Where is the vendor rules file in XKB?
The proper rules file depends on your vendor. In reality, the commonest file of rules is xorg. For each rules file there is a description file named .lst, for instance xorg.lst which is located in the xkb configuration subdirectory rules (for example /etc/X11/xkb/rules ).
Why is the xkbvariant option left out of the command?
The XkbVariant option has been left out. That means the default variant named basic is loaded. Of course, this can be also done at runtime using the utility setxkbmap. The shell command loading the same keyboard mapping would look like:
What are the values of xkbvariant and xkbmodel?
The values of XkbModel and XkbLayout are really not surprising. The XkbOptions has been explicitly set to the empty set of parameters. The XkbVariant option has been left out. That means the default variant named basic is loaded.
How to configure a keyboard with 104 keys?
Let’s say you want to configure a PC-style American keyboard with 104 keys as described in xorg.lst. This can be done by simply writing several lines from below to your xorg.conf configuration file (previously known as /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 or /etc/X11/XF86Config ): The values of XkbModel and XkbLayout are really not surprising.
How to create XKB configuration from xorg.conf?
Probably you can put Option “XkbLayout” “my_terrific_kb” in xorg.conf for a system-wide change. Put all this into ~/anywhere/my_terrific_kb. Find the XInput id of your keyboard with xinput list. Then run xkbcomp -i ~/anywhere/my_terrific_kb $DISPLAY.
How to create a custom XKB keymap file?
The map file produced by xkbcomp :0 custom-xkb-keymap consists of many components that you can load by simply swapping the arguments xkbcomp custom-xkb-keymap :0. It shows a few warnings here, but seems to work, when I change the layout in the file.
Where is the XKB layout stored in X11?
The xkb layout is stored in the symbols directory, e.g. /usr/local/share/X11/xkb/symbols. The path may vary depending on the system. When you need the layout, you need to cut out the part looking like: