Difference between revisions of "Keyboard Layout Customization"

Revision as of 18:39, 25 November 2019

Using xkbcomp

Simple

The easiest way to customize your keyboard layout on NixOS is with these options:

services.xserver.layout: Keyboard layout, or multiple keyboard layouts separated by commas.
services.xserver.xkbVariant: X keyboard variant
services.xserver.xkbModel: Keyboard model.
services.xserver.xkbOptions: X keyboard options; layout switching goes here.

You can find valid values for these options in $(nix-build --no-out-link '<nixpkgs>' -A xkeyboard_config)/etc/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst

Advanced

If the above options aren't enough, you can instead create your own keyboard layout by going through xkb. To get started, install xorg.xkbcomp and run setxkbmap -print > layout.xkb to get an initial file. This corresponds to your current layout. Use xkbcomp layout.xkb $DISPLAY to load the file as your new layout. Refer to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/X_KeyBoard_extension on how to edit this file.

Lots of examples can be found in $(nix-build --no-out-link '<nixpkgs>' -A xorg.xkeyboardconfig)/etc/X11/xkb/. For available key symbols, see $(nix-build --no-out-link '<nixpkgs>' -A xorg.xproto)/include/X11/keysymdef.h.

To load this file at the start of the X session, add the following to your configuration.nix. The extra compilation step (xkbcomp) helps catching layout errors at build time.

let
  compiledLayout = pkgs.runCommand "keyboard-layout" {} ''
    ${pkgs.xorg.xkbcomp}/bin/xkbcomp ${./path/to/layout.xkb} $out
  '';
in
  services.xserver.displayManager.sessionCommands = "${pkgs.xorg.xkbcomp}/bin/xkbcomp ${compiledLayout} $DISPLAY";

Relevant other options

services.xserver.exportConfiguration: Makes it so the above mentioned xkb directory (and the xorg.conf file) gets exported to /etc/X11/xkb, which is useful if you have to often look stuff up in it.
services.xserver.xkbDir: Allows you to set a different xkb directory altogether. All the above mentioned things will use this instead of the default one in regards to xkb stuff.
i18n.consoleUseXkbConfig: Makes it so the tty console has about the same layout as the one configured in the services.xserver options.

Configs

https://github.com/Infinisil/system/blob/master/config/new-modules/keylayout.nix

Using xmodmap

Since it is much simpler to use xmodmap and also because I couldn|t get the xkbcomp way to work on my NixOS machine I decided to keep using xmodmap:

  cat /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
  ...
  let
    myCustomLayout = pkgs.writeText "xkb-layout" ''
      ! Map umlauts to RIGHT ALT + <key>
      keycode 108 = Mode_switch
      keysym e = e E EuroSign
      keysym c = c C cent
      keysym a = a A adiaeresis Adiaeresis
      keysym o = o O odiaeresis Odiaeresis
      keysym u = u U udiaeresis Udiaeresis
      keysym s = s S ssharp
    
      ! disable capslock
      ! remove Lock = Caps_Lock
    '';
  in
  ...
  services.xserver.displayManager.sessionCommands = "${pkgs.xorg.xmodmap}/bin/xmodmap ${myCustomLayout}";

Works after boot and after suspend/resume.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-== Simple ==
+== Using xkbcomp ==
+=== Simple ===
 The easiest way to customize your keyboard layout on NixOS is with these options:
@@ Line 10: / Line 12: @@
 You can find valid values for these options in <code>$(nix-build --no-out-link '&lt;nixpkgs&gt;' -A xkeyboard_config)/etc/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst</code>
-== Advanced ==
+=== Advanced ===
 If the above options aren't enough, you can instead create your own keyboard layout by going through xkb. To get started, install <code>xorg.xkbcomp</code> and run <code>setxkbmap -print &gt; layout.xkb</code> to get an initial file. This corresponds to your current layout. Use <code>xkbcomp layout.xkb $DISPLAY</code> to load the file as your new layout. Refer to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/X_KeyBoard_extension on how to edit this file.
@@ Line 26: / Line 28: @@
    services.xserver.displayManager.sessionCommands = "${pkgs.xorg.xkbcomp}/bin/xkbcomp ${compiledLayout} $DISPLAY";
 </source>
-== Relevant other options ==
+=== Relevant other options ===
 * <code>services.xserver.exportConfiguration</code>: Makes it so the above mentioned xkb directory (and the <code>xorg.conf</code> file) gets exported to <code>/etc/X11/xkb</code>, which is useful if you have to often look stuff up in it.
@@ Line 32: / Line 34: @@
 * <code>i18n.consoleUseXkbConfig</code>: Makes it so the tty console has about the same layout as the one configured in the <code>services.xserver</code> options.
-== Configs ==
+=== Configs ===
 * https://github.com/Infinisil/system/blob/master/config/new-modules/keylayout.nix
+== Using xmodmap ==
+Since it is much simpler to use xmodmap and also because I couldn|t get the xkbcomp way to work on my NixOS machine I decided to keep using xmodmap:
+<source lang="nix">
+  cat /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
+  ...
+  let
+    myCustomLayout = pkgs.writeText "xkb-layout" ''
+      ! Map umlauts to RIGHT ALT + <key>
+      keycode 108 = Mode_switch
+      keysym e = e E EuroSign
+      keysym c = c C cent
+      keysym a = a A adiaeresis Adiaeresis
+      keysym o = o O odiaeresis Odiaeresis
+      keysym u = u U udiaeresis Udiaeresis
+      keysym s = s S ssharp
+      ! disable capslock
+      ! remove Lock = Caps_Lock
+    '';
+  in
+  ...
+  services.xserver.displayManager.sessionCommands = "${pkgs.xorg.xmodmap}/bin/xmodmap ${myCustomLayout}";
+</source>
+Works after boot and after suspend/resume.

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