Sane keyboard configuration in installer

Registered by Colin Watson

Currently, we configure the keyboard on installation by selecting a console keymap (either from a list or by asking the user to press some keys), and then having xserver-xorg automatically generating an X keymap from that later on. This sort of works, but is fragile and buggy. Furthermore, there are currently many more possibilities for X keymaps than console keymaps; and the live CD installer cannot let you test a console keymap since you're running in X, so is forced to duplicate keymap generation code from xserver-xorg.

Some work has been done by interested Debian developers to revamp keyboard configuration so that we can simply select an X keymap and then generate a console keymap from that on the fly as required, which would be a vast improvement. Investigate the current status of this work, help it along where necessary, and figure out how to tie it into our text-mode and live CD installers.

Blueprint information

Status:
Complete
Approver:
Matt Zimmerman
Priority:
High
Drafter:
Colin Watson
Direction:
Needs approval
Assignee:
Tollef Fog Heen
Definition:
Approved
Series goal:
Accepted for edgy
Implementation:
Implemented
Milestone target:
None
Started by
Colin Watson
Completed by
Colin Watson

Related branches

Sprints

Whiteboard

Review OK -iwj 22.6.06

mdz: approved 2006-06-23, with trivial corrections

tfheen 2006-07-28: console-setup from Debian seems to do most of what we want, but some problems with fonts encountered as well as some missing pieces.

kamion 2006-09-07: Everything done apart from translations and sorting out the upgrade path. At least the second of those is easy.

kamion 2006-11-02: This is done in edgy, apart from translations, which we'll handle as a bug fix upstream somewhere down the line.

(?)

Work Items

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