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[Bryce Harrington <bryce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

*** This bug is a duplicate of bug 67188 ***
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/67188

Getting a better error message for the Gnome UI is a GNOME issue
obviously, not xkeyboard-config's duty, and really ought to be filed
separately against the appropriate GNOME component.  As to the secondary
bug of the error activating XKB, that's a well known issue so will dupe
to that.  Undupe (and clarify) if you'd like something differently done.

** This bug has been marked a duplicate of bug 67188
   "Error activating XKB configuration." - Requires manual xorg.conf editing

-- 
Error activating XKB configuration with MacBook keyboard model
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/327963
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Status in Mactel Support: New
Status in “xkeyboard-config” source package in Ubuntu: New

Bug description:
Binary package hint: xkb-data

I've got Intrepid installed on a MacBookPro5,1 with German keyboard layout. I started configuring the keyboads using gnome-keyboard-properties as available from the settings menu. I first selected the layout "Germany Macintosh, eliminate dead keys" and followed that up with changing the model to "MacBook/MacBook Pro (Intl)". This resulted in an error message "Error activating XKB configuration" which asked me to prvide this additional information:

$ xprop -root | grep XKB
_XKB_RULES_NAMES_BACKUP(STRING) = "evdev", "pc105", "de", "mac_nodeadkeys", ""
_XKB_RULES_NAMES(STRING) = "evdev", "pc105", "de", "mac_nodeadkeys", ""

$ gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd
 layouts = []
 model = macbook79
 options = []

As the error message from the dialog contains little actual information, I straced gnome-settings-daemon and identified a failing invocation of xkbcomp as the likely cause of the issue. By renaming /usr/bin/xkbcomp and replacing it with a wrapper script, I managed to get my hands on its input file and reproduce the issue:

$ cat /tmp/fileJPMGgA 
xkb_keymap {
        xkb_keycodes  { include "evdev+aliases(qwertz)" };
        xkb_types     { include "complete+numpad(mac)" };
        xkb_compat    { include "complete" };
        xkb_symbols   { include "pc+macintosh_vndr/de(mac_nodeadkeys)+inet(evdev)" };
        xkb_geometry  { include "macintosh(macbook79)" };
};

$ xkbcomp -I -I/usr/share/X11/xkb -xkm /tmp/fileJPMGgA /tmp/fileNtKqh7
Error:            No Symbols named "mac_nodeadkeys" in the include file "macintosh_vndr/de"
                  Exiting
                  Abandoning symbols file "(null)"

That looks like a much better error description. Looking at /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/macintosh_vndr/de I see that indeed it doesn't contain a description of "mac_nodeadkeys". Neither does it include /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/de where the mac_nodeadkeys would have been defined. Changing the layout to simple "Germany Eliminate dead keys", I could use the MacBook keyboard model all right, just as mac_nodeadkeys layout worked all right with a Generic keyboard model. However, both combinations don't fully match the key labels.

My first concern is that for an obvious choice like a MacBook keyboard model with a mac keyboard layout, no obscure error messages should be generated by the Gnome UI. Secondly, it would be nice to actually get Mac keyboard layout, in order to stay consistent with OS X and friends.