25

I am using gnome 3.22.1 but problem exists since 3.18.

Before that (don't remember the exact version) I was able to switch keyboard layout using xkb-witch, simple application that uses X.org bindings under the hood.

After 3.18 if you run xkb-switch, the keyboard layout won't be switched in gnome. Further investigation have shown that layout switching is working, but for a very short amount of time.

If you run this script:

for i in $(seq 1000); do
  lang=$(xkb-switch -s ru; xkb-switch);
  if [[ "$lang" == "ru" ]]; then
    echo $lang;
  fi;
done

You will get from 3 to 20 "successfull" layout switchings, depending on how lucky you are.

After googling this problem I the following advice:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources current 0

The setting is being changed, but the layout stays the same.

I have found one "hacky" method to change the layout:

setxkbmap us,ru
setxkbmap ru,us

but the gnome shell isn't aware of that change, and shows wrong language in layout indicator.

I've posted about this problem (sorry, not enough reputation, https ://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1657582 https ://github.com/ierton/xkb-switch/issues/15), but had no luck getting any good answers.

And at this point I'm stuck. I'm not skilled enough to identify the problem in gnome shell code. I'm not even sure it is it's(gnome shell's) problem.

What I want is a gnome-aware way to switch keyboard layout from terminal. Can someone point me in the right direction? Should I file this as a bug (especially the fact that keyboard layout cannot be changed through gsettings)?

RGBD
  • 351

7 Answers7

19

Since gnome-shell exposes a JS eval interface on DBus which has access to all variables, the feat is possible with the following command:

gdbus call --session --dest org.gnome.Shell \
--object-path /org/gnome/Shell \
--method org.gnome.Shell.Eval \
 "imports.ui.status.keyboard.getInputSourceManager().inputSources[0].activate()"

Which will activate 0th layout, and so forth. It is trivial to assign these commands to, say, underutilized 無変換 and 変換 on your Japanese keyboard.

Credit.

And this is how to switch to last used input method (from comments):

gdbus call --session --dest org.gnome.Shell --object-path /org/gnome/Shell \
--method org.gnome.Shell.Eval "imports.ui.status.keyboard.getInputSourceManager()._mruSources[1].activate()"
sanmai
  • 1,426
  • 3
    Thank you for your answer – it saved me a lot of googling! And this is how to switch to last used input method: gdbus call --session --dest org.gnome.Shell --object-path /org/gnome/Shell --method org.gnome.Shell.Eval "imports.ui.status.keyboard.getInputSourceManager()._mruSources[1].activate()" – Envek Jan 08 '19 at 19:35
  • This. Works exactly the same as keyboard shortcut. – Sergey Alaev Sep 25 '21 at 19:58
  • 4
    These commands doesn't work anymore after upgrade from gnome-shell 40 to 41 because Gnome restricted to use eval due to security reasons. Possible workaround is to wrap them into custom extensions. I wrapped my switcher to last used layout here: https://gist.github.com/Envek/85f40478d1c8b9658621190569046447 – Envek Nov 22 '21 at 17:52
  • 1
    For Gnome >= 41 this will require an extension to work. See detailed steps to make it work on askubuntu – 1mi Sep 12 '22 at 12:24
8

If you are using IBus as your input method (which is a likely default), you can change your input using the ibus command:

# Set the layout to US English
ibus engine xkb:us::eng
# Set the input method to Japanese Mozc IME
ibus engine mozc-jp
# Set the layout to Russian
ibus engine xkb:ru::rus

You can see all available layouts with the ibus list-engine command.

It must be noted this approach does not change the language indicator, although it works reliably otherwise.

undercat
  • 1,857
  • That's same as setxkbmap us - with no way to change layout using standard shortcuts after that. – sanmai Jun 16 '18 at 02:32
  • @sanmai Not quite the same — it's impossible to switch to languages needing IME (Japanese, Chinese, etc) using setxkbmap. Furthermore, setxkbmap can act plain buggy in modern WM environments, see the question for details on this. – undercat Jun 16 '18 at 03:17
  • Can't comment on the default shortcuts not working though — I'm using custom ones for every layout that I use. – undercat Jun 16 '18 at 03:20
  • OK, not the same, but still I can't use the default switch. As you may know, there's only as much extra keys on a Japanese keyboard, for other layouts I still have to use the default switch. – sanmai Jun 16 '18 at 03:22
  • @undercatapplaudsMonica Do you have any advice on how to make the change persistent between reboots (aside from calling it in an autostart file on startup)? – AdminBee Sep 16 '20 at 14:31
  • I can't change the layout using any previously working combinations after using any of the commands in this answer. Reader beware. – sanmai Dec 01 '20 at 02:11
  • @sanmai I don't understand your comment, I've had those commands assigned to hotkeys by means of xbindkeys for the past few years and they've been working just fine. If you want to warn the readers of some software conflict, you should clarify what "previously working combinations" you are referring to. – undercat Dec 01 '20 at 04:23
  • Sure. If you had set up Comman+Space to change the layout (e.g. that's the default in Ubuntu), then this command combination will no longer work. – sanmai Dec 02 '20 at 08:03
  • @sanmai I've just checked by pressing Super+Space and sure enough Gnome switched the layout as expected. There must be more to it than that to cause the behavior you're describing. – undercat Dec 02 '20 at 08:34
  • One thing I will note is that switching layout directly with the ibus command will not convey the information about the current layout back to Gnome, so you may have to press Super+Space several times to get to the desired layout. It's certainly a shortcoming if you want to use both of those layout switching mechanisms. – undercat Dec 02 '20 at 08:36
6

You can set up and switch to an input method on the command line even if you have not previously set up that input method with the mouse:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources sources "[('xkb', 'ru')]"

For Dvorak, use us+dvorak (or gb+dvorak if you're in the UK, or whatever).

Silas S. Brown
  • 276
4

Using gsettings.

Setting org.gnome.desktop.input-sources.sources to the null list, "[]", allows you to use the X server keyboard configuration without gnome-shell trying to configure it, so you could be able to do as before.

$ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources sources '[]'
xae
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  • 1
    When I tried this, my Gnome Terminal got stuck on QWERTY no matter how many setxkbmap commands I typed afterward, until I put the input sources back via the Settings dialogue. – Silas S. Brown Mar 25 '19 at 12:56
0

I think you should try sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

Romain L.
  • 74
0

I did it this way. It worked with gnome-shell 3.36.9-0ubuntu0.20.04.2 and 42.0-2ubuntu1. If it doesn't work on your machine try increasing the sleep time.

chKeyboard(){
  kbd=$1 # de, us
  echo "Changing to $kbd keymap."
  gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources sources "[('xkb', '$kbd')]"
  sleep 0.2 # small sleep time to wait for the switch.
  gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources sources "[('xkb', 'de'), ('xkb', 'us')]"
}
Johannes Halaoui
  • 1
0

After reading all the other answers in to this question, you'll soon realize: it's pretty hard to achieve in Ubuntu, as none of the methods that you could Google works properly.

  • The setxkbmap doesn't play nice with the GNOME Shell.
  • The gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources current is deprecated and doesn't work anymore
  • The gdbus call … org.gnome.Shell.Eval … is also deprecated due to security implications.

That's why, I've made my own GNOME Shell Extension and I'm sharing it with the world: Shyriiwook (also available @ GitHub: madhead/shyriiwook).

This is a very simple, minimalist extension. It doesn't have any GUI. After installing it, a new D-Bus interface would be exposed in your GNOME Shell session. You could query it for the current configuration or call a method to activate the desired layout:

$ gdbus introspect \
    --session \
    --dest org.gnome.Shell \
    --object-path /me/madhead/Shyriiwook \
    --only-properties

node /me/madhead/Shyriiwook {
  interface me.madhead.Shyriiwook {
    properties:
      readonly as availableLayouts = ['us', 'de', 'jp'];
      readonly s currentLayout = 'us';
  };
};


$ gdbus call 

    --session 

    --dest org.gnome.Shell 

    --object-path /me/madhead/Shyriiwook 

    --method me.madhead.Shyriiwook.activate "de"

This is easily scriptable, and you can even put this command raw into a custom shortcut under the "Settings" → "Keyboard" → "Keyboard Shortcuts" → "View and Customise Shortcuts" → "Custom Shortcuts".

madhead
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