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Context I can't switch between keyboard layouts with Alt+CapsLock with Awesome WM (v4.3) on Debian 12. I would like to use a French layout and the Programmer Dvorak layout (dvp). I succeed to us...
#2: Post edited
How to switch between keyboard layouts with a keyboerd shortcut in Awesome WM?
- How to switch between keyboard layouts with a keyboard shortcut in Awesome WM?
#1: Initial revision
How to switch between keyboard layouts with a keyboerd shortcut in Awesome WM?
## Context I can't switch between keyboard layouts with Alt+CapsLock with [Awesome WM](https://awesomewm.org/) (v4.3) on Debian 12. I would like to use a French layout and the [Programmer Dvorak layout (dvp)](https://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/). I succeed to use these two layouts with the [keyboard_layout extension](https://github.com/echuraev/keyboard_layout) by adding the following lines into my awesome config file `rc.lua`: ```lua -- Keyboard map indicator and switcher local keyboard_layout = require("keyboard_layout") -- {{{ Wibar -- Create a textclock widget mytextclock = wibox.widget.textclock() -- Create keyboard layout text label local kbdcfg = keyboard_layout.kbdcfg({type = "tui"}) kbdcfg.add_primary_layout("Français", "FR", "fr") kbdcfg.add_primary_layout("English", "US", "dvp") kbdcfg.bind() -- Mouse bindings keyboard layout kbdcfg.widget:buttons( awful.util.table.join(awful.button({ }, 1, function () kbdcfg.switch_next() end), awful.button({ }, 3, function () kbdcfg.menu:toggle() end)) ) -- Switching keyboard layout shortcut globalkeys = awful.util.table.join(globalkeys, -- CapsLock-Alt to change keyboard layout (from https://github.com/echuraev/keyboard_layout/issues/7#issuecomment-442742606) awful.key({"Caps_Lock"}, "Alt_L", function () kbdcfg.switch_next() end), -- Alt-CapsLock to change keyboard layout awful.key({"Mod1"}, "Caps_Lock", function () kbdcfg.switch_next() end) ) ``` I am able to switch between layouts by clicking on the `FR` or `US` icon on the top right corner. However, the keyboard shortcut Alt+CapsLock for switching between layouts does noting. ## Question How to set up a keyboard shortcut Alt+CapsLock for switching between layouts? I managed to set up the layouts with the [keyboard_layout extension](https://github.com/echuraev/keyboard_layout) but I'm completely open to solutions without this extension. ## Attempts - I've tried with other layouts than dvp. - I've tried with other shortcut: CapsLock alone and Alt+* - I've tried to set `"XkbOptions" "grp:alt_caps_toggle"` (removing `caps:none`) in my X11 config file (i.e. `/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d`), see "Additional materials" section below. None of this attempts permits to switch between layouts with a keyboard shortcut. ## Additional materials <details> <summary> Content of my X11 config file (i.e. `/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d`) but it seems that it is completely ignored by Awesome: </summary> ``` Section "InputClass" Identifier "system-keyboard" MatchIsKeyboard "on" Option "XkbLayout" "fr,us" Option "XkbModel" "pc105" Option "XkbVariant" ",dvp" Option "XkbOptions" "grp:alt_caps_toggle,caps:none" EndSection ``` </details> <details> <summary> Installation of the [Programmer Dvorak layout (dvp)](https://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/) (from [here](https://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/linux.html#install)): </summary> ```sh wget http://www.kaufmann.no/downloads/linux/kbddvp-1_2_1-src-linux.tgz DVP_DIR=$(mktemp -t -d kbddvp.XXXXXX) cat kbddvp-1_2_1-src-linux.tgz | gzip -d | tar xf - -C $DVP_DIR pushd $DVP_DIR/kbddvp-1.2 chmod +x dvp.install.sh chmod +x dvp.postinst.sh sudo ./dvp.install.sh && sudo ./dvp.postinst.sh ``` </details> <details> <summary> Here is my entire `rc.lua` config file of Awesome WM: </summary> ```lua -- If LuaRocks is installed, make sure that packages installed through it are -- found (e.g. lgi). If LuaRocks is not installed, do nothing. pcall(require, "luarocks.loader") -- Standard awesome library local gears = require("gears") local awful = require("awful") require("awful.autofocus") -- Widget and layout library local wibox = require("wibox") -- Theme handling library local beautiful = require("beautiful") -- Notification library local naughty = require("naughty") local menubar = require("menubar") local hotkeys_popup = require("awful.hotkeys_popup") -- Enable hotkeys help widget for VIM and other apps -- when client with a matching name is opened: require("awful.hotkeys_popup.keys") local tyrannical = require("tyrannical") -- Load Debian menu entries local debian = require("debian.menu") local has_fdo, freedesktop = pcall(require, "freedesktop") -- {{{ Error handling -- Check if awesome encountered an error during startup and fell back to -- another config (This code will only ever execute for the fallback config) if awesome.startup_errors then naughty.notify({ preset = naughty.config.presets.critical, title = "Oops, there were errors during startup!", text = awesome.startup_errors }) end -- Handle runtime errors after startup do local in_error = false awesome.connect_signal("debug::error", function (err) -- Make sure we don't go into an endless error loop if in_error then return end in_error = true naughty.notify({ preset = naughty.config.presets.critical, title = "Oops, an error happened!", text = tostring(err) }) in_error = false end) end -- }}} -- {{{ Variable definitions -- Themes define colours, icons, font and wallpapers. beautiful.init(gears.filesystem.get_configuration_dir() .. "theme.lua") -- This is used later as the default terminal and editor to run. terminal = "x-terminal-emulator" editor = os.getenv("EDITOR") or "editor" editor_cmd = terminal .. " -e " .. editor -- Default modkey. -- Usually, Mod4 is the key with a logo between Control and Alt. -- If you do not like this or do not have such a key, -- I suggest you to remap Mod4 to another key using xmodmap or other tools. -- However, you can use another modifier like Mod1, but it may interact with others. modkey = "Mod4" -- Table of layouts to cover with awful.layout.inc, order matters. awful.layout.layouts = { awful.layout.suit.tile, awful.layout.suit.floating, awful.layout.suit.tile.left, awful.layout.suit.tile.bottom, awful.layout.suit.tile.top, --awful.layout.suit.fair, --awful.layout.suit.fair.horizontal, --awful.layout.suit.spiral, --awful.layout.suit.spiral.dwindle, awful.layout.suit.max, --awful.layout.suit.max.fullscreen, awful.layout.suit.magnifier, --awful.layout.suit.corner.nw, -- awful.layout.suit.corner.ne, -- awful.layout.suit.corner.sw, -- awful.layout.suit.corner.se, } -- }}} -- {{{ Menu -- Create a launcher widget and a main menu myawesomemenu = { { "hotkeys", function() hotkeys_popup.show_help(nil, awful.screen.focused()) end }, { "manual", terminal .. " -e man awesome" }, { "edit config", editor_cmd .. " " .. awesome.conffile }, { "restart", awesome.restart }, { "quit", function() awesome.quit() end }, } local menu_awesome = { "awesome", myawesomemenu, beautiful.awesome_icon } local menu_terminal = { "open terminal", terminal } if has_fdo then mymainmenu = freedesktop.menu.build({ before = { menu_awesome }, after = { menu_terminal } }) else mymainmenu = awful.menu({ items = { menu_awesome, { "Debian", debian.menu.Debian_menu.Debian }, menu_terminal, } }) end mylauncher = awful.widget.launcher({ image = beautiful.awesome_icon, menu = mymainmenu }) -- Menubar configuration menubar.utils.terminal = terminal -- Set the terminal for applications that require it -- }}} -- Keyboard map indicator and switcher local keyboard_layout = require("keyboard_layout") -- {{{ Wibar -- Create a textclock widget mytextclock = wibox.widget.textclock() -- Create keyboard layout text label local kbdcfg = keyboard_layout.kbdcfg({type = "tui"}) kbdcfg.add_primary_layout("Français", "FR", "fr") kbdcfg.add_primary_layout("English", "US", "dvp") kbdcfg.bind() -- Mouse bindings keyboard layout kbdcfg.widget:buttons( awful.util.table.join(awful.button({ }, 1, function () kbdcfg.switch_next() end), awful.button({ }, 3, function () kbdcfg.menu:toggle() end)) ) -- Switching keyboard layout shortcut globalkeys = awful.util.table.join(globalkeys, -- CapsLock-Alt to change keyboard layout (from https://github.com/echuraev/keyboard_layout/issues/7#issuecomment-442742606) awful.key({"Caps_Lock"}, "Alt_L", function () kbdcfg.switch_next() end), -- Alt-CapsLock to change keyboard layout awful.key({"Mod1"}, "Caps_Lock", function () kbdcfg.switch_next() end) ) -- Create a wibox for each screen and add it local taglist_buttons = gears.table.join( awful.button({ }, 1, function(t) t:view_only() end), awful.button({ modkey }, 1, function(t) if client.focus then client.focus:move_to_tag(t) end end), awful.button({ }, 3, awful.tag.viewtoggle), awful.button({ modkey }, 3, function(t) if client.focus then client.focus:toggle_tag(t) end end), awful.button({ }, 4, function(t) awful.tag.viewnext(t.screen) end), awful.button({ }, 5, function(t) awful.tag.viewprev(t.screen) end) ) local tasklist_buttons = gears.table.join( awful.button({ }, 1, function (c) if c == client.focus then c.minimized = true else c:emit_signal( "request::activate", "tasklist", {raise = true} ) end end), awful.button({ }, 3, function() awful.menu.client_list({ theme = { width = 250 } }) end), awful.button({ }, 4, function () awful.client.focus.byidx(1) end), awful.button({ }, 5, function () awful.client.focus.byidx(-1) end)) local function set_wallpaper(s) -- Wallpaper if beautiful.wallpaper then local wallpaper = beautiful.wallpaper -- If wallpaper is a function, call it with the screen if type(wallpaper) == "function" then wallpaper = wallpaper(s) end gears.wallpaper.set("#400000") -- gears.wallpaper.maximized(wallpaper, s, true) end end -- Re-set wallpaper when a screen's geometry changes (e.g. different resolution) screen.connect_signal("property::geometry", set_wallpaper) awful.screen.connect_for_each_screen(function(s) -- Wallpaper set_wallpaper(s) -- Each screen has its own tag table. -- Create a promptbox for each screen s.mypromptbox = awful.widget.prompt() -- Create an imagebox widget which will contain an icon indicating which layout we're using. -- We need one layoutbox per screen. s.mylayoutbox = awful.widget.layoutbox(s) s.mylayoutbox:buttons(gears.table.join( awful.button({ }, 1, function () awful.layout.inc( 1) end), awful.button({ }, 3, function () awful.layout.inc(-1) end), awful.button({ }, 4, function () awful.layout.inc( 1) end), awful.button({ }, 5, function () awful.layout.inc(-1) end))) -- Create a taglist widget s.mytaglist = awful.widget.taglist { screen = s, filter = awful.widget.taglist.filter.all, buttons = taglist_buttons } -- Create a tasklist widget s.mytasklist = awful.widget.tasklist { screen = s, filter = awful.widget.tasklist.filter.currenttags, buttons = tasklist_buttons } -- Create the wibox s.mywibox = awful.wibar({ position = "top", screen = s }) -- Add widgets to the wibox s.mywibox:setup { layout = wibox.layout.align.horizontal, { -- Left widgets layout = wibox.layout.fixed.horizontal, mylauncher, s.mytaglist, s.mypromptbox, }, s.mytasklist, -- Middle widget { -- Right widgets layout = wibox.layout.fixed.horizontal, kbdcfg.widget, wibox.widget.systray(), mytextclock, s.mylayoutbox, }, } end) -- }}} -- {{{ Mouse bindings root.buttons(gears.table.join( awful.button({ }, 3, function () mymainmenu:toggle() end), awful.button({ }, 4, awful.tag.viewnext), awful.button({ }, 5, awful.tag.viewprev) )) -- }}} -- {{{ Key bindings globalkeys = gears.table.join( awful.key({ modkey, }, "s", hotkeys_popup.show_help, {description="show help", group="awesome"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, ",", awful.tag.viewprev, {description = "view previous", group = "tag"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, ";", awful.tag.viewnext, {description = "view next", group = "tag"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, "Escape", awful.tag.history.restore, {description = "go back", group = "tag"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, "j", function () awful.client.focus.byidx( 1) end, {description = "focus next by index", group = "client"} ), awful.key({ modkey, }, "k", function () awful.client.focus.byidx(-1) end, {description = "focus previous by index", group = "client"} ), awful.key({ modkey, }, "w", function () mymainmenu:show() end, {description = "show main menu", group = "awesome"}), -- Layout manipulation awful.key({ modkey, "Shift" }, "j", function () awful.client.swap.byidx( 1) end, {description = "swap with next client by index", group = "client"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Shift" }, "k", function () awful.client.swap.byidx( -1) end, {description = "swap with previous client by index", group = "client"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Control" }, "j", function () awful.screen.focus_relative( 1) end, {description = "focus the next screen", group = "screen"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Control" }, "k", function () awful.screen.focus_relative(-1) end, {description = "focus the previous screen", group = "screen"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, "u", awful.client.urgent.jumpto, {description = "jump to urgent client", group = "client"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, "Tab", function () awful.client.focus.history.previous() if client.focus then client.focus:raise() end end, {description = "go back", group = "client"}), -- Standard program awful.key({ modkey, }, "Return", function () awful.spawn(terminal) end, {description = "open a terminal", group = "launcher"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Control" }, "r", awesome.restart, {description = "reload awesome", group = "awesome"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Shift" }, "q", awesome.quit, {description = "quit awesome", group = "awesome"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, "l", function () awful.tag.incmwfact( 0.05) end, {description = "increase master width factor", group = "layout"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, "h", function () awful.tag.incmwfact(-0.05) end, {description = "decrease master width factor", group = "layout"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Shift" }, "h", function () awful.tag.incnmaster( 1, nil, true) end, {description = "increase the number of master clients", group = "layout"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Shift" }, "l", function () awful.tag.incnmaster(-1, nil, true) end, {description = "decrease the number of master clients", group = "layout"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Control" }, "h", function () awful.tag.incncol( 1, nil, true) end, {description = "increase the number of columns", group = "layout"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Control" }, "l", function () awful.tag.incncol(-1, nil, true) end, {description = "decrease the number of columns", group = "layout"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, "space", function () awful.layout.inc( 1) end, {description = "select next", group = "layout"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Shift" }, "space", function () awful.layout.inc(-1) end, {description = "select previous", group = "layout"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Control" }, "n", function () local c = awful.client.restore() -- Focus restored client if c then c:emit_signal( "request::activate", "key.unminimize", {raise = true} ) end end, {description = "restore minimized", group = "client"}), -- Dmenu awful.key({ modkey }, "r", function () awful.util.spawn("dmenu_run") end, {description = "run dmenu", group = "launcher"}), -- Firefox awful.key({ modkey }, "b", function () awful.util.spawn("firefox") end, {description = "firefox", group = "applications"}), awful.key({ modkey }, "x", function () awful.prompt.run { prompt = "Run Lua code: ", textbox = awful.screen.focused().mypromptbox.widget, exe_callback = awful.util.eval, history_path = awful.util.get_cache_dir() .. "/history_eval" } end, {description = "lua execute prompt", group = "awesome"}), -- Menubar awful.key({ modkey }, "p", function() menubar.show() end, {description = "show the menubar", group = "launcher"}) ) clientkeys = gears.table.join( awful.key({ modkey, }, "f", function (c) c.fullscreen = not c.fullscreen c:raise() end, {description = "toggle fullscreen", group = "client"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, "q", function (c) c:kill() end, {description = "close", group = "client"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Control" }, "space", awful.client.floating.toggle , {description = "toggle floating", group = "client"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Control" }, "Return", function (c) c:swap(awful.client.getmaster()) end, {description = "move to master", group = "client"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, "o", function (c) c:move_to_screen() end, {description = "move to screen", group = "client"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, "t", function (c) c.ontop = not c.ontop end, {description = "toggle keep on top", group = "client"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, "n", function (c) -- The client currently has the input focus, so it cannot be -- minimized, since minimized clients can't have the focus. c.minimized = true end , {description = "minimize", group = "client"}), awful.key({ modkey, }, "m", function (c) c.maximized = not c.maximized c:raise() end , {description = "(un)maximize", group = "client"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Control" }, "m", function (c) c.maximized_vertical = not c.maximized_vertical c:raise() end , {description = "(un)maximize vertically", group = "client"}), awful.key({ modkey, "Shift" }, "m", function (c) c.maximized_horizontal = not c.maximized_horizontal c:raise() end , {description = "(un)maximize horizontally", group = "client"}) ) -- Bind all key numbers to tags. -- Be careful: we use keycodes to make it work on any keyboard layout. -- This should map on the top row of your keyboard, usually 1 to 9. for i = 1, 9 do globalkeys = gears.table.join(globalkeys, -- View tag only. awful.key({ modkey }, "#" .. i + 9, function () local screen = awful.screen.focused() local tag = screen.tags[i] if tag then tag:view_only() end end, {description = "view tag #"..i, group = "tag"}), -- Toggle tag display. awful.key({ modkey, "Control" }, "#" .. i + 9, function () local screen = awful.screen.focused() local tag = screen.tags[i] if tag then awful.tag.viewtoggle(tag) end end, {description = "toggle tag #" .. i, group = "tag"}), -- Move client to tag. awful.key({ modkey, "Shift" }, "#" .. i + 9, function () if client.focus then local tag = client.focus.screen.tags[i] if tag then client.focus:move_to_tag(tag) end end end, {description = "move focused client to tag #"..i, group = "tag"}), -- Toggle tag on focused client. awful.key({ modkey, "Control", "Shift" }, "#" .. i + 9, function () if client.focus then local tag = client.focus.screen.tags[i] if tag then client.focus:toggle_tag(tag) end end end, {description = "toggle focused client on tag #" .. i, group = "tag"}) ) end clientbuttons = gears.table.join( awful.button({ }, 1, function (c) c:emit_signal("request::activate", "mouse_click", {raise = true}) end), awful.button({ modkey }, 1, function (c) c:emit_signal("request::activate", "mouse_click", {raise = true}) awful.mouse.client.move(c) end), awful.button({ modkey }, 3, function (c) c:emit_signal("request::activate", "mouse_click", {raise = true}) awful.mouse.client.resize(c) end) ) -- Set keys root.keys(globalkeys) -- }}} -- {{{ Rules -- Rules to apply to new clients (through the "manage" signal). awful.rules.rules = { -- All clients will match this rule. { rule = { }, properties = { border_width = beautiful.border_width, border_color = beautiful.border_normal, focus = awful.client.focus.filter, raise = true, keys = clientkeys, buttons = clientbuttons, screen = awful.screen.preferred, placement = awful.placement.no_overlap+awful.placement.no_offscreen } }, -- Floating clients. { rule_any = { instance = { "DTA", -- Firefox addon DownThemAll. "copyq", -- Includes session name in class. "pinentry", }, class = { "Arandr", "Blueman-manager", "Gpick", "Kruler", "MessageWin", -- kalarm. "Sxiv", "Tor Browser", -- Needs a fixed window size to avoid fingerprinting by screen size. "Wpa_gui", "veromix", "xtightvncviewer"}, -- Note that the name property shown in xprop might be set slightly after creation of the client -- and the name shown there might not match defined rules here. name = { "Event Tester", -- xev. }, role = { "AlarmWindow", -- Thunderbird's calendar. "ConfigManager", -- Thunderbird's about:config. "pop-up", -- e.g. Google Chrome's (detached) Developer Tools. } }, properties = { floating = true }}, -- Add titlebars to normal clients and dialogs { rule_any = {type = { "normal", "dialog" } }, properties = { titlebars_enabled = true } }, -- Set Firefox to always map on the tag named "2" on screen 1. -- { rule = { class = "Firefox" }, -- properties = { screen = 1, tag = "2" } }, } -- }}} -- {{{ Signals -- Signal function to execute when a new client appears. client.connect_signal("manage", function (c) -- Set the windows at the slave, -- i.e. put it at the end of others instead of setting it master. -- if not awesome.startup then awful.client.setslave(c) end if awesome.startup and not c.size_hints.user_position and not c.size_hints.program_position then -- Prevent clients from being unreachable after screen count changes. awful.placement.no_offscreen(c) end end) -- Add a titlebar if titlebars_enabled is set to true in the rules. client.connect_signal("request::titlebars", function(c) -- buttons for the titlebar local buttons = gears.table.join( awful.button({ }, 1, function() c:emit_signal("request::activate", "titlebar", {raise = true}) awful.mouse.client.move(c) end), awful.button({ }, 3, function() c:emit_signal("request::activate", "titlebar", {raise = true}) awful.mouse.client.resize(c) end) ) awful.titlebar(c) : setup { { -- Left awful.titlebar.widget.iconwidget(c), buttons = buttons, layout = wibox.layout.fixed.horizontal }, { -- Middle { -- Title align = "center", widget = awful.titlebar.widget.titlewidget(c) }, buttons = buttons, layout = wibox.layout.flex.horizontal }, { -- Right awful.titlebar.widget.floatingbutton (c), awful.titlebar.widget.maximizedbutton(c), awful.titlebar.widget.stickybutton (c), awful.titlebar.widget.ontopbutton (c), awful.titlebar.widget.closebutton (c), layout = wibox.layout.fixed.horizontal() }, layout = wibox.layout.align.horizontal } end) -- Enable sloppy focus, so that focus follows mouse. client.connect_signal("mouse::enter", function(c) c:emit_signal("request::activate", "mouse_enter", {raise = false}) end) client.connect_signal("focus", function(c) c.border_color = beautiful.border_focus end) client.connect_signal("unfocus", function(c) c.border_color = beautiful.border_normal end) -- }}} -- Windows border gaps beautiful.useless_gap = 5 -- autostart apps awful.util.spawn("firefox") -- Collision plugin require("collision")() ``` </details> - I am using a Typmatrix 2030 keyboard.