<p>Debugging this took me a bit too long, so I want to write about the caveat.</p>
<p>My problem: My laptop does not have PageUp and PageDown keys, and many other
keyboards I use have similar deficiencies. And I use various environments and
various systems, some of which are shared with other people who don't need/want
my tweaks. IOW: I want something generic, but it must be confined to my user –
no system-wide daemon, no udev remapping. (I mostly ended up with these
solutions when I searched for a way to remap keys on Wayland.)</p>
<p>Requirements: xkbcommon implementation of XKB with utilities. It is quite
common these days (duh…), but you could probably just compile this yourself if
you don't have it.</p>
<divclass="section"id="the-tweaking">
<h2>The tweaking</h2>
<p>The <aclass="reference external"href="https://xkbcommon.org/doc/current/user-configuration.html">xkbcommon guide</a> tells us that we
can inspect the files in <aclass="footnote-reference"href="#lazy"id="footnote-reference-1">[1]</a><ttclass="docutils literal">/usr/share/X11/xkb</tt> for the source files
and just write our bits to <ttclass="docutils literal"><spanclass="pre">~/.config/xkb/symbols/ledoian</span></tt>. In particular, I
added this snippet to remap keyboard brightness controls to PageUp/Down:</p>
<preclass="literal-block">
partial
xkb_symbols "qs" {
key <I238> {[ Prior ]};
key <I237> {[ Next ]};
};
</pre>
<p>The key identifiers are taken e.g. from <ttclass="docutils literal">xkbcli <spanclass="pre">interactive-wayland</span></tt>.
However, this is KcCGST <aclass="footnote-reference"href="#kccgst-vs-rmlvo"id="footnote-reference-2">[2]</a> description, but layouts are
configured using RMLVO, so I need to define an option and tell what it should
do. The guide wants me to create <ttclass="docutils literal"><spanclass="pre">~/.config/xkb/rules/evdev</span></tt> with:</p>
<preclass="literal-block">
! option = symbols
ledoian:qs = +ledoian(qs)
! include %S/evdev
</pre>
<p>Now I just add <ttclass="docutils literal">ledoian:qs</tt><aclass="footnote-reference"href="#option-vs-symbol"id="footnote-reference-3">[3]</a> to my keyboard configuration
and… it does not work. For this, at all, but if I remap e.g. the L key, that
gets applied. The problem? That included file says that the default keyboard
model always includes <ttclass="docutils literal">inet(evdev)</tt> symbols. Those symbols set the default
meaning of the keys, but since that got applied later, it overrides my tweak.</p>
<p>Solution: first include, then add my option.</p>
<p>How to debug: read stuff that <ttclass="docutils literal">xkbcli <spanclass="pre">compile-keymap</span><spanclass="pre">--verbose</span></tt> tells you
(pass your config as <ttclass="docutils literal"><spanclass="pre">--layout</span></tt>, <ttclass="docutils literal"><spanclass="pre">--variant</span></tt>, <ttclass="docutils literal"><spanclass="pre">--options</span></tt>, …). At the top
it says what it does:</p>
<preclass="literal-block">
xkbcommon: DEBUG: Include path added: /home/ledoian/.config/xkb
xkbcommon: DEBUG: Include path added: /usr/share/X11/xkb
xkbcommon: DEBUG: Compiling from RMLVO: rules 'evdev', model 'pc105', layout 'us', variant '(null)', options '(null)'
<tr><tdclass="label"><aclass="fn-backref"href="#footnote-reference-3">[3]</a></td><td>While both this example and the <aclass="reference external"href="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/XKeyboardConfig/">upstream</a> layouts name
the symbols and options similarly, I think they don't need to be related –
you should be able to put whatever you want in your options to the left of
<ttclass="docutils literal">=</tt>, the right hand side is the name of the symbol file and if a
non-default layout from that file is used, its name is put in the
<feedxmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><title>LEdoian's Blog</title><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/"rel="alternate"></link><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/feeds/all.atom.xml"rel="self"></link><id>https://blog.ledoian.cz/</id><updated>2024-03-11T22:49:00+01:00</updated><entry><title>You sure you want to hear the gossip?</title><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/do-not-gossip-identities.html"rel="alternate"></link><published>2024-03-11T22:49:00+01:00</published><updated>2024-03-11T22:49:00+01:00</updated><author><name>LEdoian</name></author><id>tag:blog.ledoian.cz,2024-03-11:/do-not-gossip-identities.html</id><summarytype="html"><p>Sometimes, not knowing something about your friends is simpler than knowing
<feedxmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><title>LEdoian's Blog</title><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/"rel="alternate"></link><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/feeds/all.atom.xml"rel="self"></link><id>https://blog.ledoian.cz/</id><updated>2024-04-17T15:18:00+02:00</updated><entry><title>Creating own XKB tweaks</title><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/custom-xkb-tweaks.html"rel="alternate"></link><published>2024-04-17T15:18:00+02:00</published><updated>2024-04-17T15:18:00+02:00</updated><author><name>LEdoian</name></author><id>tag:blog.ledoian.cz,2024-04-17:/custom-xkb-tweaks.html</id><summarytype="html"><p>Debugging this took me a bit too long, so I want to write about the caveat.</p>
<p>My problem: My laptop does not have PageUp and PageDown keys, and many other
keyboards I use have similar deficiencies. And I use various environments and
various systems, some of which are shared with …</p></summary><contenttype="html"><p>Debugging this took me a bit too long, so I want to write about the caveat.</p>
<p>My problem: My laptop does not have PageUp and PageDown keys, and many other
keyboards I use have similar deficiencies. And I use various environments and
various systems, some of which are shared with other people who don't need/want
my tweaks. IOW: I want something generic, but it must be confined to my user –
no system-wide daemon, no udev remapping. (I mostly ended up with these
solutions when I searched for a way to remap keys on Wayland.)</p>
<p>Requirements: xkbcommon implementation of XKB with utilities. It is quite
common these days (duh…), but you could probably just compile this yourself if
you don't have it.</p>
<div class="section" id="the-tweaking">
<h2>The tweaking</h2>
<p>The <a class="reference external" href="https://xkbcommon.org/doc/current/user-configuration.html">xkbcommon guide</a> tells us that we
can inspect the files in <a class="footnote-reference" href="#lazy" id="footnote-reference-1">[1]</a><tt class="docutils literal">/usr/share/X11/xkb</tt> for the source files
and just write our bits to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">~/.config/xkb/symbols/ledoian</span></tt>. In particular, I
added this snippet to remap keyboard brightness controls to PageUp/Down:</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
partial
xkb_symbols &quot;qs&quot; {
key &lt;I238&gt; {[ Prior ]};
key &lt;I237&gt; {[ Next ]};
};
</pre>
<p>The key identifiers are taken e.g. from <tt class="docutils literal">xkbcli <span class="pre">interactive-wayland</span></tt>.
However, this is KcCGST <a class="footnote-reference" href="#kccgst-vs-rmlvo" id="footnote-reference-2">[2]</a> description, but layouts are
configured using RMLVO, so I need to define an option and tell what it should
do. The guide wants me to create <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">~/.config/xkb/rules/evdev</span></tt> with:</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
! option = symbols
ledoian:qs = +ledoian(qs)
! include %S/evdev
</pre>
<p>Now I just add <tt class="docutils literal">ledoian:qs</tt><a class="footnote-reference" href="#option-vs-symbol" id="footnote-reference-3">[3]</a> to my keyboard configuration
and… it does not work. For this, at all, but if I remap e.g. the L key, that
gets applied. The problem? That included file says that the default keyboard
model always includes <tt class="docutils literal">inet(evdev)</tt> symbols. Those symbols set the default
meaning of the keys, but since that got applied later, it overrides my tweak.</p>
<p>Solution: first include, then add my option.</p>
<p>How to debug: read stuff that <tt class="docutils literal">xkbcli <span class="pre">compile-keymap</span><span class="pre">--verbose</span></tt> tells you
(pass your config as <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">--layout</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">--variant</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">--options</span></tt>, …). At the top
it says what it does:</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
xkbcommon: DEBUG: Include path added: /home/ledoian/.config/xkb
xkbcommon: DEBUG: Include path added: /usr/share/X11/xkb
xkbcommon: DEBUG: Compiling from RMLVO: rules 'evdev', model 'pc105', layout 'us', variant '(null)', options '(null)'
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#footnote-reference-1">[1]</a></td><td>This is not technically accurate, really the paths reference
<tt class="docutils literal">$XDG_something</tt> variables. I am lazy and just copied my system, so YMMV
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#footnote-reference-2">[2]</a></td><td>There are two levels of describing the keymap: the
lowlevel one is called KcCGST (short for keycodes, compat, geometry,
symbols, types) and is considered to be an implementation detail; the
user-facing one is RMLVO (rules, model, layout, variant, options) and that
is what you use in the configs, with <tt class="docutils literal">setxkbmap</tt>&amp;c.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#footnote-reference-3">[3]</a></td><td>While both this example and the <a class="reference external" href="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/XKeyboardConfig/">upstream</a> layouts name
the symbols and options similarly, I think they don't need to be related –
you should be able to put whatever you want in your options to the left of
<tt class="docutils literal">=</tt>, the right hand side is the name of the symbol file and if a
non-default layout from that file is used, its name is put in the
parentheses.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</content><categoryterm="technology"></category><categoryterm="lifehack"></category><categoryterm="software"></category><categoryterm="linux"></category></entry><entry><title>You sure you want to hear the gossip?</title><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/do-not-gossip-identities.html"rel="alternate"></link><published>2024-03-11T22:49:00+01:00</published><updated>2024-03-11T22:49:00+01:00</updated><author><name>LEdoian</name></author><id>tag:blog.ledoian.cz,2024-03-11:/do-not-gossip-identities.html</id><summarytype="html"><p>Sometimes, not knowing something about your friends is simpler than knowing
something you know you aren't supposed to know…</p>
something you know you aren't supposed to know…</p>
<p>TL;DR: If you are gossiping, please handle information which change attitude
<p>TL;DR: If you are gossiping, please handle information which change attitude
towards others with care and maybe share them with consent of the <em>listener</em>. <a class="footnote-reference" href="#on-gossiping" id="footnote-reference-1">[1]</a></p>
towards others with care and maybe share them with consent of the <em>listener</em>. <a class="footnote-reference" href="#on-gossiping" id="footnote-reference-1">[1]</a></p>
<feedxmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><title>LEdoian's Blog - technology</title><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/"rel="alternate"></link><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/feeds/technology.atom.xml"rel="self"></link><id>https://blog.ledoian.cz/</id><updated>2024-03-03T14:59:00+01:00</updated><entry><title>Print your stuff on Möbius bands!</title><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/mobius-print.html"rel="alternate"></link><published>2024-03-02T18:07:00+01:00</published><updated>2024-03-03T14:59:00+01:00</updated><author><name>LEdoian</name></author><id>tag:blog.ledoian.cz,2024-03-02:/mobius-print.html</id><summarytype="html"><p>I found a fun and useful way of printing stuff to ~~both~~all sides of a paper.
<feedxmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><title>LEdoian's Blog - technology</title><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/"rel="alternate"></link><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/feeds/technology.atom.xml"rel="self"></link><id>https://blog.ledoian.cz/</id><updated>2024-04-17T15:18:00+02:00</updated><entry><title>Creating own XKB tweaks</title><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/custom-xkb-tweaks.html"rel="alternate"></link><published>2024-04-17T15:18:00+02:00</published><updated>2024-04-17T15:18:00+02:00</updated><author><name>LEdoian</name></author><id>tag:blog.ledoian.cz,2024-04-17:/custom-xkb-tweaks.html</id><summarytype="html"><p>Debugging this took me a bit too long, so I want to write about the caveat.</p>
<p>My problem: My laptop does not have PageUp and PageDown keys, and many other
keyboards I use have similar deficiencies. And I use various environments and
various systems, some of which are shared with …</p></summary><contenttype="html"><p>Debugging this took me a bit too long, so I want to write about the caveat.</p>
<p>My problem: My laptop does not have PageUp and PageDown keys, and many other
keyboards I use have similar deficiencies. And I use various environments and
various systems, some of which are shared with other people who don't need/want
my tweaks. IOW: I want something generic, but it must be confined to my user –
no system-wide daemon, no udev remapping. (I mostly ended up with these
solutions when I searched for a way to remap keys on Wayland.)</p>
<p>Requirements: xkbcommon implementation of XKB with utilities. It is quite
common these days (duh…), but you could probably just compile this yourself if
you don't have it.</p>
<div class="section" id="the-tweaking">
<h2>The tweaking</h2>
<p>The <a class="reference external" href="https://xkbcommon.org/doc/current/user-configuration.html">xkbcommon guide</a> tells us that we
can inspect the files in <a class="footnote-reference" href="#lazy" id="footnote-reference-1">[1]</a><tt class="docutils literal">/usr/share/X11/xkb</tt> for the source files
and just write our bits to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">~/.config/xkb/symbols/ledoian</span></tt>. In particular, I
added this snippet to remap keyboard brightness controls to PageUp/Down:</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
partial
xkb_symbols &quot;qs&quot; {
key &lt;I238&gt; {[ Prior ]};
key &lt;I237&gt; {[ Next ]};
};
</pre>
<p>The key identifiers are taken e.g. from <tt class="docutils literal">xkbcli <span class="pre">interactive-wayland</span></tt>.
However, this is KcCGST <a class="footnote-reference" href="#kccgst-vs-rmlvo" id="footnote-reference-2">[2]</a> description, but layouts are
configured using RMLVO, so I need to define an option and tell what it should
do. The guide wants me to create <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">~/.config/xkb/rules/evdev</span></tt> with:</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
! option = symbols
ledoian:qs = +ledoian(qs)
! include %S/evdev
</pre>
<p>Now I just add <tt class="docutils literal">ledoian:qs</tt><a class="footnote-reference" href="#option-vs-symbol" id="footnote-reference-3">[3]</a> to my keyboard configuration
and… it does not work. For this, at all, but if I remap e.g. the L key, that
gets applied. The problem? That included file says that the default keyboard
model always includes <tt class="docutils literal">inet(evdev)</tt> symbols. Those symbols set the default
meaning of the keys, but since that got applied later, it overrides my tweak.</p>
<p>Solution: first include, then add my option.</p>
<p>How to debug: read stuff that <tt class="docutils literal">xkbcli <span class="pre">compile-keymap</span><span class="pre">--verbose</span></tt> tells you
(pass your config as <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">--layout</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">--variant</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">--options</span></tt>, …). At the top
it says what it does:</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
xkbcommon: DEBUG: Include path added: /home/ledoian/.config/xkb
xkbcommon: DEBUG: Include path added: /usr/share/X11/xkb
xkbcommon: DEBUG: Compiling from RMLVO: rules 'evdev', model 'pc105', layout 'us', variant '(null)', options '(null)'
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#footnote-reference-1">[1]</a></td><td>This is not technically accurate, really the paths reference
<tt class="docutils literal">$XDG_something</tt> variables. I am lazy and just copied my system, so YMMV
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#footnote-reference-2">[2]</a></td><td>There are two levels of describing the keymap: the
lowlevel one is called KcCGST (short for keycodes, compat, geometry,
symbols, types) and is considered to be an implementation detail; the
user-facing one is RMLVO (rules, model, layout, variant, options) and that
is what you use in the configs, with <tt class="docutils literal">setxkbmap</tt>&amp;c.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#footnote-reference-3">[3]</a></td><td>While both this example and the <a class="reference external" href="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/XKeyboardConfig/">upstream</a> layouts name
the symbols and options similarly, I think they don't need to be related –
you should be able to put whatever you want in your options to the left of
<tt class="docutils literal">=</tt>, the right hand side is the name of the symbol file and if a
non-default layout from that file is used, its name is put in the
parentheses.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</content><categoryterm="technology"></category><categoryterm="lifehack"></category><categoryterm="software"></category><categoryterm="linux"></category></entry><entry><title>Print your stuff on Möbius bands!</title><linkhref="https://blog.ledoian.cz/mobius-print.html"rel="alternate"></link><published>2024-03-02T18:07:00+01:00</published><updated>2024-03-03T14:59:00+01:00</updated><author><name>LEdoian</name></author><id>tag:blog.ledoian.cz,2024-03-02:/mobius-print.html</id><summarytype="html"><p>I found a fun and useful way of printing stuff to ~~both~~all sides of a paper.
