This page will list frequent questions and errors related to xkbcommon

My distribution only has an ancient version!

In this case, you’re most likely on Debian or Ubuntu. You have several options to fix that:

• Use backports if the version is new enough.
• Build libxkbcommon by hand (not that complicated) but with a few configure switches: ./configure --with-x-locale-root=/usr/share/X11/locale --with-xkb-config-root=/usr/share/X11/xkb (or whatever correct prefix your system uses). This will make sure libxkbcommon knows where to look for files.
• Use the repository maintained for the i3 window manager, which contains a recent libxkbcommon.

Compose

xkbcommon: ERROR: couldn't find a Compose file for locale <your locale>

If you see that in rofi’s output, here are the possible reasons and their solution:

Your installed libxkbcommon use a different prefix than your Compose file package

If you built libxkbcommon yourself, you will have to rebuild it but with ./configure --with-x-locale-root=/usr/share/X11/locale --with-xkb-config-root=/usr/share/X11/xkb (or whatever correct prefix your system uses). If you used a custom repository, please contact the owner so they fixes their package.

You use an unknown locale

Just check for the best locale in /usr/share/X11/locale/compose.dir, then use it.

You use an unknown alias

Just check for variants of your locale in /usr/share/X11/locale/compose.dir and /usr/share/X11/locale/locale.alias, then use it. Example: en_US.utf8 might not exist, try en_US.UTF-8.

Related issues: #400 #582

Keymaps

Supported keymap files features

Some keymaps are using features that used to exist in X11 XKB, but were removed in xkbcommon. You can find a complete list here.

These features are often not necessary and mostly used in customized or variants keymaps.

Related issues: #354