Bug: xkb group2 handling not working, and also breaks reading hyprland config file

[csdvrx]

This was reported before as issue #9667 which seems to also be the cause of #8402

It is not currently in the discussions, and seem to be a regression as it was working fine before. I can confirm it's present in at least 0.47.2, and still present in 0.48.1

Hyprland 0.47.2 built from branch  at commit 882f7ad7d2bbfc7440d0ccaef93b1cdd78e8e3ff  (version: bump to 0.47.2).
Date: Sun Feb 2 00:47:17 2025
Tag: v0.47.2, commits: 5767
built against:
 aquamarine 0.7.2
 hyprlang 0.6.0
 hyprutils 0.5.0
 hyprcursor 0.1.11
 hyprgraphics 0.1.2

Hyprland 0.48.1 built from branch  at commit 29e2e59fdbab8ed2cc23a20e3c6043d5decb5cdc  (version: bump to v0.48.1).
Date: Fri Mar 28 16:16:07 2025
Tag: v0.48.1, commits: 5937
built against:
 aquamarine 0.8.0
 hyprlang 0.6.0
 hyprutils 0.6.0
 hyprcursor 0.1.12
 hyprgraphics 0.1.3

Description

I have a custom layout file in my ~/.config/xkb/symbols/ directory which was working fine.

After upgrading hyprland a few weeks ago, this layout file started breaking hyprland config: anything below the input the section with the kb_layout=myfilename was ignored

There is no error message and no log: I can only notice the problem due to some of the hyprland config options being ignored (those after the kb_layout line)

When I tried to move the input section to a separate file with source=separate_file, hyprland complained about a "source globbing error"

I think it is a regression, because this xkb file was working very well before hyprland update, and I had not touched the xkb file for weeks when it broke.

After exploring the problem, I found that's it due to having 2 groups in my config file: I could replicate the issue with the attached minimal xkb file

us_jp_min.txt

When using this file, AltGr ~ gives RO (ろ : U308d), and pressing once on the left Alt key should cause group latching (switch to group 2) and make AltGr ~ now give ロ (by kana_RO defaulting to U+30ed)

However, this does not happen: the only ouput of AltGr ~ is ろ, even if trying to change to group2 with the left Alt

This means group2 does not work, which seems to be the same issue behind another issue #8402 where the change between the 2 layouts is done using groups, and has stopped working.

Worse: using my minimal test file, when uncommenting the "name[Group2]" line, the config file break issue starts happening: anything below kb_layout=myfilename will be silently ignored

It is likely the group2 definition of the individual keys are silently discarded, while trying to declare the name of the group2 makes the lack of group2 definitions become a problem

How to reproduce

1. save the attached file to ~/.config/xkb/symbols/us_jp_min
2. declare in your hyprland.conf input section kb_layout = us_jp_min
3. reload the config: hyprctl reload config-only
4. try AltGr ~ to see you get ろ, but you will not get ロ when doing Left Alt then AltGr ~: you will only get ろ
5. edit ~/.config/xkb/symbols/us_jp_min to uncomment the group2 name
6. reload the config: hyprctl reload config-only
7. try AltGr ~: you will not get ろ, and the hyprland configuration after the kb_layout line will be ignored

[vaxerski]

if it's a regression, please bisect. Otherwise, I'd check something like sway, as layout handling is not done by hyprland

[csdvrx]

Layout handling is not done by hyprland, but hyprland uses xkbcommon for example in

Hyprland/src/managers/KeybindManager.hpp

Line 8 in 241a493

#include <xkbcommon/xkbcommon.h>

IMHO a valid xkb file should not cause problems to hyprland, but here it stops processing its own hyprland.conf file whenever it finds a "kb_layout = /some/xkb/file" line that points to a valid xkb file (and just because this xkbfile contains the line name[Group2] = "...")

if it's a regression, please bisect.

I'll try to explore the issue better, but I'm not sure when, as it's not very important to me: for full disclosure, I got a laptop with a JP keyboard just because there was no other option to get the precise hardware config I wanted. Eventually it irked me that the keyboard didn't "fully work", so I wrote a xkb file, learning about group1, group2 etc.

When the regression broke my hyprland config, my fix has been to remove the group2 line from my xkb file as I don't really need group2 or even group1 - I'm perfectly happy with a normal US keyboard.

However, other people need advanced xkb layouts - and BTW, I think it explains the issue you didn't understand for the German keyboard: #8402 (comment)

Not supporting group2 is a small regression, but stopping the processing of hyprland.conf is a bigger one that might also cause other issues: if you put a kb_layout line at the top of your hyprland.conf pointing to the minimal xkbfile I attached, you will see the bad consequences a single xkb line may have...

Otherwise, I'd check something like sway, as layout handling is not done by hyprland

I've been using hypland for years, I can't imagine switching to anything else for any reason, especially if the thing is question is sway, considering how you were harassed.

BTW such bad behaviors are not rare in the free software community. in case it may help make you feel better, read https://github.com/csdvrx/sixel-tmux/blob/main/RANTS.md for a good laugh :)

[vaxerski]

I didn't say switch, I said try so that we know if sway works, lol

[koalagang]

I'm having the same issue since I upgraded from Hyprland v0.47.2 to 0.49 (skipped 0.48 because I didn't upgrade for some time in between). Xkb group 2 does not work but group 1 works just fine. As per your suggestion, I tested it out on Sway (v1.11) and had the exact same issue as on Hyprland.

Edit: I should mention that I do not have the issue @csdvrx is having with the rest of the Hyprland config not working.

[koalagang]

Versions when I was on v0.49:
Hyprland 0.49.0 built from branch main at commit 9958d29 (version: bump to 0.49.0).
Date: 2025-05-08
Tag: v0.49.0, commits: 9958d29
built against:
aquamarine 0.8.0
hyprlang 0.6.3
hyprutils 0.7.1
hyprcursor 0.1.12
hyprgraphics 0.1.3

Now I'm on v0.50.1:
Hyprland 0.50.1 built from branch v0.50.1-b at commit 4e242d0 ([gha] Nix: update inputs).
Date: 2025-07-19
Tag: v0.50.1, commits: 4e242d0
built against:
aquamarine 0.9.2
hyprlang 0.6.3
hyprutils 0.8.1
hyprcursor 0.1.12
hyprgraphics 0.1.5

The issue persists.

[wismill]

Likely xkbcommon/libxkbcommon#806.

@vaxerski If you suspect an upstream issue, please inform us or redirect bug reporters at https://github.com/xkbcommon/libxkbcommon, so that we can get it sorted.