Compose key not working in Plasma 6 with Wayland

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1

I frequently have to type Spanish characters but use a US keyboard. I have my compose key configured on right Alt. When I login with X11 the compose key functions as it should but when I switch to Wayland (in SDDM) the compose key does nothing (I get 2 characters as typed). I tried in Kate, KWrite, Konsole and more, to no avail.

~/.config/kwinrc:

[Wayland]
FollowLocale1=true

~/.config/kxbrc:

[$Version]
update_info=kxkb.upd:remove-empty-lists,kxkb.upd:add-back-resetoptions,kxkb_variants.upd:split-variants

[Layout]
LayoutList=us
LayoutLoopCount=-1
Model=pc101
Options=terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp,compose:ralt
ResetOldOptions=true
ShowFlag=false
ShowLabel=true
ShowLayoutIndicator=true
ShowSingle=false
SwitchMode=Global
Use=true
VariantList=euro

locale settings:

arjen@solydxk-main:~$ localectl status
System Locale: LANG=nl_NL.UTF-8
VC Keymap: (unset)
X11 Layout: us
X11 Model: pc105
X11 Variant: euro
X11 Options: terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp

arjen@solydxk-main:~$ locale
LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_GB.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=en_GB.UTF-8

arjen@solydxk-main:~$ locale -a
C
C.utf8
en_GB.utf8
nl_NL.utf8
POSIX

What am I missing?

2

That looks like the “English (US, euro on 5)” layout?

If so, that doesn’t have a Right Alt - the physical Right Alt position is used by “Level3 Shift” (basically, AltGr).

image
image1029×418 45 KB

What happens if you assign the Compose key to a key that does exist in that layout (say Caps Lock)?

1 Like
3

I would definitely vote this up… a major step up in my keyboard use was to stop using the Right Alt (now a third level chooser, or AltGr) and switch to using CapsLock.

It’s not often you NEED TO LOCK CAPITALS, so I set that to be enabled with both shift keys, single Shift key disengages it (and you can actually assign a notification sound, I have a ‘latch’ and ‘unlatch’ sound.

However, Compose is so powerful, it deserves to be put right there under your pinky.

:vulcan_salute:

4

I tried different keys for the composer key, including caps, but it did not function under Wayland.

5

This site provides instructions on how to setuup a compose key.

6

Yes, I have done that but in my case it is not functioning. Switching to X11 works without changing anything and when I switch back to Wayland it doesn’t.

7

Yes, something is definitely very wrong here - and you got the same result with a new USER?

Except for missing features and known (but generally ‘stable’) bugs - like the focus stealing (recently the default setting shown to be too strict to allow Yakuake to come up on top) - Wayland has been better.

Sometimes it feels like switching X11 to Wayland is giving up your aging Porsche Cayenne for a Skoda.

8

New user > Login with Wayland > Set compose keys: do not function > Logout > Login with X11: configured compose keys function > Back in Wayland: compose keys still do nothing.

I drive the Skoda daily, but if I need to use the compose key I need to switch to my old Porsche.

9

I am very confident that this is an issue with your personal system, possibly your USER data;

I have been using Compose key for a few years now as my :magic_wand: magic tool, since I was using mouse gestures on X11 and now with Wayland as the default.

It works with a fresh USER account.

If I couldn’t fix it, I would consider a complete fresh re-install.

1 Like
10

I’m afraid you are right. As a developer, I was hoping to avoid that.

Thanks for the help.

1 Like