TriXKBGen

This python script allows you to automatically generate XKB keyboard layouts from a YAML file. This greatly speeds up the process of creating keyboards, and makes inputting Unicode characters much easier

Requirements

PyYAML: pip install pyyaml

Usage

xkbgen.py <input> <output>, where <input> is the path to the YAML file and <output> is the path to the output file.

xkbgen.py --help for the builtin help message.

Input format

The following properties can or must be set in the YAML file:

Name	Required	Description	Values	Example
name	yes	The name of the layout variant	Any string, usually lowercase alphanumeric	name: "ipa"
groupname	yes	The name of the group	Any string	groupname: "IPA (US)"
layout	yes	The keyboard layout	qwerty (more may be added later)	layout: "qwerty"
layout-locale	yes	The keyboard layout's locale	us (more may be added later)	layout-locale: "us"
level3	no	The key used to access level 3	See below	level3: "ralt_switch"
level5	no	The key used to access level 5	See below	level5: "rctrl_switch"
keys	yes	The keymap (see below)	An object

The possible options for level3 and level5 can be viewed in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/level3 and /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/level5, respectively.

The keys property contains all of the key mappings. For each field, the name is the original value of the key (determined by how layout and layout-locale were set), and the value is a list of keycodes. Here are the keycode formats:

• A space: no character is typed
• A single character: that character is typed
• Uxxxx: the Unicode character with the corresponding codepoint is typed
• dead_xxxx: a deadkey is typed (used for inserting diacritical marks)

Each keycode is separated by a space. The index of the keycode in the list determines what modifiers will be pressed to create it:

1. no modifiers
2. SHIFT
3. level3
4. SHIFT + level3
5. level5
6. SHIFT + level5
7. level3 + level5
8. SHIFT + level3 + level5

As an example, the line

   h: "h ʜ ɥ ħ ɦ ɧ ʰ H"

will cause the h key to type:

• h when no modifiers are pressed
• ʜ when SHIFT is pressed
• ɥ when level3 is pressed
• ħ when SHIFT + level3
• ɦ when level5 is pressed
• ɧ when SHIFT + level5 is pressed
• ʰ when level3 + level5 is pressed
• H when SHIFT + level3 + level5 is pressed

Examples

The examples directory contains example YAML files and their generated keyboard layouts, demonstrating all of the functionality described here.