Switching keyboard layouts

Question

END GOAL

I use Arch Linux with bspwm as my window manager and sxhkd as a hotkey daemon. I want to map a certain key combination in my sxhkdrc so that it shuffles through different keyboard layouts. For example:

# Shuffle through keyboard layouts
super + e
    *action to be executed*

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LOCALES

First, I do not know whether I am required to add Serbian locales as I only (from time to time) want to activate the Serbian keyboard layouts. My thinking is that keymaps are enough. Just in case, I generated Serbian locales; so now when I run localectl list-local, the output is:

en_US.UTF-8
sr_RS.UTF-8
sr_RS.UTF-8@latin

These respectively correspond to:

• English locale for the U.S. – UTF-8 encoding
• Serbian locale for Serbia – Cyrillic script – UTF-8 encoding
• Serbian locale for Serbia – Latin script – UTF-8 encoding

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KEYMAPS

The three layouts I want to use (be able to shuffle through) are:

• us = US English
• sr-cy = Serbian in Cyrillic script
• sr-latin = Serbian in Latin script

I know that I can edit /etc/vconsole.conf and set KEYMAP=sr_cy instead of us or use localectl set-keymap sr_cy.

Here are my concerns with that:

1. It is not an elegant solution.
2. I cannot shuffle through different layouts. I have to run the command and specify the desired layout each time.
3. Would such change persists globally even after I log out or reboot the system? If the answer is yes, I will potentially be in trouble. I use LVM on LUKS encryption and for me to decrypt my disk I need us layout. Hence, if I forget to switch from Cyrillic script before rebooting, it's bye bye forever.

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QUESTION

Is there any way for me to add multiple keymaps in /etc/vconsole.conf and have the us be the default one? If so, what do I need to do to switch between them. Is it a simple command or do I need a small script? If that is not an option, what is the best way to get to my end goal.

I have tried finding the answer to having multiple keymaps but I was not able to find anything applicable to my problem. I would appreciate a solution or even advice and suggestions especially if it advances my knowledge. Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

You are getting "Error loading new keyboard description" because setxkbmap actually needs different layout names than those you are setting in the commands.

If you run localectl list-keymaps | grep sr, you will, as expected, get: sr-cy and sr-latin.

If you run localectl list-locales | grep sr, you will also get expected result: sr_RS.UTF-8 and sr_RS.UTF-8@latin.

But, localectl list-x11-keymap-layouts| grep sr returns nothing, and instead you have to use another two-letter abbreviation: localectl list-x11-keymap-layouts| grep rs which returns rs that is used for Serbian keyboard layout under X11.

So, for Cyrillic you actually need to use setxkbmap rs and that then defaults to Cyrillic layout,

and to activate Latin layout, you have to specifically enable this variant for the Serbian keyboard layout, as it is not the default: setxkbmap -layout rs -variant latin

I myself use this command: setxkbmap -layout rs,rs,de,us -variant latin,,,dvp -option 'grp:alt_shift_toggle'. This does the following:

• Adds Serbian layout as my default and sets a Latin variant for it
• adds Serbian layout with its default (Cyrillic)
• Adds German layout with its default
• adds US layout and sets a Dvorak-Programmer layout for it
• Adds option to switch between the layouts with Alt+Shift key combination.

The -layout and -variant have to be set in the same order, and if nothing is set for the variant (meaning nothing after the comma), it will use the default for that language.

I have these locales enabled in /etc/locale.gen and generated with sudo locale-gen command.

If I list them with localectl:

localectl list-locales
C.UTF-8
de_DE.UTF-8
en_DK.UTF-8
en_US.UTF-8
sr_RS.UTF-8
sr_RS.UTF-8@latin

And my default localectl looks like this:

localectl status
System Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8
               LC_NUMERIC=sr_RS@latin
               LC_TIME=sr_RS@latin
               LC_MONETARY=sr_RS@latin
               LC_PAPER=sr_RS@latin
               LC_NAME=sr_RS@latin
               LC_ADDRESS=sr_RS@latin
               LC_TELEPHONE=sr_RS@latin
               LC_MEASUREMENT=sr_RS@latin
               LC_IDENTIFICATION=sr_RS@latin
    VC Keymap: sr-latin
   X11 Layout: rs,latin

I use Arch Linux and I3 as a tiling manager and this line in my ~/.config/i3/config

exec --no-startup-id sleep 6 && setxkbmap -layout rs,rs,us,de -variant latin,,dvp, -option 'grp:alt_shift_toggle'

loads the layouts and enables layout switching with a simple key combination.

I also have

exec --no-startup-id gxkb

which adds an icon representing the current keyboard layout to my i3blocks bar.

I know OP does not use the same configuration, but I think that this can easily be translated to their setup.

Answer 2

I cannot comment due to a lack of reputation. I don't know the answer, just want to share my thoughts.

First the worst case. Could you not recover from not being able to type in your passphrase by creating and booting from an external drive like a usb-stick to recover your files from the internal drive? Maybe you could try that to be prepared for the worst situation.

I never used localectl and it seems overly strong for what you need, to just change the keyboard layout as it controls localization of other software as well. I usually use setxkbmap. I am pretty sure but give no guarantee, that changes you make with setxkbmap die with the X-server, so a reboot would reset, but I don't give guarantee for anything. However this could be testable: make a copy of the us keyboardmap, swap two keys (at least one is part of your decrypt passphrase), apply that copy, reboot the system, now you can check wether the new layout is still applied (I hope it's clear what I mean, if your passphrase is: asdf, then swap f and g and see if you have to type asdf or asdg).

For this to be of any use to you, I am of course assuming a lot of things. If you don't use X, then this is not usefull at all.

Answer 3

I use setxkbmap to switch between Dvorak and QUERTY. I have a bash script at ~/.local/bin/toggle_kbd (which is included in my PATH), which my window manager has bound to a shortcut. It just runs a case statement to set my keyboard to whichever one it currently isn't. I'm using the keymap names listed in localectl list-keymaps:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

case $(setxkbmap -query | grep layout | awk '{ print $2 }') in
          us) setxkbmap sr-cy ;;
       sr-cy) setxkbmap sr-latin ;;
    sr-latin) setxkbmap us -variant altgr-intl ;;
           *) setxkbmap us -variant altgr-intl ;;
esac

It will also reset to your locale's keyboard (the normal one you boot up with) whenever X is restarted. This does cycle through them instead of setting a specific one. I don't know how big of a deal that is for you, but the script idea could accommodate that easily enough.