Bug#364489: xkbcomp looks for files in the wrong directory
On Sun, Apr 23, 2006 at 11:12:34PM +0200, Wouter Verhelst wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 23, 2006 at 08:55:59PM +0100, Daniel Stone wrote:
> > On Sun, Apr 23, 2006 at 08:21:41PM +0200, Wouter Verhelst wrote:
> > > Which should mean that X would look for a keymap with the "macintosh"
> > > geometry,
> >
> > You're confusing model and geometry.
>
> If I am, that's only because XKB uses confusing terminology.
>
> There's "XkbLayout" in xorg.conf, which maps to a directory called
> "symbols", "XkbModel" which maps to "keymap", and so on. It'd probably
> be better if those terms would be unified.
No, that's not actually what happens. For the most case, this
generalisation happens to roughly work, but it's not at all a 1:1
mapping.
> > Correct. The pc/, macintosh/, *_vndr/ directories under symbols are
> > deprecated. The fix is to write keyboard layouts that are portable
> > across models, for the general case.
>
> That's simply impossible. An apple ADB keyboard as it appears on their
> laptops lacks a whole bunch of keys that a regular PC keyboard does
> have; the keys RALT, and INS are not available on my laptop, and some of
> the other keys (e.g., DELE) are only available through awkward key
> combinations involving Fn.
>
> My own keyboard mapping therefore does some things that would be very
> strange indeed on 'regular' keyboard (one with the normal lay-out) but
> that are good (and wanted) on an apple keyboard.
>
> Moreover, Apple has a different idea about what a "Belgian" keyboard is
> than most PC keyboards do. If I use a Belgian PC keyboard layout on my
> macintosh laptop, I don't get the characters that are printed on the
> keys.
>
> This way lies madness.
Well, it seems to be working pretty well for xkeyboard-config. If you
really can't write one definition that works for everything, then use
the rules file to map model + layout -> symbols, in this case.
> > Closing as invalid, since this is a user configuration issue.
>
> Then at the very minimum this should be documented. Rather than having a
> non-working "macintosh_vndr" directory, it should either work, or be
> documented that it needs to be enabled somehow (by an option in
> xorg.conf, I guess?), or be removed.
It *is* documented. That it existed previously was not documented, but
in the rules file. If you
> A directory on disk with keymaps that cannot ever possibly be used is a
> bug in my book.
What? Which directory?
I'm not going to bother re-closing it: if you want to keep it open, good
luck. All I'm saying, is that you made local modifications to XKB, and
that was what failed. Everything else works fine. Your mail shows a
lack of understanding of XKB (yes, it is hideously underdocumented), so
arguing semantics about it probably isn't the best idea.
Reply to: