How can I add an include line to an XKB configuration file?

Question

I do which just add a ralt_switch to English(Dvorak-US) keyboard

sudo sed -i "249i\    include 'level3(ralt_switch)'" \      
    /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xkb-data

Restart and you get a non-functional keyboard at login where you cannot type anything. You have to fix the file then with Live USB back, as described here with chroot. After restart, the file /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us with much more changes; each environment has now include 'level3(ralt_switch)' at the end of their sections

66,67d65
< 
<     include "level3(ralt_switch)"
130,131d127
< 
<     include "level3(ralt_switch)"
185,186d180
< 
<   include "level3(ralt_switch)"
248d241
<     include 'level3(ralt_switch)'
313,314d305
< 
<     include "level3(ralt_switch)"
359,360d349
< 
<     include "level3(ralt_switch)"
600,601d588
< 
<     include "level3(ralt_switch)"
655,656d641
< 
<     include "level3(ralt_switch)"
720,721d704
< 
<     include "level3(ralt_switch)"
787,788d769
< 
<     include "level3(ralt_switch)"
831,832d811
< 
<    include "level3(ralt_switch)"
851d829
<     include "level3(switch)"
898,899d875
< 
<     include "level3(switch)"
929,930d904
< 
<     include "level3(switch)"
979,980d952
< 
<     include "level3(switch)"
1038,1039d1009
< 
<    include "level3(ralt_switch)"
1102,1103d1071
< 
<    include "level3(ralt_switch)"
1188,1189d1155
< 
<   include "level3(ralt_switch)"
1233,1234d1198
< 
<         include "level3(alt_switch)"
1277,1278d1240
< 
<     include "level3(ralt_switch)"
1318,1319d1279
< 
<     include "level3(ralt_switch)"
1365,1366d1324
< 
<     include "level3(ralt_switch)"
1415,1416d1372
< 
<     include "level3(ralt_switch)"

I generated those lines by

sudo sed -i.bak "${pos[1]}i\    include 'level3(ralt_switch)'" /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us

I am thinking how to double quotes in include "level.... Maybe ...

System: Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit
Linux kernel: 4.6
Linux kernel options: wl
Hardware: Macbook Air 2013-mid

perhaps your added line should use double-quotes instead of single-quotes, as in the rest of the file. — meuh, Jun 19 '16 at 17:28
@meuh Yes, I did so by # sudo sed -i.bak "${pos[1]}i\ include 'level3(ralt_switch)'" /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us. How can you have there double quotes? — Léo Léopold Hertz 준영, Jun 19 '16 at 17:30
You just escape them with backslash: "...\"level3(ralt_switch)\"". — meuh, Jun 19 '16 at 17:32
@meuh Great! Feel free to make your comment an answer so I remember this mistake better. — Léo Léopold Hertz 준영, Jun 19 '16 at 17:32
Why are you editing the system files??? Why are you not testing your changes??? — Gilles 'SO- stop being evil', Jun 19 '16 at 20:10
@Gilles I want to have Dvorak with A with dots, ... I think US(English, Dvorak) is best by having German keys under first-level keybinding. I test them a lot. See here http://askubuntu.com/q/648659/25388 but still unstable. — Léo Léopold Hertz 준영, Jun 19 '16 at 20:14
@Masi Instead of editing system files, create files in your home directory. And obviously test them before logging out. — Gilles 'SO- stop being evil', Jun 19 '16 at 20:21
And by the way you don't need a live USB to fix those files. If your XKB configuration is so broken that you don't manage to log in in the GUI, you can still log in on a text console. — Gilles 'SO- stop being evil', Jun 19 '16 at 20:22
@Gilles How can you do it? See the hardware is Macbook Air. I could not login to text console. No Grub found, no recovery mode. I will now try to fix the thing such that I have at least Grub in my system and hopefully recovery mode if it happens again. — Léo Léopold Hertz 준영, Jun 19 '16 at 20:27

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 19 '16 at 20:12

0

Correct answer by meuh: have double quotes and escape them like

sudo sed -i.bak  \
    "${pos[1]}i\ include \"level3(ralt_switch)\"" /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us

answered Jun 19 '16 at 20:12

Léo Léopold Hertz 준영

6,928

How can I add an include line to an XKB configuration file?

1 Answers1