xkbmap with combining diacritics

[Simos Xenitellis]

On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 10:25 PM, Joshua Crowgey <jcrowgey at uw.edu> wrote:
> Hi xorg,
>
> It was recommended to me in #xorg on irc that I should post this question to
> your list.  I hope this is appropriate.
>
> I have been attempting to define a keyboard mapping for typing Lushootseed
> (aka, Puget Salish) [iso639-3:lut].  Ideally, I will use the layout that
> Dave Sienko at Tulalip has already implemented in Tauvlesoft.
>
> http://www.tulaliplushootseed.com/NWIC-103-2009/Lushootseed%20Font%20&%20Keyboard.htm
>
> To do so, I created a lut.symbols file which handles much of the job
> (attached).  Here's a snippet:
>
> key <AD01>  { [         q,          Q,           U0251, U252 ]  };
> key <AD02>  { [         w,          W,      U01BF,      U01F7 ] };
> key <AD03>  { [         schwa,      E,  schwa,          SCHWA]  };
> key <AD04>  { [         U0161,          R,    U0279,   U027E ]  };
>
> However, I was unable to implement the mapping (shown in the link to
> tulaliplushootseed.com) completely because the output of many of the upper
> case (shifted) keystrokes should be a series of unicode characters rather
> than a single one.  That is, I have to use combining diacritics.  However, I
> was unable to define a series of characters in this file without generating
> an error.  For example, each of the following attempts fail because, from
> what I can tell, there's no way to include more than a single unicode
> code-point as one of the values in the array.  I haven't discovered any
> quoting or grouping mechanism.
>
> ---
> key <AD01>  { [         q,      q̓,     U0251, U252 ]  };
> ---
> ---
> key <AD01>  { [         q,      "q̓",   U0251, U252 ]  };
> ---
> ---
> key <AD01>  { [         q,      qU0313, U0251, U252 ]  };
> ---
> ---
> key <AD01>  { [         q,      U0071U0313,     U0251, U252 ]  };
> ---
> ---
> key <AD01>  { [         q,      U0071+U0313,    U0251, U252 ]  };
> ---
>
> The question is this:  is there a way to define keyboards that implement
> characters that include combining diacritics in the output of specific keys?
> Where can I find out more about what steps I should undertake to define an
> official keyboard for typing Lushootseed on xorg?
>
> Please let me know if this question is more appropriate for another list or
> if I should refine the question in some way.
>

Hello,
For your requirements and the complexity of the keyboard layout, you
may have a better chance to create a keyboard layout for iBus. See
more at http://code.google.com/p/ibus/

It is possible to create a keyboard layout with XKB, however I think
it will be more complicated than necessary.

If you are happy to make something quick and dirty, you can create the
necessary compose sequences and put them in ~/.Xcompose

Simos