Quoth requiem. <[email protected]>:
> For the sake of completeness, I figured this out.
> Needed to add some "setxkbmap" directives to the i3 config.
>
> ``` ~/.config/i3/config
>
> exec_always "setxkbmap -model apple_laptop -layout us -variant mac
> -option compose:ralt"
>
> ```
>
> This works :)
>
oh i didn't know X had an option for it. i thought it was exclusive
to XTerm. thank you :)
i guess it'd be better to configure it system-wide so you wouldn't
need to make a new config file if you change WM (ref: XKB-Config(7),
xorg.conf(5)):
``` /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-keyboards.conf
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Apple laptop keyboard"
MatchIsKeyboard "on"
Option "XkbModel" "apple_laptop"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
Option "XkbVariant" "mac"
Option "XkbOptions" "compose:ralt"
EndSection
```
>
>
> On Wed, 22 Oct 2025 18:42:27 +0100
> "requiem." <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Dear misc@,
> >
> > I'm struggling to get my compose keys to work in things outside of
> > xterm. I can type all the nice special characters I want there using
> > AltGr, but for whatever reason they do not work anywhere else.
> >
> > Everything is "stock" in my keyboard settings, haven't modified
> > anything with xkbdmap or other things.
> >
> > I'm using i3, here are a few configuration settings I think might be
> > relevant:
> >
> > ```
> > $ cat ~/.xsession
> > #!/bin/sh
> >
> > . ~/.profile
> >
> > export ENABLE_WASM=1
> > export TERMINAL=alacritty
> > export TERM=xterm-256color
> > export LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8
> > export LC_ALL=en_GB.UTF-8
> > export XCOMPOSEFILE=$HOME/.XCompose
> > sh $HOME/.config/background/fehbg
> > exec /usr/local/bin/i3
> >
> > $ cat ~/.XCompose
> > include "%L"
> >
> > $ cat ~/.config/i3/config
> > # This file has been auto-generated by i3-config-wizard(1).
> > # It will not be overwritten, so edit it as you like.
> > [...]
> > set $mod Mod4
> > [...]
> > bindcode $mod+40 exec "rofi -modi drun,run -show drun"
> > bindcode $mod+117 exec rofimoji
> > # The rest is default
> > ```
> >
> > Any hints? Would love to be able to actually type things like "£"...
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > requiem
> >
>
--
noodle
