Nixpkgs: Gnome 3: US alt-intl and altgr-intl keyboard layouts not available

[martijnvermaat]

Issue description

Keyboard layouts with dead keys (e.g., US alt-intl) are not available in the Gnome 3 keyboard layout chooser.

Steps to reproduce

In /etc/nixos/configuration.nix:

services.xserver.enable = true;
services.xserver.displayManager.gdm.enable = true;
services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome3.enable = true;

In Gnome 3, go to _Region and Language_, click on the plus sign to add an input source. Observe that there are many layouts available, including _English (United States)_, but no variants with dead keys (on my Debian system I use _English (US, internation with dead keys)_ which corresponds to the alt-intl variant of the us layout in X speak).

Technical details

• System: 16.03.885.15e7e6e (Emu)
• Nix version: nix-env (Nix) 1.11.2
• Nixpkgs version: 16.03.885.15e7e6e

[martijnvermaat]

$ systemctl status display-manager
● display-manager.service - X11 Server
   Loaded: loaded (/nix/store/qlwpprbh3rgl9w630fczjpvn96pf4bph-unit-display-manager.service/display-manager.service; bad; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Thu 2016-06-02 12:35:48 CEST; 41min ago
  Process: 862 ExecStartPre=/nix/store/rkc3k486cammjail7gdmzx2azjayk21a-unit-script/bin/display-manager-pre-start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 879 (gdm)
   CGroup: /system.slice/display-manager.service
           ├─879 /nix/store/z4v00m91ix9b81d338jlpr3xa3lq97nr-gdm-3.14.2/bin/gdm
           └─887 /nix/store/1j8ibfd1gijbciirj8zvfws5051ngr7d-xorg-server-1.17.4/bin/X :0 -terminate -config /nix/store/33blxn966j1vawf37ri2wkfhsxhcrddx-xserver.conf -xkbdir /nix/store/a3cxmirsnhr6znbphfr6mzzrkpzbkv98-xkeyboard-config-2.17/etc/X11/xkb :0 vt7 -logfile /var/log/X.0.log -nolisten tcp -auth /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-vvhMz0/database -seat seat0 -nolisten tcp

Note the -xkbdir argument to X. Checking the available keyboard layouts here:

$ grep intl /nix/store/a3cxmirsnhr6znbphfr6mzzrkpzbkv98-xkeyboard-config-2.17/etc/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst 
  intl            us: English (US, international with dead keys)
  alt-intl        us: English (US, alternative international)
  dvorak-intl     us: English (Dvorak, international with dead keys)
  dvorak-alt-intl us: English (Dvorak alternative international no dead keys)
  altgr-intl      us: English (international AltGr dead keys)
  workman-intl    us: English (Workman, international with dead keys)
  intl            tr: Turkish (international with dead keys)
  intl            gb: English (UK, international with dead keys)
  mac_intl        gb: English (UK, Macintosh international)
  us-intl         ml: English (Mali, US international)

I would say that means the international variants are available. But this is about where my knowledge ends. I'd be happy to provide more info and help out if there are any pointers where to go from here.

[martijnvermaat]

[martijnvermaat]

So it turns out I'm an ass, in recent Gnome 3 you have to first click _English (United States)_ and it will show the available layouts only then, including those with dead keys. No Nix bug here.

[michaelmalonenz]

But it has helped me to figure out the exact same thing 2 years later - thanks for posting the solution!

[DevAlien]

It has now helped me as well, not very clear how that thing works