/etc/X11/xkb/base.xml is ignored (wrong documentation)

[This is an automated message]

Hi gabor-karsay,

Please attach the output of `lspci -vvnn`, and attach your /var/log/Xorg.0.log file from after reproducing this issue. If you've made any customizations to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf please attach that as well.

Let me first emphasize that my custom keyboard setup works well but the way I got it working is different than described in the packaged readme-file and different than it used to be in Ubuntu 8.04. I don't request any help but would like to help other users.

The files requested are attached, I changed my /etc/X11/xorg.conf at some time but reverted it later to its orginal state.

Cheers,
Gabor

And here the /var/log/Xorg.0.log. It's the actual one, the "issue" is permanent.

I got stuck on this problem too. Thanks for helping me out Gabor, and please fix the documentation.

This bug was fixed in the package xkeyboard-config - 1.4-1ubuntu2

---------------
xkeyboard-config (1.4-1ubuntu2) jaunty; urgency=low

  * README.Debian: Correct documentation about location for keyboard
    customizations
    (LP: #297428)

 -- Bryce Harrington <email address hidden> Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:48:05 -0800

Thanks, uploaded

I'm reopening this because I think the README change I did earlier isn't exactly correct. I'm dropping those changes for now.

I examined the differences in custom layouts between hardy and intrepid once more and in my opinion there's a regression because intrepid has no real configuration file anymore (evdev.xml is the configuration file, but it will be overwritten with every update).

My test case: I forced an old version of xkb-data both in hardy an intrepid and then installed my custom layout with the symbols file in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols and a modified /etc/X11/xkb/base.xml in hardy and a modified /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml in intrepid. The custom layout worked fine, then I did the update of xkb-data.
1. In hardy everything's fine. The configuration file base.xml is not changed.
2. In intrepid the update overwrites evdev.xml without notification or asking anything. Surprisingly at first glance nothing has changed, because Gnome now uses the symbols file that's stored in gconf-editor under desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd/layouts and that is still my custom symbols file. In gnome-keyboard-properties the layout is now indicated with its file name, not with the description as before. If I remove it and want to add it again, it's lost. (Not tested: KDE, distribution upgrade)

My conclusion: The actual behavior (overwriting evdev.xml) is not good.
Secondly, the Readme is wrong as it names the wrong configuration file, and that the new file is not really a configuration file because it will be overwritten in the update process.

Hi Gabor,

I'm still not sure how best to fix this. So I've forwarded your bug upstream to https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=20743 - please subscribe to this bug report in case upstream needs further information or wishes you to try something. Thanks ahead of time!

Okay, wow, upstream closed that without delay.

So it seems upstream feels that these files are NOT intended to be end-user configurable files, and have rejected the bug report. Given that, I think I'm just going to drop the bits from the README.Debian entirely. The approach seems a bit hackish anyway, and as you point out, prone to get overwritten on upgrade.

What I might suggest, if you still would like an ability to do this, is that you file a wishlist bug upstream to support keyboard layout customizations, so we can get proper support added for it.

We're in beta freeze so not uploading this now, but here's the debdiff I'll be putting in.

Well, that was too fast for me to react, but I understand upstream's decision and I think to drop that passage entirely is the right thing to do.

My primary concern was the wrong documentation, I can live without officially supported keyboard layout customization. I made a patch for my personal use to insert my custom keyboard layout after updates of xkb-data. I know that launchpad is for bugs and not how-tos, but I attached it anyway (as an example).

Thanks for your work!

Patch went into 1.5-2ubuntu10, not sure why this bug wasn't auto-closed.

Hello Bryce,

Like you said, I'd very much like to have an “official” way of using custom keyboard configurations. Manually editing X's config files after each update is tiresome, and occasionally problematic*.

However, I'm not sure if this is a feature for X11 devs or for Gnome itself. AFAIK it's possible to set a keyboard layout that isn't in the {base|evdev}.{xml|lst} index files. (I don't remember exactly how, it involved piping output from xkbcomp to setxkbmap.)

So, technically X11/XKB supports custom keyboard layouts out of the box, it's Ubuntu that doesn't offer any option to do it. Adding it would imply modifying, at least, Gnome's keyboard layout applet (and probably the KDE equivalent), and whatever uses /etc/default/console-setup.

Since this is kind of a power-user feature, it doesn't even need any UI changes, just some way of setting the option in console-setup and GConf without confusing updates and causing a mess. It may be even possible to get away with just an Ubuntu-specific change to xkb-data, so that it merges some user-specified file (eg, /local/share/X11/xkb/...) in the /usr/share/X11/xkb/... ones on updates. This seems easier than adding a custom config file for XKB; even if that happened I think the aforementioned apps would still need updating to use it.

(* Funny anecdote: During at least one Ubuntu release update my custom keyboard config was lost, and the update scripts decided to replace my system-wide keyboard layout with some kind of Arabic (I suppose it was the first in some alphabetical ordering). Since I can't type my password in Arabic, and for some reason I couldn't change the login layout in that version of GDM, It took me a while to log-in again and fix it; I had to halt the init process at the step just before setting the keyboard layout...)

Gabor, do you apply that patch manually on each update? If there were a way to just apply it automatically on updates I wouldn't have any trouble with this bug anymore.

@ Bogdan: Yes, I apply the patch manually. I don't know how to apply it at updates automatically, but you could check on every system start with this line in /etc/rc.local:
if [ "`grep \<name\>your-custom-layout\</name\> /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml`" == "" ]; then patch /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml < /path/to/your/patch; fi;

If I may interject here: I too need this previous feature to work again. I have learned (the hard way) how to edit evdev.xml so that my custom keyboard definition for the Nuer language (Sudan) appears in Kubuntu 10.04 at Control Center | Regional and Language | Keyboard Layout | Layout. IIUC from the comments here, that is going to disappear next time I upgrade.

I guess I am requesting as well that this issue be cared for. While it is indeed a 'power user' feature, surely an African distro that is made for 'the people' should be able to handle custom keyboards in the language of that people. It should not take a degree in computing to bring this about. The user should not have to hand-edit config files to get what is needed, only to have them overwritten the next time he/she upgrades.

I am not the only one needing this feature either:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10499753#post10499753

I appreciate greatly the work of the many volunteers that make this project go, and I am not complaining. I am just a simple user that has come to depend on this excellent distro for my day to day needs, and I am making a polite request that it be cared for.

If I should be posting this info elsewhere, then please let me know. And, thanks again, folks, for all your hard work.

Frank.