mactel-support team mailing list archive

[The Loeki <the.loeki@xxxxxxxxx>]

I was having the exact same issue, but then with a Macbook 79 model
keyboard (Macbook/Pro Intl) and the US International with AltGr dead
keys.

One of the commenters in the FreeDesktop bug correctly notes that there
might actually be little use for these symbols anymore, but since I'm
not exactly an XKB guru I find it too hard to tell.

Anway, I added
partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "altgr-intl"{
    include "us(altgr-intl)"
};

to /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/macintosh_vndr/us and the error went away.
Everything works as it should AFAICT.

-- 
Error activating XKB configuration with MacBook keyboard model
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/327963
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Mactel
Support, which is the registrant for Mactel Support.

Status in Mactel Support: New
Status in central project for keyboard configuration: Confirmed
Status in “xkeyboard-config” package in Ubuntu: Fix Released

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.