libxkbcommon is a keyboard keymap compiler and support library which processes a reduced subset of keymaps as defined by the XKB (X Keyboard Extension) specification. It also contains a module for handling Compose and dead keys, a separate registry library for listing available keyboard layouts and a fair set of CLI tools.

Quick Guide

Introduction to XKB: to learn the essentials of XKB.
User-configuration: instructions to add a custom layout or option.
Keymap format: keymap components and keymap text syntax documentation.
Library quick Guide: introduction on how to use this library.
Tools: introduction to the xkbcli application.
Release notes.
Frequently Asked Question (FAQ).

Building

libxkbcommon is built with Meson:

meson setup build
meson compile -C build
meson test -C build # Run the tests.

To build for use with Wayland, you can disable X11 support while still using the X11 keyboard configuration resource files thusly:

meson setup build \
      -Denable-x11=false \
      -Dxkb-config-root=/usr/share/X11/xkb \
      -Dx-locale-root=/usr/share/X11/locale
meson compile -C build

Complete list of user options

option(
    'xkb-config-root',
    type: 'string',
    description: 'The XKB config root [default=xkeyboard-config install path]',
)
option(
    'xkb-config-versioned-extensions-path',
    type: 'string',
    description: 'Lookup path for system-wide XKB versioned data extensions [default=xkeyboard-config install path + .d]',
)
option(
    'xkb-config-unversioned-extensions-path',
    type: 'string',
    description: 'Lookup path for system-wide XKB unversioned data extensions [default=xkeyboard-config install path - version + .d]',
)
option(
    'xkb-config-extra-path',
    type: 'string',
    description: 'Extra lookup path for system-wide XKB data [default=$sysconfdir/xkb]',
)
option(
    'x-locale-root',
    type: 'string',
    description: 'The X locale root [default=$datadir/X11/locale]',
)
option(
    'bash-completion-path',
    type: 'string',
    description: 'Directory for bash completion scripts'
)
option(
    'default-rules',
    type: 'string',
    value: 'evdev',
    description: 'Default XKB ruleset',
)
option(
    'default-model',
    type: 'string',
    value: 'pc105',
    description: 'Default XKB model',
)
option(
    'default-layout',
    type: 'string',
    value: 'us',
    description: 'Default XKB layout',
)
option(
    'default-variant',
    type: 'string',
    value: '',
    description: 'Default XKB variant',
)
option(
    'default-options',
    type: 'string',
    value: '',
    description: 'Default XKB options',
)
option(
    'enable-tools',
    type: 'boolean',
    value: true,
    description: 'Enable building tools',
)
option(
    'enable-x11',
    type: 'boolean',
    value: true,
    description: 'Enable building the xkbcommon-x11 library',
)
option(
    'enable-docs',
    type: 'boolean',
    value: false,
    description: 'Enable building the documentation',
)
option(
    'enable-cool-uris',
    type: 'boolean',
    value: false,
    description: 'Enable creating redirections to maintain stable documentation pages',
)
option(
    'enable-wayland',
    type: 'boolean',
    value: true,
    description: 'Enable support for Wayland utility programs (requires enable-tools)',
)
option(
    'enable-xkbregistry',
    type: 'boolean',
    value: true,
    description: 'Enable building libxkbregistry',
)
option(
    'enable-bash-completion',
    type: 'boolean',
    value: true,
    description: 'Enable installing bash completion scripts',
)

API

While libxkbcommon’s API is somewhat derived from the classic XKB API as found in X11/extensions/XKB.h and friends, it has been substantially reworked to expose fewer internal details to clients.

See the API Documentation.

Tools

Libxkbcommon has a fair set of CLI tools, grouped under the xkbcli application:

xkbcli compile-keymap: Compile an XKB keymap
xkbcli compile-compose: Compile a compose file
xkbcli how-to-type: Show how to type a given Unicode codepoint
xkbcli interactive-wayland: Interactive debugger for XKB keymaps for Wayland
xkbcli interactive-x11: Interactive debugger for XKB keymaps for X11
xkbcli interactive-evdev: Interactive debugger for XKB keymaps for evdev
xkbcli dump-keymap-wayland: Dump a XKB keymap from a Wayland compositor
xkbcli dump-keymap-x11: Dump a XKB keymap from a X server
xkbcli list: List available layouts and more

It may require the installation of the package libxkbcommon-tools or similar name.

Dataset

libxkbcommon does not distribute a keyboard layout dataset itself, other than for testing purposes. The most common dataset is xkeyboard-config, which is used by all current distributions for their X11 XKB data. Further information on xkeyboard-config is available at its homepage and at its repository.

The dataset for Compose is distributed in libX11, as part of the X locale data.

Relation to X11

See Compatibility notes.

Development

An project’s homepage can be found at https://xkbcommon.org.

xkbcommon is maintained in git at: https://github.com/xkbcommon/libxkbcommon

Patches are always welcome, and may be sent to either xorg-.nosp@m.deve.nosp@m.l@lis.nosp@m.ts.x.nosp@m..org or wayla.nosp@m.nd-d.nosp@m.evel@.nosp@m.list.nosp@m.s.fre.nosp@m.edes.nosp@m.ktop..nosp@m.org or in a GitHub pull request.

Bug reports (and usage questions) are also welcome, and may be filed at GitHub.

The maintainers are:

License

See the LICENSE file.

Credits

Many thanks are due to Dan Nicholson for his heroic work in getting xkbcommon off the ground initially.