On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:35:23 -0700 Anthony Bentley
<anthonyjbent...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 11:24:04AM +0100, Alexander Hall wrote:
> > That said, i tried to make Caps_Lock be my compose key but to no
> > avail.
> >
> > $ xmodmap -e 'clear Lock' # get rid of caps lock annoyance
> > $ setxkbmap -option compose:caps # damn it, caps lock is back...
> >
> > Hints highly appreciated. For example; where are the -option's
> > documented?
> >
> I wouldn't call this "documentation," but it looks like most or all
> (?) XkbOptions are listed in the /etc/X11/xkb/rules/xorg.lst file.
> compose:caps is not in the list, but I don't know if this is complete
> or not.
Actually, it's far more convoluted than that. :-)
I wasn't exactly certain what Alexander wanted to do, but I'm *guessing*
he wants to enable the 'compose' feature on CapsLock key in the 'se'
layout.
First of all, the 'compose:whatever' must be a defined option or else it
does nothing. This is the problem Alexander is having.
$ find /etc/X11/xkb -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep -i compose
(tons of output)
./rules/xorg: $pcmodels intl = us(%mcompose)
./rules/xorg: * intl = us(pc104compose)
./rules/xorg: compose:ralt = +compose(ralt)
./rules/xorg: compose:rwin = +compose(rwin)
./rules/xorg: compose:menu = +compose(menu)
./rules/xorg: compose:rctrl = +compose(rctrl)
./rules/xorg: compose:ralt = +compose(ralt)
./rules/xorg: compose:rwin = +compose(rwin)
./rules/xorg: compose:menu = +compose(menu)
./rules/xorg: compose:rctrl = +compose(rctrl)
./rules/xorg.lst: Compose key Compose key position
./rules/xorg.lst: compose:ralt Right Alt is Compose.
./rules/xorg.lst: compose:rwin Right Win-key is Compose.
./rules/xorg.lst: compose:menu Menu is Compose.
./rules/xorg.lst: compose:rctrl Right Ctrl is Compose.
(tons of output)
In the above chunk of output, you'll notice there's no "compose(caps)"
or better said, 'compose:caps', so your command:
$ setxkbmap -option compose:caps
is a non-typical and non-working usage. To do it manually and check the
results you can:
$ setxkbmap -print
xkb_keymap {
xkb_keycodes { include "xfree86+aliases(qwerty)" };
xkb_types { include "complete" };
xkb_compat { include "complete" };
xkb_symbols { include "pc/pc(pc105)+pc/us" };
xkb_geometry { include "pc(pc105)" };
};
$ setxkbmap -option compose:caps
$ setxkbmap -print
xkb_keymap {
xkb_keycodes { include "xfree86+aliases(qwerty)" };
xkb_types { include "complete" };
xkb_compat { include "complete" };
xkb_symbols { include "pc/pc(pc105)+pc/us" };
xkb_geometry { include "pc(pc105)" };
};
Yep, even with a very typical 'us' layout your command fails.
But...
$ setxkbmap -option compose:rctrl
$ setxkbmap -print
xkb_keymap {
xkb_keycodes { include "xfree86+aliases(qwerty)" };
xkb_types { include "complete" };
xkb_compat { include "complete" };
xkb_symbols { include "pc/pc(pc105)+pc/us+compose(rctrl)
+compose(rctrl)" };
xkb_geometry { include "pc(pc105)" };
};
$
Yep, works like a charm, and even works on 'se' layout.
$ setxkbmap se
$ setxkbmap -option compose:rctrl
$ setxkbmap -print
xkb_keymap {
xkb_keycodes { include "xfree86+aliases(qwerty)" };
xkb_types { include "complete" };
xkb_compat { include "complete" };
xkb_symbols { include "pc/pc(pc105)+pc/se+compose(rctrl)
+compose(rctrl)" };
xkb_geometry { include "pc(pc105)" };
};
$
You'll need to hit "RightCTRL SHIFT+2 a" to get an umlat-ed 'a' since
on the SE layout the double quote '"' is mapped to SHIFT+2 where '@'
normally is on the US layout.
At this point we know 'compose' is defined and working on the 'se'
layout for pc systems.
Due to a lack of keys, my ancient 101-key IBM Model-M US keyboard is not
really up to the task of accepting a 'se' keyboard map, but it still
mostly works... --assuming I can actually find the right keys or said
keys even exist on this keyboard. :-)
(NOTE_TO_SELF: If by luck I marry a brilliant and beautiful Swedish
woman, she must come fully equipped with her own Swedish keyboard).
Next, you need to realize there is a significant difference between a
'symbol' as mentioned in man setxkbmap(1) and a 'keysym' as mentioned
in man xmodmap(1). The easiest (albeit not entirely accurate) way to
understand it is; a symbol gets mapped to keysym, and a keysym gets
mapped to a keycode, where setxkbmap handles the former, and xmodmap
handles the latter.
You can see the 'compose' symbol mapped to the 'Multi_Key' keysym in:
/etc/X11/xkb/symbols/pc104
If you set your system to use the 'se' layout and dump the entire
keycode->keysym mapping:
$ setxkbmap se
$ xmodmap -pke
You'll find that the "Multi_key" keysym is not used in the 'se' layout.
One of the problems you'll face is the fact that the 'Caps Lock" key is
setup to be a toggle, so to use it as a normal key, you'll need to
disable the it.
$ xmodmap -e 'clear Lock'
And now the magic:
$ xmodmap -e "keysym Caps_Lock = Multi_key"
You just over-wrote the "Caps_Lock" keysym with the "Multi_key" keysym,
so you no longer have a caps lock toggle button, but instead, you now
have a button that preforms the wanted 'compose' feature. I've tested
the above with the hardware I have, and it works, but since your
physical keyboard is a whole lot different than anything I have here,
your results might vary.
After over-writing the keysym, to put things back the way you found
them, just reload all the symbols. This will subsequently reload the
mappings from symbols to keysyms, and thereby redefine all the keysyms
back to their original state.
$ setxkbmap -symbol "pc/pc(pc105)+pc/se"
Alternatively, you could do this remapping by "keycode" rather than
over-writing the "keysym" but since I've got no clue what the keycodes
are for a Swedish keyboard, you'll have to figure out that method on
your own through looking at the output of `xmodmap -pke` --This is a
less harsh method than completely over-writing the "Caps_Lock" keysym,
and you could reverse the changes with xmodmap.
Forgive the linewrap, and make sure the keycode for "Caps_Lock" is the
same for your keyboard, but you'd have something similar to this:
To Turn 'compose-caps' ON:
$ xmodmap -e "keycode 66 = Multi_key NoSymbol Multi_key
NoSymbol Multi_key"
To Turn 'compose-caps' OFF:
$ xmodmap -e "keycode 66 = Caps_Lock NoSymbol Caps_Lock NoSymbol
Caps_Lock"
I'm not sure how the 'keycode' method plays with the caps lock toggle,
or how to turn the toggle back on to re-enable the caps lock function,
so you'll need to experiment.
It's best that I shut up now before Brad kicks me repeatedly for the
brutally long answer. ;-)
-jon
--
J.C. Roberts
