XCompose wiki article (was: Re: Where did my character selection tool go?)
On 13/07/2025 20:06, Greg Wooledge wrote:
This is what I originally wrote on <https://wiki.debian.org/XCompose>
(except that I suggested using include "%L" at the top, instead of
hard-coding en_US.UTF-8).
Later, some people thought they were "improving" the page by adding
all kinds of Desktop Environment crap, and now Max is saying that
the page is "outdated".
There's a reason I use the original ~/.XCompose stuff and a simple
xmodmap command to establish the Compose key, and that reason is:
IT WORKS ON EVERY DEBIAN SYSTEM THAT RUNS X11
I would not be so sure concerning GNOME X11 session. Developers decided
to completely reset XKB configuration on every switch of keyboard
layout. (It is done to overcome hardcoded limitation of XKB for 4
groups. Unfortunately it is impossible to disable GNOME machinery and to
use XKB layout switching directly for those who have 2 layouts.)
(I can't help you with Wayland. Sorry.
My point is that compose key (Multi_key) in general and ~/.XCompose file
in particular works on Wayland. The issue is the xmodmap recipe. I have
tried Plasma Wayland (KDE) session in Debian 12 bookworm. xev reports
Multi_key assigned through xmodmap, but Konsole terminal ignores namely
*xmodmap* compose key sequences.
From my point of view, it is better to configure compose key
system-wide. Users of desktop environments can use GUI configuration
dialogs. For those who need per-user configuration and have "simple"
window manager, setxkbmap may be more reliable than xmodmap.
Trying to find some link that xmodmap is "outdated" (as I wrote
earlier), I have noticed the following thread
<https://lists.x.org/archives/xorg/2008-April/034397.html>
Juliusz Chroboczek. xmodmap deprecated? Sun Apr 13 14:23:37 PDT 2008
I've heard a long time ago — at least I believe I have — that
xmodmap is deprecated. Could someone please authoritatively confirm
or refute that?
If it is deprecated, does xkb take over its entire feature set? Or
is there another player?
In principle, Xkb is supposed to take over. In practice, there are
only three people in the known universe who understand Xkb, and nobody
is quite sure who they are.
Thread start:
<https://lists.x.org/archives/xorg/2008-March/033990.html>
martin f krafft. Thu Mar 27 13:44:33 PDT 2008
On 13/07/2025 20:06, Greg Wooledge wrote:
I have not yet been convinced
there's any need for me to make that transition.)
It seems companies decided to invest less resources into Xorg
development and maintenance. On the other hand in bookworm KDE Wayland
session is not mature enough, so I have not switched to Wayland as well.
But y'all can have fun trying to track your silly Desktop Environment
specific crap, and your DBuses and IBuses and whatever other crazy
animals you have on your systems now, all in the name of "progress".
It's certainly not in the name of "user friendliness".
I do not need to type hieroglyphs from CJK scripts, so I am avoiding
IBus. Perhaps you have single keyboard layout configured, so you are
unaware that Debian uses XKB by default to setup keyboard for X11
sessions. The progress is to allow people to type texts in their native
languages.
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