not very fortunate fact. In rare
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occasions it may be needed, though. So how does it work?
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3.1 Basic Components
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There are five basic components used to form a keyboard mapping:
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o key codes - a translation of the scan codes produced by the keyboard
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into a suitable symbolic form
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o types - a specification of what various combinations of modifiers pro-
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duce
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o key symbols - a translation of symbolic key codes into actual symbols
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o geometry - a description of physical keyboard geometry
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o compatibility maps - a specification of what action should each key pro-
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duce in order to preserve compatibility with XKB-unware clients
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3.2 Example Configuration
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Look at the following example:
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Section "InputDevice"
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Identifier "Keyboard0"
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Driver "kbd"
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Option "XkbKeycodes" "xorg"
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Option "XkbTypes" "default"
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Option "XkbSymbols" "en_US(pc104)+de+swapcaps"
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Option "XkbGeometry" "pc(pc104)"
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Option "XkbCompat" "basic+pc+iso9995"
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EndSection
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This configuration sets the standard X server default interpretation of key-
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board keycodes, sets the default modificator types. The symbol table is com-
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posed of extended US keyboard layout in its variant for pc keyboards with 104
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keys plus all keys for german layout are redefined respectively. Also the
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logical meaning of Caps-lock and Control keys is swapped. The standard key-
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board geometry (physical look) is set to pc style keyboard with 104 keys. The
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compatibility map is set to allow basic shifting, to allow Alt keys to be
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interpreted and also to allow iso9995 group shifting.
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4. Keymap XKB Configuration
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It is the formerly used way to configure xkb. The user included a special
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keymap file which specified the direct xkb configuration. This method has
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been obsoleted by previously described rules files which are far more flexi-
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ble and allow simpler and more intuitive syntax. It is preserved merely for
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compatibility reasons. Avoid using it if it is possible.
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