Creating a custom keyboard layout

[errarel]

This guide by Roberto is great, but it requires superuser permissions.
Is there a way to do it in userspace?
I guess I need to copy some of /usr/share/X11/xkb/ files into ~/xkb/ and run

setxkbmap -I~/xkb/ -something something mylayout myvariant

but I can't get it working

[frederickjh]

See post #5. You can create a link but then your layout will only be available for the current user. You will still need to be root to make the link or links that you need.

Greetings

Frederick

[ernsttremel]

In Microsoft's keyboard layout creator there one may
create keystrokes like
U+014b U+02b8, i.e. ŋʸ one keystroke delivers a composed glyph.

Is such a proceeding possible in Ubuntu, too?
for example
key <TILDE> { [ UE107, U014B U02B8 ] }; //  ŋʸ

[ptoche]

A big thank you to everyone who has contributed these tips, esp. the OP

Below are the steps that work for me, for the record.

Note the importance of removing the .xkm files. To test that your layout is being read properly, do something silly like assigning the number 1 to the letter z. These .xkm files nearly drove me mad.

3-step instructions (see further down for details):

  sudo cp ~/workspace/dv.txt /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/dv # copy layout, remove .txt extension in the process
  sudo rm /var/lib/xkb/*.xkm # force recompile of the xkm files
  sudo rm /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/dv~ # clean up 


 Dvorak customized keyboard layout for Ubuntu
 version 0.01
ptoche

 Install instructions:

 replace -kate- by your editor, e.g. -gedit- 

 1.

 copy the layout file dv into /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols

  $ sudo cp ~/mykeyboard/dv /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols

 2.

 edit the evdev.xml file to include a reference to the new layout:

 $ sudo kate /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml

 In the editor, insert the following reference to the layout:

  <layoutList>
    <layout>
    ...
    </layout>
    <layout>
      <configItem>
        <name>dv</name>
        <shortDescription>dv</shortDescription>
        <description>myDvorak</description>
        <languageList><iso639Id>eng</iso639Id></languageList>
      </configItem>
      <variantList>
        <variant>
          <configItem>
            <name>dv-variant</name>
            <description>myDvorakVariant</description>
          </configItem>
        </variant>
      </variantList>
    </layout>
  </layoutList>

 This may need to be done again after a major operating system upgrade.


 3.

  $ sudo kate /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.lst

 In the editor, add the following line to the end of the layout section :

 !model
 ...
 
 !layout
 ...
  dv              Dvorak Layout (Custom)
 
 !variant
 ...

 This may need to be done again after a major operating system upgrade.


 4.

  $ sudo rm /var/lib/xkb/*.xkm
 
 According to 'man setkxbmap':
 "An XKB keymap is constructed from a number of components which are compiled only as needed. 
 The source for all of the components can be found in /usr/share/X11/xkb"

 The new layout will have no effect until the system recompiles.
 Removing the .xkm files forces a recompilation.

 and just in case, remove any backup of your custom layout:

  $ sudo rm /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/dv~


 2013/04/05

[oldos2er]

Old thread closed.