Re: XKB Patch

On Sat, 16 May 2009, Ilya Konstantinov wrote:

> That's what I'm saying all along. Marc's idea, if I understand him correctly, is to leverage Xorg's XKB database as
> a rich database of keyboard layouts. It's not really "using XKB" in the technical sense.

Still, if the database could be used to create more/better keymaps using 
the keysym-scancode approach (like the current keymaps), the XKB database 
could be very useful. This is the path I prefer.


> I believe that since the vast majority of our X11 users are modern Xorg installations, once we have an XKB-aware key
> mapper, it'll be the "main" implementation.

There are still a lot of systems where XKB is not available. For example, 
many thin terminals (which is a very common rdesktop platform) does not 
support XKB. Another example is Xvnc - we have tried but failed to get XKB 
working.


> We'll have two code paths, both receiving the same input (XKeyEvent) and emitting the same output (AT scancode), so
> while more code is always a pain, having both implementations doesn't make the code *around* them any more
> complicated.

But we would still having to maintain those keymaps etc. We already 
basically have two different paths in that the send-the-raw-keycode 
feature is still present. And when a user reports a keyboard problem, we 
wouldn't know which of our *three* code paths they are executing.


> See, that's where my proposal runs thin :) I've never implemented what I'm talking about here, not in any complete
> form. I hate to be all-talk, and I hate to put all this STOP ENERGY into Marc's work, seeing he's so eager to help
> and contribute his time.
> 
> I haven't contributed much code to rdesktop the last year, since I moved to a Mac (and, to be frank, I'm using
> Microsoft's own Mac client for my RDP needs) but if you guys want me to, I'll whip up my Linux VM and put code where
> my mouth is.

To be honest, if you are not using Linux and rdesktop any longer, I'm not 
sure this is a good idea. *If* we should go forward with XKB work, we'll 
need developers (preferrably more than one) that are willing to work on 
this over a long period of time, with bug fixes and things like that.


Rgds, 
---
Peter Åstrand		ThinLinc Chief Developer
Cendio AB		http://www.cendio.com
Wallenbergs gata 4
583 30 Linköping	Phone: +46-13-21 46 00

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