Re: KeySyms 5 to 8, multiple character sequences

Hi Jacek,

"Jacek M. Holeczek" <[email protected]> написа:
>> Basically, I cannot see how can you have a portable
>> one-definition-fits-all keymap if such things change (keycodes and
>> layout of the keyboard).
>
> Have a look at this mail :
> 	http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg01608.html
>
> Ivan U. Pascal explains there the new .XCompose and $XCOMPOSEFILE
> implemented in the 4.4.x :
                     ^^^
This is what the problem is -- the initial request was because of
having to switch between several X servers, with probably only a tiny
portion of them being XFree86 servers, let alone XFree86 4.4 (CVS or
prerelease).

XFree86 4.3 also has some very interesting features not present on
other X servers (like multi-layout combining) or earlier XFree86's,
but in such cases it would be best to create standalone file from
xkbcomp, and carry that with you and use it wherever is the XKB
available. Simply, xkbcomp provided with earlier XFree86's or other X
servers is incapable of joining multiple layouts, but the resulting
already-combined map can be used without any problems.

The keycodes shouldn't differ much, but that means that you might
have problems with eg. Lock and Control switching places, or
similar. Still, regarding the circumstances, I'm still convinced that
this is the best (partly) solution.

Perhaps it's also possible to
I've also tried this and removed the keycodes section from the
generated file, and it seemed to work fine on XFree86 4.3 (please
report how it works for other systems):
(you do the following on the system with a "sr" map you'd like to
use everywhere)
 $ setxkbmap sr -print | xkbcomp -o sr.xkb -xkb -
(now you remove the xkb_keycodes section from generated sr.xkb and you
carry sr.xkb to other systems, and do the following on "other" systems)
 $ xkbcomp -merge -synch -a sr.xkb :0.0

Of course, adjust setxkbmap command, and display (":0.0") part of
xkbcomp command to suit your needs.

This should make use of server provided definitions of keycodes
(that's what -merge should do, though it worked for me even without
that option on XFree86 4.3), and they're basically like coordinates:
<AE03> indicates fifth-row, third key (or was it zero-based and
fourth key?).

If all the other servers have this kind of mapping, this should
probably work (but I'm just guessing, please test and report back).


Cheers,
Danilo