Using .XCompose

Hi,

I am new to Linux and Debian.

I am trying to build a custom layout for my mother tongue Malayalam (India, Kerala).

The problem I am trying to tackle:

One of the Malayalam letters, ങ (U+0D19), is used much more commonly in its geminate form which is composed of three unicode charcters ങ ് ങ (U+0D19 U+0D4D U+0D19) which will yield the geminate form ങ്ങ

So, when I type, I want the ങ to be replaced with ങ്ങ.

The keyboard layout is working fine as far as I can see. It does yield the correct letters. What doesn't seem to work is the .XCompose mechanism. Please tell me what I am missing.

Relevant part of my layout file /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/in

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partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "mal_puthuniraA" {
name[Group1] = "Malayalam (Puthu Nira Aarambham)";
key.type="FOUR_LEVEL";

key <AC09> { [ U0D41, U0D19, U0D4E, U0D71] }; // ു MALAYALAM VOWEL SIGN U, ങ്ങ MALAYALAM LETTER NGA geminate form, ൎMALAYALAM LETTER DOT REPH, ൱ MALAYALAM NUMBER ONE HUNDRED

include "level3(ralt_switch)"

};

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My .XCompose file in my home directory is

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include "%L"

<XK_Shift_L> <U0D19> : "ങ്ങ"
<U0D19> : "ങ്ങ"

ങ : "ങ്ങ"

---------------------

I found the name XK_Shift_L in keysymdef.h file. I tried the unicode character and its code as well to identify the keypress. I tried with only one of the lines as well.

XCompose(3) — libx11-doc — Debian buster — Debian Manpages was consulted. I have tried restarting after making changes which didn't help.

Am I referring to the keypress correctly? What am I missing?

Thanks for your help,

ajith